Confidential

Rocket Research
Memorandum
___________________________________________________
From: Anthony Haynes
To: Mr. Hendricks
Subject: Honors Physics

National Amesian Space Administration

Abstract
The rocket lab was an experiment that served to
predict the maximum heights rockets would reach, given the
experimentally determined thrust provided by each engine
and drag coefficient particular to each rocket; after the
prediction the rockets were launched and the actual height
was calculated for comparison. The predicted value for the
most successful launch, the yellow rocket was 63 meters;
the calculated value was 47 meters.

Introduction

The rocket lab was conducted in order to exercise all

the concepts in physics learned prior across the year and
combine them into one fluid project. The specifics to the
experiment included several stages, which cover these
concepts in depth so that the final goal of calculating the
maximum height of the rockets used could be done; these
predictions are then compared to results found after the
actual launch of the rockets to demonstrate how exact such
predictions could be as well as prove the underlying
significance of physics.
The four tiers of the rocket lab include:
v Thrust Analysis: The type of engine being used is
identified using calculation of area under the
curve.
v Air Resistance: The drag coefficient specific to
each rocket is calculated through direct
experimentation to allow for the drag force to be
factored into the final prediction process.
v Numeric Iteration: The process performed on Excel
that completes the calculations given the data found
from prior tiers, to allow for the identification of
the expected maximum height of the rocket.

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v Flight Results: The recording of circumstances
during launch and calculation of the actual height
reached, along with comparison to the predicted.

There are several processes performed, such as derivations,

and important terms used in the aforementioned tiers; their
definitions and significance are defined below:
v Kinematics: The branch of physics that studies pure
motion.
v Dynamics: The branch of physics that studies forces
that cause motion and their effect on systems.
v Drag Force: The effect otherwise known as air
resistance; the significance of air resistance must be
factored into the lab as the rockets are traveling at
such a high speed that a sizable force is created and
affects the motion of the rocket in kind as gravity or
the thrust.
v Drag Coefficient: The drag coefficient is a
measurement used to quantify the drag resistance of an
object in a fluid environment; the rocket in the
atmosphere. The significance is huge in that each
object carries a specific coefficient that in turn
affects the drag force. Additionally, the drag
coefficient may not be found analytically, so direct
experimentation and numeric modeling must be used.
v Impulse: An impelling force that prompts a change in
motion; it is equal to the change in momentum of an
object.
v Derivation of Impulse= Momentum
F=M*A=Force, F*T=Impulse, P=Momentum, P=Change in Momentum
F=M*(V/T) F*T=M*V F*T=M*(Vf-Vo) F*T=MVf-MVo
F*T=P Impulse=Change in Momentum
v Engine Types: There are different engines available
for rockets, each with different qualities. The types
used in this experiment were an A8, a B6, and a C6.
The letters correlate to a system in which A exhibits
a force of a set value and the following letters
create a force equal to approximately double the last.
Secondly, the first number after the letter represents
the average force that the engine puts out, the second
number is the delay time between the initial fuel
running out and the secondary one being ignited, so as
to activate the parachute; ie. A C6-5 engine would
generate an average of 6 Newtons, with a delay of 5
seconds.

Engine Type
Value Scale
Average Force Time Delay
A8-3
(A)=2.5
8
3
B6-8
(B)=5
6
8
C6-5
(C)=10
6
5
v One last thing to note: a rocket is simple to model in
space, without the influence of gravity; on Earth,
however, gravity is another force that must be
factored into calculations. The space example can be
observed below:

Vo= 0 m/s
Mass=200 kg
Po= 0
Time=4 sec.

