Rocket Report

By Ailyana Mata

For: Mr. Hendrick’s Physics Honors Class

Academy for Math, Engineering and Science

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Abstract

The purpose of this lab is to find the fundamental of applying what has been taught so far

in this curriculum was to find the height of a rocket. In order to find the height, there are

predictions that was made to find the height. What this prediction did was to help apply a

collection of different equations to find a certain goal. There were different areas within the lab

that were based off of the predictions, these predictions could spread out from the function of the

engines to the many forces acting upon the rocket. Then there was the experimental part, which

was the actual rocket launch, that would taking measurements from that launch. Although there

were devices used to help with the calculations there were also many different set back for either

not enough device or broken ones. Either way, what has been taught in the curriculum was used

to find a way around the setback and much more math was used but still enough to find the

necessities for these flight results. After these things were done, there was a comparison of what

had happened between the prediction and final results of the rocket launch.

Introduction

For the course of a few weeks there are going to be a course of experiments, on many different

areas of a rocket launch. This is done by studying many different things that are involved with a

rocket launch, and then calculating the outcomes by doing a series of steps and combining them,

by the end of these steps, one should be able to predict many outcomes of a rocket launch before

it happens. Some of these many steps consisted of things that have been taught in the curriculum,

coming from kinematics, the study of motion, which is shown with acceleration and all of the

equations of motion. Then there is dynamics, which is the study of forces, usually affects
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kinematics, some example of this are: Newton’s laws, Kepler's laws, the conversation of

momentum, etc.. Then there is the impulse(J is defined as force multiplied by time),

momentum(momentum is defined as mass multiplied velocity), drag force and, the drag

coefficients. Impulse and momentum are often associated with each other due to the

Impulse/momentum theorem, what this theorem does is prove that there is a strong relationship

between the impulse and momentum.

Impulse/momentum theorem

Now although this theorem is close there is no way to prove that it is an absolute definition, due

to it being a theorem. Also with the drag force and drag coefficient is that the drag force is a

force that goes against and object, for example in this lab the drag force is going to be air

resistance, and the drag coefficient is the ratio of the drag force to the dynamic forces that

multiplied by area.

One other factor is the use of engines in this lab. This lab uses three types of engines A8,

B6, C6, the letter in this label is the impulse, and each letter has a certain number of impulses for

example A is 2.5, B is 5 and C is 10, as the letter go on it doubles in impulse, ending in H. The

number next to the letter is the average force, then there's the usually a dash and number that
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usually follow, that other number is the delay in time before the parachute comes out, for

example a label on an engine would be A6 - 4.

Engine Thrust Analysis

First there is the engine type to figure out to help with a prediction. The setup to test the

rocket engine was by putting the engine into a box that was strapped to a cart made out of tape,

this cart was placed on a special track that made it so there was no friction to disturb the data.

The box was then placed so that it would be push against a Logger Pro, this device would record

the force ( in Newtons) of the rocket, and it would record 10 samples every one second. The

experiment had ran for 10 seconds, so by the end of the trial run there had been 1000 samples of

data.

In order for Logger Pro to start recording the data there was a trigger that set off and

when the scale started to sense a force of newtons, usually the scale would have to be set to zero

before engine is ignited, and to have the data be a little more accurate the device had kept the

data that was one second before, which would record 10 extra samples.
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What had later happened with this data was to find an average of the force by adding up

all the points with a width of .1 for each point. This was to help find the average of the curvage.

Later on as the data was analyzed, it was predicted that the engine was a B5 - 6.

Drag Force

The next things that was calculated was air resistance. In order to test this the rocket had

to be placed into a wind tunnel. This wind tunnel overall function is to apply force from a fan

that is in a would put a certain amount of force on the rocket. On both ends of the tunnel there is

a honey like structure so that there is better flow when the fan is turned on, and makes it so that

there is no turbulence inside the chamber. Also the direction of the fan helps as well because

with the way that the fan is blowing it is causing air to come from the other direction, because

when a fan blows air it isn't straight instead it gives off turbulence.
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There is also a device that would then calculate the force, but for this certain wind tunnels

that device was broken. So the rocket was then tied with a rope in the center,and there had been a

protractor to tell the angle and then the force were calculated from there. In order to do this the

forces were acting on the rocket had to be defined then the air resistance is applied with

Newton's 2nd law of motion.

Drag Force

Numerical Analysis

Further into the rocket predictions of what was learned from the thrust analysis to the

drag force analysis was to put it all together to find the prediction for the finale height for the

rocket. In order to do this there are a series of step that needed to be done. In order for us to make
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this work go more swiftly these steps were applied to an Excel spreadsheet. In this spreadsheet

these steps were different equations, that would take every two point and would apply them

forward into these equations that build off of each other. When all the equations for one row had

been solved, which involved two points of data, it was then applied to the next point, still using

the last point (first it would be t​1​& t​2 {equations}

​ , then the next would be t​2 &
​ t​3​{equations}, and

so on and so forth.). These are the series of equations that the two points would go through.

First there is the Average Thrust, what is done here is that measurements from data that

was taken from the thrust analysis using the forces (in Newtons(N)) when the engine was set off.

