Final Rocket Report

By: Sophie Agutter

For: Mr.Hendricks
Physics H
17 December 2019
Abstract
 This lab predicted and measured the heights of rockets launched in a field. Three
different rockets, with three different types of engines, were used. The rocket that used a C
engine went quite askew. Because the C engine caused this rocket to travel higher than the
others, it was very difficult to collect accurate flight data for this rocket. However, while
launching the A and B engines, fairly accurate data was recorded.

Engine A Engine B Engine C

Predicted 83m 153m 296m

Actual 118m 127m 357m

In this experiment, students experimentally identified the type of engine based on the
engine’s average force exerted. Students also found the coefficient of the drag force, or air
resistance, for the rockets used through the experiments. The data received from those
experiments were used to predict the height of each rocket and each engine used. Once that was
all done, the final experiment could take place. The rockets were launched outside, using people
and protractors from three different angles around the launch pad. Then students went back
inside and trigonometry was used to calculate the final height of each rocket.

Introduction
The reason for doing this rocket report was to connect the concepts and equations learned in
physics this year, to a real-world situation. This rocket lab connected the majority of kinematics
and dynamics that were taught this year. Kinematics is the study of motion, acceleration, etc.,
and dynamics is the study of how forces affect kinematics, such as Newton’s Laws, Kepler’s
Laws, etc.. To begin the process of connecting kinematics and dynamics to real life, the
maximum height of three different rockets were predicted and then later tested. The impulse-
momentum theorem was used to determine the heights of the rockets.
The derivation of the
impulse-momentum
theorem is shown to
the left.
Although the same
technique and
equations were used
to predict and
determine the heights
of the rockets,
different data was
used. This is because
each of the rockets
had a different engine.
The first engine used
was an A8 engine, the
second used a B6, and
the third, a C6. The difference between the three engines is quite simple and obvious. The
number represents the amount of thrust the rocket gives out, and the letter is the amount of time
it represents the
impulse.
The chart
differentiating the
rocket engines is
shown to the left.
Throughout the lab
reports, many
different vocabulary
words were used to
describe various
things and outcomes
of the experiments,
to clear up
confusion among
the readers, below
are the definitions.
Impulse is a driving
or motivating force.
The impulse was
used in many equations and derivations throughout the process. Momentum was another term
used throughout. This means the quantity of motion of a moving body, measured as a product of
its mass and velocity. Next, Drag Force is a frequently referenced term. Drag Force is a force
acting opposite to the relative motion of any object moving with respect to a surrounding fluid.
This can exist between two fluid layers or a fluid and a solid surface. This was a very important
component of the calculations. The Drag Coefficient was also important. The drag coefficient is
a quantity that is used to quantify the drag or resistance of an object. All of these terms were used
throughout the report and all of the experiments that were conducted.
Next, to accurately represent the maximum height that the rockets reached, a technique called
numerical iteration needed to be used. This essentially is when one splits the non-linear line data
from the rocket into small rectangles, therefore multiplying the height by width for each small
rectangle in hopes of accurately find the total area under the data curve. Numerical Iteration was
needed in this circumstance because with the given data and graph, the total area would not have
been able to be calculated. Although Numerical Iteration cannot be one-hundred percent
accurate, it very closely represented the data.

Thrust Analysis
Set-up
The purpose of this lab was to determine how much thrust the rocket engine gave out at each
tenth of a second interval. These numbers will be needed later to determine how high the rocket
will travel. To set this lab up, the force sensor was set up. To activate the recording of data while
avoiding human error, triggering was used. The force sensor would start recording when the
force decreases below -1 Newton. The sensor would record 10 points per second. The numbers
were also recorded in negative numbers because the sensor reads a pushing force as negative and
a pulling force as positive. Before recording, the gauge was zeroed to get accurate results. The
rocket was attached to a metal track with two loose-fitting velcro straps. The rocket was pushing
against the force sensor with the opposite side from the rocket.

To ignite the rocket engine safely, a phosphorus ignitor was used. Phosphorus is the same
material used on the ends of lighters, so it was a very effective way of igniting the engine. The
ignitor was attached to the engine with a small plastic clip, two small wires were attached to the
ignitor to send electricity in order to ignite the engine.