Fthrust=2.16*10^6

Vf= (4.32*10^4 m/s

F*T=P F*T= P=Pf-Po F*T=Pf, Pf=M*Vf F*T=M*Vf

Vf=(F*T)/M ((2.16*10^6)*4=(200*Vf) (8.64*10^6)/200=Vf
Vf= (4.32*10^4) m/s

Engine Thrust Analysis

This is the first portion of the lab, in which the
engines thrust data is quantified for use in numeric
iteration later, additionally it is to find the average
force exerted by the engine.
This portion of the experiment required: a force
gauge, a rocket engine-installed in a box, as it would be a
rocket- and strapped to a car, a phosphorus activator for
the engine and a battery with alligator clips, a rail for
the car to be guided on, and a calculator with a CBL
attachment to measure results from the force gauge.
First, the set up of the CBL and force gauge. Connect the
force gauge into the CBL and activate the Data-mate
program. From here, zero the gauge for a more accurate
reading. Next set the parameters to record every 1/10 of a
second for a time interval of 3 seconds. Now is the
triggering; note in our scenario that a pushing force
registered as a negative number, so in setting the
triggering make sure it is upon a decrease with a threshold

value of -0.50 N. Lastly prestore 10% data. The

configuration is complete.
Now is the initial experiment portion setup. The rocket
car is to be put on the rail in line with the force gauge
so that it may acts its force against it. Next ensure the
activator is safely within the engine and that the
alligator clips are secured to both the ends of it as well
as the battery. The set-up it complete and the experiment
may proceed. See Below:

Fnormal
=Mg

Fthrust
pushes cart into
force gauge

Force
Gauge

Above: Ignitor
to battery
arrangement

Mg=Normal
Force

The experiment commences and the results are recorded

resulting in values outlined below.
With this data the area under the curve can be calculate
and as such allowing for the calculation of the impulse
created by the rocket. This will then allow for the
determination of the engine type, from an A, B, or C
engine; additionally the specifics of whether it is a B6 or
a B8 engine can be found.
IMPULSE GRAPHICAL RECORD:

IMPULSE DATA CHART- Note all Time values are exactly 0.1
seconds, represented width wise
TIME (T) FORCE
AREA
TIME (T) FORCE
AREA
(F)
(A1-14)
(F)
(A15-28)
0.0-0.3
0
0
1.7
3.74
0.374
0.4
2.07
0.207
1.8
3.86
0.386
0.5
8.51
0.851
1.9
3.92
0.392
0.6
5.96
0.596
2.0
3.86
0.386
0.7
4.71
0.471
2.1
3.92
0.392
0.8
4.47
0.447
2.2
3.86
0.386
0.9
3.53
0.353
2.3
4.13
0.413
1.0

3.95

0.395

2.4

0.64

0.064

1.1

4.19

0.419

2.5

0.24

0.024

1.2

3.77

0.377

2.6

0.21

0.021

1.3
1.4

3.56
3.71

0.356
0.371

2.7
2.8

0.21
0.18

0.021
0.018

1.5

4.01

0.401

2.9

0.15

0.015

1.6

3.86

0.386

3.0

0.12

0.012

The area under the curve is calculated by identifying

smaller snippets of data and averaging out the area across
a multitude of rectangles, where the force would be the yaxis and time would be the x-axis, much like one would
determine the area of the impulse otherwise, with F*T. The
conclusion of the total area under the curve is the sum of
all the values in the area column.
A(1-14)+ A(15+28)=
(0+.207+.851+.596+.471+.353+.395+.419+.377+.356+.371+.401+.
386)+(.374+.386+.392+.386+.392+.386+.413+.064+.024+.021+.01
8+.015+.012)= 8.127
With this it can be concluded that the impulse is 8.127. To
find the average force exerted which is directly related to
the engine type, the total force is taken and divided by
the time in total number of intervals. This is given by the
following:
((F1-14)+(F15-28))/30=2.9
The data yields a result of a C4 engine, however, in
reality the engine was a C6 engine. The margin of error
that was in the data is attributable to several
possibilities, the most likely being that the car with the
rocket was not completely aligned on the rail, causing it
the force to only be a component of the entire force the

rocket was capable of producing. Alternatively, the forces

that are associated with each engine are an average of the
manufacturers data; it is possible that this rocket was
simply on the lower end of the spectrum and was low on
gunpowder in comparison to the average.

