COVER LETTER OUR MATH 10 AND PHYSICS PROJECT FOR THIS SEMESTER WAS MAKING BOTTLE ROCKETS THAT FLEW HIGH AND HAD AN EFFECTIVE DESCENT MECHANISM. IN MATH, WE LEARNED HOW TO CALCULATE THE MAXIMUM HEIGHT OF OUR ROCKETS, THE THEORETICAL FLIGHT TIME, THE FORCE OF GRAVITY AND THRUST FORCE, THE INITIAL VELOCITY THAT OUR ROCKET UNDERWENT, AS WELL AS THE DESCENT VELOCITY. IN OUR STUDIES OF PHYSICS BEFORE WE STARTED TO WORK ON OUR ROCKETS, WE LEARNED ABOUT THE RULES OF PHYSICS AND WHY OUR ROCKETS WOULD OR WOULDN'T WORK. WITH OUR KNOWLEDGE OF PHYSICS, WE WORKED THROUGH THE ENGINEERING DESIGN PROCESS TO COME UP WITH OUR FINAL DESIGN. THERE ARE SEVEN STEPS IN THE EDP. THE FIRST IS ASK → RESEARCH → IMAGINE → PLAN → CREATE → TEST → IMPROVE. WE USE THE EDP TO FIND A SOLUTION TO A SPECIFIC PROBLEM. WHILE MAKING THE ROCKET, WE USED ALL OF THE STEPS OF THE EDP, BUT WE USED RESEARCH, IMAGINE, TEST, AND IMPROVE THE MOST. WE TESTED OUR ROCKET THREE TIMES AND DECIDED THAT WE WANTED TO CHANGE OUR DESIGN. THEN WE WENT BACK TO RESEARCHING WHAT WOULD BE BEST FOR THE FLIGHT OF OUR ROCKET. WHEN DESCRIBING A ROCKET'S FLIGHT, WE USED QUADRATIC EQUATIONS. A QUADRATIC EQUATION IS DEFINED AS AN EQUATION THAT HAS ONE UNKNOWN TERM, WHICH IS TO THE POWER OF 2. WHEN WE GRAPH A QUADRATIC EQUATION, YOU WILL SEE AN ARC AT THE POINT AT THE TOP, WHICH REPRESENTS THE MAXIMUM HEIGHT OF THE ROCKET. THIS POINT FOR MY ROCKET WAS (4.2, 88.33). THE POSITION OF MY ROCKET AT MAX HEIGHT WAS 88.33 FEET AT 4.2 SECONDS. THE FIRST TIME THE QUADRATIC CROSSES THE X AXIS WHEN GRAPHED REPRESENTS WHERE THE ROCKET STARTS, AND THE SECOND POINT REPRESENTS WHERE THE ROCKET WOULD LAND IF THERE WAS NO PARACHUTE. THE X AXIS REPRESENTS THE TIME THAT IS PASSING, AND THE Y AXIS REPRESENTS THE HEIGHT. THE GRAPH LOOKS LIKE AN ARC BECAUSE THE VELOCITY OF THE ROCKET IS CHANGING OVER TIME. THE ACCELERATION OF THE ROCKET IS THE CHANGE IN VELOCITY, AND IT CAN BE VIEWED AS A CURVE. THE WAY THAT OUR ROCKETS DESCENDED DOES NOT MATCH THE WAY THAT GRAPH SHOWS IT BECAUSE OF THE PARACHUTE. THIS MAKES THE DESCENT OF THE ROCKET LONGER AND SAFER. NEWTON'S 3 LAWS OF MOTION HELP US UNDERSTAND WHY THINGS HAPPEN THE WAY THEY DO. NEWTON'S FIRST LAW OF MOTION STATES THAT AN OBJECT IN MOTION STAYS IN MOTION UNLESS ACTED ON BY AN OUTSIDE FORCE. WHEN OUR ROCKET WAS AT REST BEFORE LAUNCH, IT WAS AT REST BECAUSE THE NORMAL FORCE WAS BALANCED WITH GRAVITY. CREATING A NET FORCE OF 0. DURING THE TAKEOFF STAGE OF FLIGHT, THE THRUST HAD TO BE STRONGER THAN THE INERTIA TO CREATE POSITIVE ACCELERATION. NEWTON'S SECOND LAW IS AN EQUATION. FORCE = MASS X ACCELERATION, OR ACCELERATION = FORCE/MASS. IT REPRESENTS A RELATIONSHIP THAT ALLOWS US TO EXPLORE HOW CHANGING FORCE, MASS, OR ACCELERATION AFFECTS THE OTHER TWO VALUES. THE LESS MASS THE ROCKET HAS, THE LESS FORCE IS NEEDED TO CREATE ACCELERATION. MASS IS THE AMOUNT OF MATTER AN OBJECT CONTAINS. NEWTON'S THIRD LAW STATES THAT EVERY ACTION HAS AN EQUAL AND OPPOSITE REACTION. IN THE STAGE OF TAKEOFF, THE WATER PRESSES INTO THE GROUND, AND THE GROUND PUSHES BACK, ALLOWING IT TO ACCELERATE.
REFLECTION ONE OF THE STEPS IN THE EDP THAT I WAS MOST SUCCESSFUL IN WAS THE TEST ALONG WITH CREATING AND IMPROVING. ME AND MY PARTNER TESTED OUR ROCKET THREE TIMES AND MADE IMPROVEMENTS. OUR INITIAL DESIGN FOR OUR ROCKET HAD A BACKSLIDER TUBE THAT WAS MADE OF ROLLED-UP FOLDERS. AFTER TESTING, WE RELEASED OUR ROCKET, WHICH DID NOT FLY STRAIGHT BECAUSE THE FOLDERS WERE SLIGHTLY CROOKED. WE CAME UP WITH A NEW PLAN FOR OUR BACKSLIDER AND MADE IT OUT OF A FLUORESCENT LIGHT TUBE COVER. WE TESTED IT AGAIN, AND IT FLEW STRAIGHTER THE SECOND TIME, BUT WE THEN REALIZED THAT OUR FINS WERE NOT EVEN. SO WE WENT BACK AND MADE THAT ADJUSTMENT. ONE OF THE STEPS OF THE EDP THAT I STRUGGLED WITH WAS RESEARCH. AT THE BEGINNING OF THE PROJECT, I DID SOME RESEARCH ON WHAT MAKES A GOOD ROCKET, BUT AS I BEGAN TO ACTUALLY MAKE IT, I DIDN’T GO BACK TO RESEARCHING. I ENJOY WORKING WITH MY HANDS, AND I GET DISTRACTED BY MY OWN IDEAS RATHER THAN WHAT IS PROVEN TO BE THE MOST EFFECTIVE DESIGN ACCORDING TO RESEARCH.