Rocket Report

Austin Reed Eichelberger

Academy for Math, Engineering, and Science

Physics A4

Doug Hendricks

Abstract
The general class A4 did a bunch of experiments that allowed the class to predict the height of a few rockets then measure the height of the rockets after launching them. To do this the class first discovered the type of engine in a rocket and what the engine type means. The class then discovered the drag co-efficient to use in order to be accurate when predicting the rockets final height in the air before actually launching them (these predictions are in the table below). The rockets were then launched and it was that the predictions were reasonably close; however, if the experiment was done in a different way the predictions would be closer to the actual data. Rocket Types White B6 Silver B6 White C6 White A8 Predicted Final Height of the Rocket 45 44 103 19 Actual Final Height of the Rocket 68 59 147 23

Introduction
Doug Hendrickss A4 General Physics class did these series of labs to better understand kinematics, dynamics, impulse, momentum, drag force, the impulse momentum theorem, and physics in general and because it would impact ones grade if one choose not to do it. To understand this report one will need to understand these things: Kinematics- a branch of mechanics that deals with pure motion, without reference to the masses or forces involved in it. Dynamics- a branch of mechanics that is concerned with the effects of forces on the motion of a body or system of bodies, especially of forces that do not originate within the system itself. Kinetics- Also called Dynamics. Impulse- force times the time interval of the force. Momentum- The mass of an object multiplied by its velocity. Drag Force- Air Resistance, the force of the air on an object (almost impossible to notice until the object goes fast enough for it to impact it on a noticeable level.)

Drag Coefficient- Part of the equation to find the drag force (Fd = Kd v^2), depends on the size and shape of an object. Impulse-Momentum Theorem- By derivation one could get the impulse-momentum theorem which states Impulse = the change in Momentum (I = P). One would derive this like so: Impulse = Force x time (Newtons Second Law- Force = Mass Acceleration) Impulse = Time x Acceleration Mass (Acceleration = the change in velocity over the change in time or A = V T) Impulse = Mass Time V T (T= Time interval = Time final Time initial) If the start is always 0 seconds like it should be then Time final- Time initial then equals the final time or time. Impulse = Mass V Time Time (Time Cancels) Impulse = Mass V (Velocity = Final Velocity Initial Velocity) Impulse = Mass Final Velocity Mass Initial Velocity (Mass Velocity = P or Momentum) Impulse = P Final P Initial Or Impulse = P Also the engine name meaning is very important to understand in order to understand this lab. An rocket engine consists of three parts: a letter representing the thrust, a number representing the maximum thrust (or force) the rocket engine will put out, and another number that is the delay time (the experiment will not be hindered in the slightest if this number is not included therefore it will be left out.) the letters corresponding to Impulse are as follows: A = 2.5 Impulse, B =5.0, C= 10.0, and so on doubling per letter.

The class used these things and a process called numerical iteration to discover the final height of the launched rockets.

Engine Thrust Analysis

The class will discover the type of engine a certain rocket in a rocket engine would have using calculator data from a launch. The equipment being is used is as follows: a rocket duck taped to a cart, a magnetic rail that the cart will stick to (magnetically), a calculator hooked up to a databoard, the program datamate (on the calculator), a sensor on the rail that would give datamate its data, a battery hooked up to a phosphorus igniter wire that will be hooked up to the rocket engine (This way the rocket may be launched at a distance and one may keep their eyebrows.) When this experiment was started the calculator program datamate and it noticed it was hooked up to a force sensor so it set itself to measure force. However, it was measuring force when no force was applied. This means that the program will need to zero itself in order to properly calculate what the value of zero force is. Then the class will set datamate to record every tenth of a second for 7 seconds. This means there will be 70 data samples. Then the program will need to have its triggering feature set. Triggering is where the calculator starts collecting data when the y value (y is the dependent variable) starts to increase or decrease. (The y variable is force, and the x variable, which is the independent variable, is time.) Datamate has the option to wither it starts the clock when the y value increases or decreases. Please note that the sensor will read the force of the cart pushing on it as negative (this is okay though because force is a vector and a negative value only means that the force its pushing on a certain side of the sensor.) so it will have to be set to start when the y value decreases. Now the class will set up the rocket to the igniter wire which will be hooked to the battery. When the battery is turned on the igniter wire will heat up and then it will act as a match lighting off the rocket at a safe distance. After the launch datamate will put the data on a graph using the lists L1 (X) and L2 (Y). Now in order to find the engine type will need to find the impulse of the rocket (force time, X (Time) Y (Force), Length Width). To do this one will take the area (L W) of the data which will be plotted on the calculator using the statplot function. If we take the area of the data it