Air Resistance-Drag Force

Analysis
This is the second installment of the rocket lab; the
purpose of this portion is to determine the air resistance,
or the drag force, that will be encountered by the rockets
we plan to use by experimentally determining the drag
coefficient.
This segment required the following materials: the
rocket(s) in question, a wind tunnel to create air flow,
and a wind meter, which will measure the speed of the wind
exiting the tunnel.
The setup of this portion only requires one to secure
the rocket in the glass box, ensure it is sealed, and prep
the cord to the wind tunnel for later activation, and the
placement of the wind meter at the posterior of the tunnel
so that it may accurately measure the resulting wind
speeds.
Now there are several issues to be addressed in
reference to the wind tunnel: first at hand, the rocket
originally in the tunnel is aligned with the horizontal
with the string at 90 degrees, and resulting changes in
angle are measured from there; next is the honeycomb shape
of the grate at the head of the tunnel, the purpose of this
grate and the unique shape it takes on is to reduce the
turbidity of the incoming air and produce a laminar flow
for more stable measurements of the angle the rocket turns
to; and lastly, in our case we were only able to fit the
yellow rocket into the wind tunnel to directly gather data
for finding the drag force, the white rockets drag force
was calculated through comparison between the yellow
rockets and a ping-pong balls. The calculations for this
are located further below.

The experiment commences and yields the results of a

change of 30 degrees and a wind speed of 32 m/s. Now the
work towards finding the drag force may is near complete,
however, not before deriving the necessary equation(s).
This picture helps illustrate the forces that were
observed on the yellow rocket, which can be used to
determine the equation that is used in all following
calculations:
Wind
Tunnel Free

Body Diagram

Tsin

Wind

TCos

Wind
Gauge

Fwind

Mg

32
m/s

From this the forces can be arranged to derive the drag

force, using the horizontal and vertical forces. Along
these axiss there are the following

TSin=Fd (Horizontal) and TCos=Mg (Vertical)

The vertical component can be rearranged to find T,
tension, resulting in T=Mg/Cos.
With tension identified we may now plug it into the
vertical for the drag force.
Fd=(Mg*Sin)/Cos Simplification Fd=Mg*Tan
In the last step of the derivation one can identify that it
has sine over cosine, which reduces to tangent, accompanied
by the original Mg, giving the intermediate equation
outline above. Now it is possible to use the given equation
of Fd=Kd*V^2, to identify the affecting drag coefficient.
Fd=Mg*Tan and Fd=Kd*V^2 Mg*Tan=Kd*V^2
Kd=(Mg*Tan)/V^2
Now finally we have the exact equation for finding the drag
coefficient for both the of the yellow rocket and the ping
pong ball, which in turn will allow for an approximation of
the white rockets.

The calculation of the yellow rocket is as follows:

Kd=(Mg*Tan)/V^2 Kd=(0.061kg*9.8)(Tan30)/32^2
0.345/32^2 0.0003
The yellow rocket has a drag coefficient of 0.0003.
The ping pong ball is as follows:
Kd=(Mg*Tan)/V^2 Kd=(0.0023kg*9.8)(Tan73)/12^2
0.0737/12^2 0.0005
The ping pong ball has a drag coefficient of 0.0005. Note
the difference in speeds is due to the use of different
wind tunnels.
To recall, the white rocket was too large to fit into
the wind tunnel itself, and as such had to be approximated;
with these two values, 0.0003 and 0.0005, and having
deduced that the white rocket appears to be in between the
yellow rocket and the ping pong ball in terms of size/
forward surface area, the white rocket may be approximated
to have a drag coefficient of 0.0004.

