Straw Rocket Lab

SchulmanLabs 2011

Name:__________________

PURPOSE How can a straw rocket that flies the farthest distance be designed? BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Define the following words using the online encyclopedia. Be sure their meaning relates to rockets or aircraft.

Drag (air resistance) =

Thrust =

Draw a diagram that shows the forces involved in making a rocket move forward. Label one arrow as thrust and the other arrow as drag.

MATERIALS List the materials you will use. 1. 2. 3. 4. PROCEDURE

A. Research rocket ideas and other rocket designs. B. C. You may use clay, paperclips, staples, scissors and tape. Design one or more types of rockets. What type of paper will you use? What will the fins be shaped like? Sketch your design and have your teacher approve it before

starting. Make it neat, it will be turned in with your lab sheet. fins and it must be a minimum of 10 cm long.

Your rocket must

carry a payload of 1 small paperclip supplied by your teacher, it must have at least 2

HYPOTHESIS
On the back of this packet sketch a rocket design that you can build to fly the farthest. Write down 3 or more traits that your rocket should have. Keep in mind that the body of the rocket is a plastic straw.

Test Your Hypothesis

A. Have the teacher approve your design. B. C. Build your rocket and record its mass on the table below. Experiment and Modify your design to improve its flight distance. Remember to only change one variable at a time. D. Have your teacher store the rocket in a safe spot once you think it will fly as far as possible. We will have a contest the last day of the lab.

OBSERVATIONS Trial 1 2 3 4 5 Mass (grams) --------------NA--------------Design change Distance (meters)

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION (to be completed after the competition) 1) What were 3 controls (the things that remained the same for every test) in this experiment? a) ______________________________________ b) ______________________________________ c) ______________________________________ 2) What were 3 of the independent variables? a) ______________________________________ b) ______________________________________ c) ______________________________________

3) What was the dependent variable? There was only one.

4) Use arrows in the diagram below to label the different forces acting on your rocket at the time of launch. (drag, thrust and gravity)

5) How did the rockets that flew the farthest differ from those that flew the shortest?

6) How did drag affect your rocket?

7) Which design minimized (made less) drag? How was it minimized?