will turn out to be about 9.45 which can be rounded to 10 which means its a C engine rocket [Hand drawn graph is in the appendix]. Now there is one more part of the rocket engine that the can be found, the maximum thrust or the highest y value. The table below shows the time and the thrust at that moment in time. Time (Seconds) 0- .5 .6 .7 .8 .9 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 3.0 3.1 3.2 Force (Thrust) 0 1.8 9.3 6.1 4.6 4.4 4.2 4.2 4.2 4.3 4.1 4 4.2 4.1 4 4 4 3.9 4 4.1 4.2 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 0

As shown in the table the maximum thrust is about 9 making the engine a C9 rocket engine.

Drag Force (Air Resistance)

In order to accurately predict how high these rockets will go, one will need to find the drag co-efficient. The drag co-efficient is proportionality constant (represented as Kd) that is used in the equation: Fd = Kd V^2 to find the air resistance acting on an object. Now to discover the drag coefficient one will need to do a few things: First get a rocket, Second place the rocket in a wind tunnel that it can fit in (one with honeycomb shaped opening between the actual tunnel and the fan to deal with turbulence.), the mass of the rocket (or a scale to weigh it) in kilograms, and a wind speed gauge. Also understanding math would be helpful. First the class will put the rocket in the wind tunnel and then start the wind tunnel. The win d tunnel (according to the wind speed gauge.) blows air at a constant velocity (thanks to the honeycombs!) of 15 m/s. So now the class will use a free body diagram of the rocket in the wind tunnel to help us find the drag coefficient.

Picture #1

As it is shown in the free body diagram (picture #1) the forces acting on the rocket in the wind tunnel are Fd (drag force), mg (mass gravity), and the tension of one rope (the tension of the rope will broken up into its vertical and its horizontal components, T cos and T sin, because the air will be pushing the rocket at an angle.) Now thanks to Newtons third law it is known that T cos equals mg and T sin equals Fd therefore: T sin = Fd And, T cos = mg Now the class will need to combine these two equations.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

T cos = mg Divide both sides by cos T = mg cos Now plug in T into the second equation. (mg cos) sin = Fd (mg sin) cos = Fd tan = sin cos Fd = mg tan

And the class just needs the angle the rocket and the rope make to find the drag coefficient. When the wind tunnel is turned on, one can using a protractor find this angle. Using this one would find that the angle in this case is 30 degrees. So now using the two equations (Fd = Kd V^2 and Fd = mg tan) we can find the drag co-efficient by first finding the drag force. But to use these equations one more number is required the mass of the rocket which when weighed is 61 grams (but it needs to be in kilograms so .061 kilograms). 1. Fd = (.061)(9.8)tan(30) 2. Fd = .345139909 Now that the drag force has been discovered the drag co-efficient will be easy to find. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Fd = Kd V^2 Divide both sides by V^2 Kd = Fd V^2 Kd = (.345139909) (15)^2 Kd = .00153392

And so the drag co-efficient is .00153392 or .0015.