Numeric Iteration
This is the third quarter of the rocket lab; the
purpose of this is to perform the process of numeric
iteration-which is the general form of performing several
iterations, or rounds, of an experiment or calculation,
using accompanying data to find a desired variables valueto finally hypothesize the height the rocket will reach.
This is a necessary process and must be done because the
forces on the rocket are not constant during its flight,
and as such one equation is not sufficient to accurately
predict the height alone.
The required materials for this portion are as
follows: assuming the data for the thrust of each an A8,
B6, and C6 is known then the only requirement is that data
and a computer outfitted with Excel software. The Excel is
used to organize and perform calculations concerning the
thrust data.

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As previously noted, the forces demonstrated on the

free body diagram of the rocket in flight are not all
constant. In this situation the assumption that the mass of
the rocket is constant must be made, therefore allowing the
force of mg to be constant. Moving forward the fact that
neither the thrust force nor the drag force is constant
must be remembered, and as such additional equations are
needed to compensate.
The exact process in terms of moving from the initial
thrust measurements to determining the final height is in
accordance with the following calculations, simply
performed over a series of iterations to ensure the entire
spectrum of data is captured.
Initially the average thrust for a time interval of 0.1
seconds must be found given the two thrusts on each end of
the interval, this is exemplified in the equation below:
(Thr1+Thr2)/2=Average Force
The next calculation is that of the drag force, which
factors in the affects suffered from air resistance:
Drag force=drag coefficient* velocity squared Fd=kd*V^2
Now that these two values are known the average net force
may be calculated:
(Thravg-mg-Fd)=Net Force
With the net force found the average impulse may be
calculated, allowing for the determination of the final
velocity later.
Net Force* time=Average Net Impulse Fnet*t=Impulse
The initial velocity of any iteration is the final velocity
of the prior iteration.
The final velocity for an iteration is found using the
initial multiplied by the impulse, over mass:
(Vo+(Fnet* t))/Mass= Final velocity (Vo+Imp)/Mass=Vf
The average velocity for the given time interval is then
found by dividing by the number of velocities involved,
which is only two:
(Initial Velocity+Final Velocity)/2=Average Velocity
(Vo+Vf)/2=Vavg
And finally with all the preceding calculations done and
the average velocity found the estimated height for a given
time may be predicted:
(Initial Height+(Average velocity* time))=Final Height
(Ho+(Vavg* t)/Hf
With all the calculations involved in the Excel
spreadsheet one may now tailor the data for the desired
height prediction, in this case that is by identifying

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which rocket engine was used, as it pertains to the thrust

values, and which rocket itself was used, so that the
correct mass and drag coefficient will be substituted into
the calculations. In this particular experiment the yellow
rocket was used with a C6 engine; the following mass of the
combined rocket and engine is 63 grams or 0.063 kilograms,
and the drag coefficient identified in the last portion was
found to be 0.0003.
The table located on in the appendix contains the
results of the process, yielding the pink highlighted
prediction that the yellow rocket will reach a height of
77.65 meters, rounded upwards to 78 meters, having been
used with a C6 engine.
Additionally the red and yellow rocket with an A8 engine is
predicted to reach a height of 63 meters.
One last thing to note that stress the importance of the
drag coefficient is the results founded from a drag
coefficient of zero used in the numeric iteration. Had this
been the case for the rocket with the C engine it would be
expected to reach a height of nearly 400 meters.

Flight Results
This is the concluding portion of the rocket lab. In
this segment the rockets were launched and the actual final
height was found, with which the prediction identified in
the third portion is compared to, so as to determine the
accuracy of the prediction.
The materials necessary are as follows: the rockets
that are to be launched, engines, a stand in which to fire
the rockets off of, igniters and a battery with alligator
clips for activation, protractors to measure the angle that
the rocket reached, and a tape measure to measure the
distance from the rocket the angle was taken.
The set up requires a simple repetition of the
following steps: the rocket with engine is guided onto the

