Rocket Project- Katie Yeager, Claire Leffler, Gavin Syme

Introduction:
Each person from our team made individual rockets, but the rocket we chose to
represent our team was Claires. Claires rocket is constructed from two Smart Water bottles
fused together, because the Smart Water bottle has a very small, sleek form, two fused together
result in an aerodynamic two liter design with the upper nozzle acting as a nose cone. Four fins
in the shape of a pizza slice
constructed from an old record are
placed on all sides of the rocket,
creating a square-like shape. The
material of the fins is both thin, and
nearly indestructible, hence help im a
bug the fins on our rocket are both
aerodynamic and reliable. Holding the
fins in place is a base layer of duct
tape, and a significant amount of glue,
assuring that the fins will not fall off of
the rocket during testing. Though my
rocket was a close second, and
Gavins was very stable, Claires
rocket was selected for the project
because it flew the highest. When
tested, my rocket displayed a fortythree degree angle of elevation,
Gavins portrayed a thirty-six degree
angle of elevation, and Claires flew at
a magnificent sixty-three degree angle
of elevation.
The variable we decide to test
was the water amount because it
would help us find the most efficient
way to fuel our rocket.

Question: How much water should be in a bottle rocket for it to achieve its maximum altitude?
Hypothesis: If a 2 liter bottle is filled up of the way with 60psi then it will fly the highest
because the amount of water will be enough to fuel it but not slow it down.

Procedure:
To test our variable we took a graduated cylinder and willed our rocket with 250 mL of
water, 500 mL of water, etc we found that the optimal amount of water was 1000 mL in a 2
liter bottle half way full.
Constant Variables
Pressure
Water Volume
Mass
Shape
Dimensions
One variable we could not change was the weather. A windy day majorly changes the rocket.
The rocket moves in the wrong direction, therefore, making it harder for us to get correct data.
Also humidity has a major effect. Humidity changes the mass of the object.

Data:
We collected this data by using different tools to accurately answer our question
how much water should be put in a bottle rocket?. Each time we tested the rocket all of our
variables stayed the same accept the amount of water inside the rocket. Every time we had a
pressure of 60psi. We used a measuring tape to make sure we were 12 meters away from the
launch pad each time we measure how high our rocket went. I used a device to measure the
angle accurately sometimes with one other person. After we collected our data I thought a
scatter plot graph would best show our results. The obvious peak in the graph shows where we
found the most success testing the amount of water in our bottle rocket.
Conclusion:

After a series of multiple tests, my group (Claire, Gavin, and myself) came to the
conclusion that maximum height is achieved with approximately 1 L of water. Our tests showed
that adding too much water does not leave enough room for sufficient air pressure, and
therefore does not fly as high. The team conducted six experiments, all at sixty PSI, and
measurements taken at twelve meters from the launcher. The first test in which no water was
used, the rocket flew at 7.4 meters. The second test in which .25 L of water was used (the
amount estimated to fly the highest in our hypothesis) flew to 10.8 meters. The third test with .50
L of water flew to 13.3 m, the fourth holding .75 L of water flew to 18 m. The fifth test containing
1 L of water flew to a magnificent 21.6 m, and the final test with 1.25 L of water only flew to 12.0
m. Throughout our tests, we made improvements to our other rockets (not our test subject); for
example, after our first test we came to the conclusion that duct tape is very useful in making
sure the rocket does not break, fall apart, get water damage, or explode. For other students
doomed to do this project, We recommend the use of two smart water bottles for the reason that
all rockets built from these seem to fly the highest.

Final Rocket