Numerical Model
The class calculated the final height of the rocket for our predictions using the total mass of the rocket and the drag coefficient and many equations on an excel spreadsheet. Average Thrust: (Thrust1 +Thrust) Drag Force: Fd = Kd V^2 (uses prior final velocity) Average Net Force: Average Thrust- mg- Fd

Average Net Impulse: Net Force T Initial Velocity: last rows final velocity (0 for first row) Final Velocity: (Initial Velocity + Net Force T) Mass Average Velocity: (Initial Velocity + Final Velocity) 2 Initial Height: 0 first time then last rows final height Final Height: (Initial Height + Average Velocity) T Looking at the spreadsheet [In appendix] one can see the final height column rises until it reaches a peak and starts falling. The final height that has the highest number or the one before the numbers fall (same one) is our predicted final height of that rocket. Plug in the correct thrust data and mass for each rocket type (Silver C6, B6, A8, Big White C6, B6, A8, and Small White 1/2A3) and the predictions for each of the rockets will be done. Now the drag coefficient(s) are different for each rocket so that messes with the classes predictions but since we cant fit these rockets in the wind tunnel the class will pretend the drag co -efficient(s) are the same although it is not the precise thing to do. Anyway the final height predictions are: Silver C6: 101 Silver B6: 44 Silver A8: 19 Big White C6: 103 Big White B6: 45 Big White A8: 20 Small White 1/2A3: 13 If ones prediction are not the same as this then one might look at air resistance (the drag co- efficient that is) because if there was no air resistance the Silver C6 could go to 351.45 meters and the class wouldnt be able to get there rocket back if it went that ridiculously high up.

Flight Results
To check if the class made accurate predictions, they were put to the test by measuring the height of actual launched rockets using geometry. To do this the class had three of it students measure the angle of the rocket at its highest point by using a protractor. For this to work though these three people all had to be standing 50 meters away from the rocket.

Picture #1 They have to be 50 meters apart and there has to be three because each they will make a big triangle, however, this triangle may helpful using tan, sin, and cos but a rocket almost never goes straight up it goes instead of to the left or right. This means that each of their angles will be different.

Picture # 2

This is why it is important to have three people to average their angles, because technically there are wrong but close. The average of their angles will get the class closer the measurement of the real angle. After the average has been taken we can use adj. tan. =

opp. (tan. = opp. adj. but by multiplying both sides by adj. we get this easier to use equation.)

White B6 Silver B6 White C6 White A8

Person # 1s Angles 60 58 80 24

Person #2s Angles 50 40 70 20

Person # 3s Angles 50 50 70 25

Average 53 49 71 23

Picture #3 Now, one just needs to plugs 50 meters and the average angle to get the final heights of each of the launched rockets.

Picture #4

After plugging the averages into the equation we can then get the actual final height of the rockets. Except the class also needs to put these three peoples heights into the equation, because the triangle, of which this equation is using, is made with these peoples eye level which is above ground level. These people all are about 1.6 meters tall (the class needs to stay in meters so the measurements are all the same.) so add that to the triangle equation and the actual final height has been found. White B6- 68 meters Silver B6- 59 meters White C6- 147 White A8- 23

Conclusion
As one looks at the actual final height of the rockets and the predicted there is a noticeable difference in the numbers (although not too bad). Rocket Types White B6 Silver B6 White C6 White A8 Predicted Final Height of the Rocket 45 44 103 19 Actual Final Height of the Rocket 68 59 147 23

Now the class knows that the predictions are a little off because of the fact the class used the same drag co-efficient for all the rockets but should that make this big of a difference? It turns out that the classs predictions are fine enough, however, could be improved. Because of human error is looking up into bright sky to get the angle at its highest point one cant be certain that the angles are correct. This sadly was unavoidable due to the fact human eyes and human reaction time, are not perfect. However, if the class used an altimeter to get a more accurate final height by using air pressure versus the human eye.

Reflection
This report helped me immensely to understand physics especially impulse. However, this did take a lot of time and although it was worth it we should of took labs slower and had more time to get this done. Austin Eichelberger

Appendix
Excel spreadsheet and hand drawn graph. Papers stapled on back.