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launch stand, the igniter is secured to the rocket and the

alligator clips attached and the battery prepped for
activation, and the three angle measurers to get in
position, all 50 meters away from the launch site, 120
degrees apart.
There were several rockets that were launched,
however, the majority of launches resulted in crooked
flight paths and correlating wildly different angles
observed by the measurers which meant that the data had to
be discarded, as such only the original flight of the red
and yellow rocket with an A8 engine was viable and could
yield a height to compare the hypotheses to, which was
predicted at 63 meters.
The angle measures that were recorded were 40 degrees,
44 degrees, and 45 degrees, from which the average angle
can be found
(40+44+45)/3=43 Theta=43 degrees
From this point the use of trigonometry is all that is
needed to calculate the actual height the rocket traveled.
The diagram below covers the rearrangement of values to
solve for the height.

Figure 4.1 Figure 4.2

Tan =H/50
50Tan =H
50Tan 43=H

120*
H
=43*
50 Meters
50 Meters

As can be observed above, tangent is the most suitable trig

function to use in this case. Note, the height of the
observers must be added, as the angle reading is not from
ground level. The calculation is as follows:
Tan =y/x y=xTan Height=Length*Tan H=50*Tan43
H=46.6 +1.5 meters=48.1
Hf=48 meters

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This table organizes the results:

Rocket
Angles-Degree Predicted H.
Red/Yellow,
40, 44, 45=
63 meters
C6 engine
Average 43
Red/Black
47, 50, 74=
?? meters
B6 engine
Average 57

Actual H.
48 meters
79 meters

Now the comparison: the predicted value was 63 meters

high, the actual observed value was reported to be 48
meters.

Conclusion
As stated previously in the flight results portion,
the margin of error was actually quite minor. The results
could have been more accurate, however, as they are, they
are rather satisfactory; the initial launch of the red and
yellow rocket was predicted to reach a height of 63 meters
with an A8 engine, however, it only reached 48 meters.
This can be explained due to a variety of
complications, yet the most important and likely cause was
simply that the rocket did not have a perfectly straight
course and did not go straight up, preventing it from
reaching its optimum height-this was the case for several
rockets, ruining angle measures so much that their data had
to be discarded. Reasons why it may not have launched
straight: the launch stand from which the rockets were
fired off of may have had a tilt of its own or a bend in
the post, which would mean the path could never be
straight; secondly, there may have been wind that
interfered with the flight path of the rocket and in turn
affected the height it was able to reach; a fin on the
rocket was slightly bent, which would have interfered with
the aerodynamics of the rocket.
Additionally, as detrimental as the flight path of the
rocket was, there is another possibility within which the
fault was in the calculations; the drag coefficient was

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only measured to one significant figure, had it had more

the results may have been more fitting. The experimental
determination of the drag coefficient for the yellow rocket
was reported as 3*10^-4 or 0.0003, if the lower limit is
approached at 0.00025 a height of 66 meters is the newly
predicted height; likewise had the upper limit, 0.00035,
been approached the prediction would be 60 meters. With
these new parameters established, with error bars of 3
meters in either direction it is understandable that the
yellow rockets motion wasnt precisely as originally
predicted, being only 12 meters from the lower limit.

Reflection

I have quite a bit that comes to mind when it comes to

the rocket lab, a lot of which I did not really expect, but
the most important things I learned are I think I am
seriously considering study some form of physics in
college, as once you come to understand it its actually
really amazing what you can do, and weve only just
breached the surface with everything involved in this lab.
And next to that, the concepts do build onto each other
more than I would have thought, alongside with when put
into conjunction that they do have real world applications
and significance that affects a broad range of humanity.
To possibly make the lab better for next years
students I would say make a competition out of it. You
(Mr. Hendricks) had said earlier that it actually was quite
the gift in and of itself, being that it could be used in a
senior portfolio, and I agree, something like this is an
excellent thing to have, but maybe if someone wasnt all
too about college just yet, that competition between
classes and friends might incentivize people to really put
their best into it. A pizza or donut party for the winning
class doesnt sound too bad