First these points are added together and then divide by 2 {(Thr​1​+Thr​2​)/2}. Next is the Drag

Force, this is simply done with the equation of the drag force, F​d​=k​d​ * V​2​, and then adding the

information from the rocket. Also with the Drag force, the velocity (V) is applied by using V​f

that was found from the equations from the two points prior. So for the first point the velocity

would have to equal 0 therefore making the velocity 0.

In order to find the Average Net Force, Thr​avg​- mg - F​d​, average thrust was already solved

so it is then plug into the equation by subtracting gravity (mg) and also the drag force (F​d​) from

previous equations. Then there is the average net impulse, F​net​ * 𝚫t = J(J is also defined as

impulse), which is alternated to the momentum theorem that changes the equation to F*t=𝚫P (P

= momentum), which then is changed by its definition,according to the law of momentum,

𝚫P=P​f​ - P​i​ which changes to P​f​ - P​i​= mv​f​ - mv​i​, then making the equation F*t= mv​f​ - mv​i​.
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The initial velocity is just the final velocity form the previous points, which then takes

place in solving the next rows final velocity. So from the initial velocity is is used to find the

rows final velocity, v​f​=v​i​+F​net​*𝚫t/m, that was just found is then added by net force multiplied by

delta time which is divided by mass. Then with these two new velocity that was just found,

adding both the final and initial velocity and dividing it by 2,(v​i​+v​f​)/2,is how the average velocity

is found. All of these equations have help lead to the final height of the rocket, the equation is h​i

+v​avg​ *𝚫t, the initial height is found from the final heights form the previous row.

Engine C Engine B Engine A

Big white 168.79m 63.99m 23.83m

Gold/Black 179.31m 71.91 28.19m

These are the height predictions for two rockets, the big white one and the gold and black, with a

different drag coefficient, 0.0005, due to the size of the rocket.

Flights Results

With the thrust analysis, as well as the data analysis, one has enough knowledge to figure

out the outcome of a rocket launch. When the information from these are applied to a launch and

the predictions are made but the actual outcome is most likely going to be different. Mostly

depends on how the prediction were made but the prediction usually isn’t that far from the actual

outcome. While this whole lab is based off of making predictions and finding the height a rocket

would go, this was done by actually launching rockets with the engine types C6, B6, and A8.

After launching the rockets, the heights were then figures out by calculation. These

measurements could have been easily found, but for this particular situation there was a different

method used due to the equipment used. When the rockets were launched in the air there was an
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tool that had a gun sort of formation. When the rocket is moving in the air one pulls the trigger

and follows the rocket and when the rocket reaches the highest point the trigger is released then

giving an angle that is read on a protractor contraption, that is given by a needle that is

influenced by gravity. Although this was a handy tool, there was only one of them available. The

other device that was used was a basic protractor, that in the middle was a string with a weight at

the bottom, the protractor was then placed upside down and the straight bottom would be the

point that followed the rocket. The reason that device was done this way was so that it could

have the same function as the one described earlier. The only catch is that from whatever

measurements that was retrieved from the protractor would have to be subtracted by 90. This was

done due to the fact that when the protractor was at rest it was parallel to the ground meaning it

that it was supposed to read zero, but with it being connected to a protractor its resting state

would be placed at 90​0​, and this could easily be fixed by subtracting 90 for the final result read.

In order for the result to be as accurate as possible, the measurement were done by

placing the devices, one of the tool and two of the protractors, in three different locations. One

would be straight away from the base and the other two would be set at the same distance, 51 m,

but set off to the side a bit. This was so that when the rocket is in the air it is not only the height

that is being estimated, but also the curvage of the rocket. Also with the heights, the heights of

the people measuring would be subtracted from the final result. Due to many forces action on the

rocket there would be a curvage on the rocket and the two devices that were set off to the side a

bit would help to find the points of the curvage so that it would be able to help with calculations

later on.
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The reason that these points were so important was so that when the average point of the

angles were calculated there would be a overall look at the path of the rocket, but if there was too

much of a curve in the rocket launch then the data would then just be considered not usable. The

path of the averages also helped to calculate due to the fact that the prediction made earlier on

were based off of many factors, and forces action upon the rocket were added later on, but the

predictions were also calculated going straight up. After finding the averages, the angle was then

used to find the height, just by plugging in the angle and distance to find the height(cosθ*d=h).

Once this is all done the height should be figured out, and when that is done it can then be

compared to the height that was predicted.

Gold/Black Engine A 20m

Gold/Black Engine B 71m

Gold/Black Engine C 204

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Conclusion

In the overall lab, the predictions for the height of the rocket and the final result that was

found from the launch of the rockets were different. These measurements may not be exactly the

same but this could be done by many factors, for example it could be by the curvage of the

rocket or by the manufacturing of the engine. Either way these small factors may throw the

numbers off by some points or decimals and or some rounding errors, but they should not be off

by a whole lot. If the points that were predicted and final height were off by a pretty big amount

that would have to be due either to the launch of the rocket, whether it curved to much, or by the

way the points were entered in the spreadsheet. The overall lab also had many different factors

that if with the correct device, could have helped with the calculations. For example with the

wind tunnel, the device that could have measured the drag force could have helped due to its

accurate predictions. Then there were the devices that could have helped find the final of the

actual rocket launch, and many more little detail that could have help the predictions and final

height predictions to get within very close numbers within each other.