Thrust Data
Time Force
 0.0 0.0

0.1 5.9

0.2 15.2

0.3 4.9

0.4 4.4

0.5 4.4

0.6 4.0

0.7 4.1

0.8 4.2

0.9 3.9

1.0 4.0

1.1 3.8

1.2 3.7

1.3 3.8

1.4 4.0

1.5 3.9

1.6 3.5

1.7 3.6

1.8 3.8

1.9 2.8

2.0 0.0

After this, the total impulse and type of engine needed to be found. In order to do this, the area
under the Thrust vs Time curve needed to be found. One needed to draw in small rectangles on
the graph, to help calculate time by force, which is defined as impulse. After calculations, the
total impulse was 8.79N. This information was used to determine the engine type. Since a type C
 rocket engine gives off an average of
10N, a person determined that this engine
was the closest to a C. After this was
found, the average force needed to be
found. This was done by using the
impulse
following equation: F avg= .
time ❑
Since impulse was 8.79N, and the total
amount of time was 2.0 seconds, the
average force came out to be 4.4N. This
helped determine that the engine was a
C-5 engine.

Drag Force Analysis

Purpose
The purpose of this lab was to determine
the drag coefficient of the rocket. This
was necessary to find this coefficient
because of the impact that drag force has
on an object moving at a high speed. If
one were to ignore air resistance, the data
for how high the rocket would travel
would be highly inaccurate. The drag coefficient varies depending on the size and shape of the
object. Sharp corners and box-like shapes have larger drag coefficients than smooth and round
surfaces. This is why modern cars have resorted to round corners and have moved away from
sharp corners and boxy shaped cars. The force of the air resistance is proportional to velocity
squared. To make the air resistance equal velocity squared, the velocity needs to be multiplied by
a constant. This constant is represented by a k. F drag=k v 2 is the final equation.
Set-Up
To set up for this lab, an air tunnel needed to be set up. On one side of this air tunnel, there was a
fan, blowing the air out of the glass chamber in the middle, and on the other side, there was an
opening pulling air into the chamber. There was a rocket hanging from a string inside of the glass
chamber and a protractor there to measure what angle the rocket is pushed to. To avoid turbulent
air, there is a honeycomb structure between the fan and the glass chamber. This helped create a
laminar flow inside the chamber. This resulted in more accurate results.
Drag Coefficient Data
To determine the drag coefficient of the rocket, an equation needed to be derived.

Once this equation was derived, the data was recorded. The angle was measured three separate
times to get the most accurate results possible.
#1 #2 #3 Average

57∘ 55∘ 54∘ 55.3∘

To get the actual angle that the rocket was tilted at, 55.3 needed to be subtracted from 90. After
this calculation, Θ=34.7 ∘. After this information was found, the drag force could be found using
F drag=mg× tan Θ. The mass of the rocket was 0.043 kg. The numbers were plugged in and the
drag force was solved for. F drag= 0.043(9.8)tan(34.7). F drag= 0.29 N.
After this is found, the drag coefficient needed to be solved for using F drag= kV 2. K was solved
F drag
for. K= 2 . The velocity is represented by how fast the wind was blowing inside the chamber.
V
0.29
It was blowing at 32 m/s. K= . K= 2.8 ×10−4. However, since the angle was measured by
322
eyesight and could not have been 100 % accurate, one can only be as confident in their answer as
N s2
one significant figure, therefore this rounded off to 3 ×10−4 2 .
m
 Height Prediction Analysis

Purpose
The purpose of this lab was to predict the height that the rocket will travel. This was done with
many steps. The first of many steps was filling out a chart that shows all the different
information needed, however, the height of the rocket is dependant on the rocket engine,
therefore the chart needed to be filled out 3 separate times, for each the A8 engine, B6 engine,
and C6 engine.
Engine Type With Air Without Air
Resistance Resistance

