User Guide

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Bottle Rocket Smorgasbord User Guide

55818 V0511

Note: These sheets may be photocopied and distributed to students. The Bottle Rocket Smorgasbord is designed to give students an opportunity to experiment with different types of bottle rockets and to determine which type would be the most efficient bottle rocket. There are many factors that can impact a rocket’s performance. To have a successful launch, there must be a certain amount of stability and acceleration to achieve maximum altitude. Some of the factors that can determine whether a launch will be successful are: •

Size of bottle

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Type of nose/transition cone

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Amount of water added to the bottle

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Location of the rocket’s center of pressure

•

Number of fins

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Location of the rocket’s center of gravity

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Placement of fins

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Launch pressure

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Size of fins

Mission •

To design a rocket that will reach maximum altitude.

and/or: •

To design a rocket that achieves the maximum flight time.

Materials Included •

Ping-Pong balls

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Body tubes

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Transition cone templates

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Nose cone templates

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Parachute

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Foam meat trays

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Balsa wood

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Plastic inserts

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Card material

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Sandpaper

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Air pump

•

Scissors

Items Required (not included) •

Water rocket launcher

• Cool-melt glue gun and glue •

Tape

Tips for Measuring Rocket Performance: • Use a stopwatch to measure flight time (from liftoff to touchdown). • Use a device like the Estes Altitude Finder (Pitsco #50126) to determine altitude. • Find the fin area using geometry principles. If you don’t know how, your math teacher can help. • When retesting a particular design, try changing only one variable at a time to evaluate results.

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Bottle Rocket Smorgasbord User Guide 55818 V0511

Table 1 – Rocket Design Attributes Bottle Rocket Design: ________________

Design Version:______

Bottle size Number of fins Fin area Nose cone type Recovery system

Bottle Rocket Smorgasbord User Guide 55818 V0511

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Table 2 – Rocket Performance

Flight time

Altitude

Water vol.

Bottle psi

Launch 3 Flight time

Altitude

Water vol.

Bottle psi

Launch 2 Flight time

Altitude

Design Version

Water vol.

Rocket Design

Bottle psi

Launch 1

P.O. Box 1708 • Pittsburg, KS 66762 shop.pitsco.com Toll-Free Orders 800-835-0686 4

Bottle Rocket Smorgasbord User Guide 55818 V0511