rube goldberg
In this project we made a contraption that took multiple steps to complete a simple task. We made one that shoots confeti, pours soda, and dispenses m&m's.
Rocket Project Reflection
The rocket project has definitely been a highlight of my year here at Animas. I really liked the freedom and room for creativity in this project. I was partnered with Dylan Kroes and both of our rockets went pretty good. We decided to go for the long slim design. The first rocket we made went pretty high. I think it did good for a couple of reasons. First of all we made sure to have it as light as possible. Making it light was probably the main reason it went high. We made our nose cone out of fiberglass which really helped it stay below 1.5 pounds. We also made sure it was aerodynamic. We made both of our rockets at least 4 ft tall and we made sure they both and a smooth, sleek appearance. I think that we could have done a better job of making sure our parachute deployed. It only deployed once and that was just on the day we were testing the rockets. If our parachute deployed at exhibition it might have won. I liked Brandon's design even though it didn't work at exhibition. The two stage idea is a good one but there is a lot of things that can go wrong. I would probably “steal” Rebekah and Corrine's design just because there rocket did go high and the parachute did deploy. I liked the exhibition and I can't think of anything that could really be improved. Maybe next time You could have a group explain what would happen if they wanted to have a “tumble” rocket. Such as the rocket will turn sideways because of the fins and slowly drift down.
Physics behind the rocket
Every object on earth is being affected by physics, even if it is at rest there is still a lot of things happening to it. The rocket project had tons of different times when a number of things were happening to the rocket, and most of those things can be explained my Newton's laws;
As the rocket is shooting into the air there are still a lot of things happening. As it comes off the stopper it slowly starts to accelerate. The rocket gets faster and faster as it is losing water. In a frictionless environment the rocket would create a perfect parabola. Eventually gravity takes over and pulls the rocket back down to earth. The parachute uses air resistance to slow the rockets descent.
- 1) An object at rest will remain at rest unless acted on by an unbalanced force. An object in motion continues in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.
2) Acceleration is produced when a force acts on a mass. The greater the mass (of the object being accelerated) the greater the amount of force needed (to accelerate the object).
3) For every action there is an equal and opposite re-action.
As the rocket is shooting into the air there are still a lot of things happening. As it comes off the stopper it slowly starts to accelerate. The rocket gets faster and faster as it is losing water. In a frictionless environment the rocket would create a perfect parabola. Eventually gravity takes over and pulls the rocket back down to earth. The parachute uses air resistance to slow the rockets descent.