Day 08 - Rocket Design
There are 7 main parts to a simple rocket:
- body tube
- engine holder assembly
- fins
- launch lug
- nose cone
- shock cord
- recovery system
Over the course of this week you will follow through the 10 steps listed in the instruction set I will give you along with your rocket kit. We're going to re-use these instruction sets, so do not damage them and do not mark them up. If you need something to mark up, you should take separate notes!
Open your kit and organize your supplies as shown in the instruction manual diagram. Take a photo of the parts and upload it to Google Drive. Create a Google Slide and paste a copy of your photo onto a slide and add labels to each part. Give your project rocket a (school appropriate) name and put that at the top of the slide. Once you have completed this step, show me and I will approve you to complete Step 1: Assemble the Engine Mount....
Remember that Newton's third law of motion (every action produces an equal and opposite reaction) is the way I need you to be able to explain how a rocket launches up off a launch pad. It will use a chemical engine (which is why it makes sense to do this project as part of STEM 3), and the exothermic reaction in the engine turns solid propellant into gas. The dramatic increase in volume of matter during this change of state pushes down and out from the engine and the rocket lifts up in reaction to that action.
To help us track our rockets (they're going to achieve significant altitude), it has a three-stage engine. The first stage produces thrust and the second stage releases smoke. At this time there is no more thrust and the soaring rocket will begin to slow because gravity applies constant downward acceleration on the rocket. The highest point reached by the rocket is called the apogee. This is the point at which the third stage of the engine activates. It is another exothermic reaction turning solids into gases, but this is at the top of the engine instead of at the bottom. As a result, it will pop the cone out of the top of the rocket to allow the parachute to open and slow its descent enough for us to watch it return to Earth.
- acceleration
- the rate at which an object's speed changes
- compression
- squeezing an object to reduce the space it occupies
- intuit
- to know something without prior study
- Newton's laws of motion
- they remind us that objects need force to change direction or velocity, and that every force in the universe is opposed by its equal; also, F=ma, or force equals mass times acceleration
- pneumatics
- any technology using air pressure to do work