A 83.22 149.45

B 152.87 435.0

C 295.81 1324.18
In the chart, there were 9 columns of information. In the first column, the average thrust needed
to be calculated. This was done by taking the first thrust measured at the beginning of a tenth of a
second and adding it to the thrust measured at the end of the tenth of a second, then dividing it in
half. In the second column, the drag force needed to be calculated. This was done by using the
equation F d=k d × v 2. V represented the velocity calculated for the previous tenth of a second.
The average net force then needed to be calculated. To do this, one must use this equation
Thr avg−mg−F d. For the next column, the average net impulse needed to be calculated. To do so,
the net force needed to be multiplied by the change in time, which in this case, was always 0.1
seconds. Next, the initial velocity. This is simply just the final velocity measured in the previous
tenth of a second. The final velocity then needed to be found by adding the final height measured
in the previous tenth of a second. Then finally, the final height needed to be found. This was
done by adding the initial height with the average velocity, then, multiplying it by the change in
time or 0.1 seconds.
In the data, air resistance is accounted for because without air resistance acting on the rocket, it
would continue to travel upwards until gravity acts on it. This was a crucial step in the
calculations because, without it, the data would be inadmissible. To find the predicted height on
the spreadsheet, the height measurement right before the rocket’s height starts declining again is
the final predicted height. As for the reason why the spreadsheet was used in the first place, it
was because it helped show the time in between when the rocket’s engine stops burning, and
when it reaches its maximum height.

Flight Results
Set-Up
To prepare for this lab, there were many steps taken. The first step was to set up the rockets
themselves. The parachutes of the rockets needed to be protected from the fire produced by the
rocket. This was done by using a technique called wadding. This is when one takes a flame-
resistant piece of paper and stuffs it in the hole
of the rocket so that it is resting in between the
rocket and the parachute. After this is done for
all three rockets, the launching station needed
to be set up. The station had three legs and one
large pole in the middle of the three legs. The
rocket had a loop on the side of it that the pole
slid through in order to keep the rocket upright
during take-off. To light the rocket engine,
ignitors were used, identical to the ignitors used
in the Thrust Force lab. To measure the height
that the rocket traveled, three people were
stationed in a triangle shape, 50 meters away
from where the rockets were being launched.
Each person had a protractor device which they followed the rocket upwards while it was being
launched, they then read the angle of the protractor. The average of all three people’s angle
measurements was recorded. This method of height measurement was used because it was a way
to avoid data error if the rocket curved while in flight.n

Flight Data
The rockets were launched with the three different types of engines, the A8, B6, and C6. This
was the collected data.
Person 1 Person 2 Person 3 Average Height Predicted
Angle Height

A8 65 70 65 67 118 83

B6 70 55 80 68 127 153

C6 85 75 86 82 357 296
Using each angle measurement, the height was calculated using H=50tan(Θ) + 1.5.
The reason for adding the 1.5 to the
height is to account for the height of
the person measuring the angle. The
average person is 1.5 meters tall.
Using the fact that we know the
distance between the rocket and the
observers, and the angle of the
rocket to the ground, a tangent can
be used to determine the height.
Although the three observers
somewhat helped avoid a huge
percent error when it came to the
rocket curving during flight, there
was a massive percent error with
humans angle measurement. There is
no way that the accuracy would be
good when the rockets traveled so
high that it was very difficult to see and also the fact that they rarely flew straight up.

Conclusion

After the data for these experiments were collected, the predicted and measured heights
were somewhat close considering all of the errors that could have occurred. The actual height of
the rockets A, B, and C, were fairly close to the prediction. When the predictions were made
they were all based on the rocket going straight up. Knowing that rockets almost never go
straight up it would be wrong to expect that the predicted is equivalent to the measured. When
the rockets were fired, it became hard to keep track of where they went because of how high
they go. The clouds and sky, made it hard to see as well, so trying to see the maximum height
would be hard by just the human eye. Another reason that the results were not spot-on was
because of the changing variables and inconsistent measuring methods.
 A B C

Predicted Height 83 meters 152 meters 296 meters

Actual Height 118 meters 127 meters 357 meters

Reflection
I think that this lab connected most, if not all of the learning points throughout the year. This lab
really helped me conceptualize the different topics throughout this semester. I think that this lab
was very fun and informational.