ComTech

Aerospace Engineering

Here is an idea that requires a bit of rocket science.

Bottle Rockets.

http://exploration.grc.nasa.gov/education/rocket/BottleRocket/about.htm

We need to do some inquiry into what bottle Rockets are all about. Plan, build, tinker, and launch.

“Two-Liter Pop Bottle Rockets may well be the GREATEST PHYSICAL SCIENCE TEACHING TOOL EVER CREATED!!” Middle grades students can manipulate and control variables, see their hypotheses verified or refuted, and graph their findings. High school students experience the nature of science at its best. They can document their abilities with the following concepts: inertia, gravity, air resistance, Newton’s laws of motion, acceleration, relationships between work and energy or impulse and momentum, projectile motion, freefall calculations, internal and external ballistics, and the practice of true engineering.”

~~This summer~~ I built 2, umm, 1 4 rocket launchers, ~~in the next few weeks I’ll have the materials to build a couple more.~~

I figure we can do some digital story telling about our adventures as we discover more about bottle rockets.

Interested?

The Plan:

Teams of three students will build rockets.

Rocket “engines” must have only one standard mouthed 2 litre PET (polyethylene terephthalate). Basically any 2l bottle containing “pop” will do.

At least one rocket from each group must compete in one of three challenges

Artistic Creativity – rockets are judged based on their appearance.
Precision – rockets compet to land closest to a target 100-200 meters away.
Scientific Mastery – rockets are judged for their mechanical gadgetry.

Want to kick it up the challenge?

Advanced Challenge: repeat the three challenges with a small water balloon as payload.
Expert Challenge: repeat the three challenges with a raw egg as payload.

Teams will also be judged by their overall approach to artistry and problem solving.

Digital Story

Each student will write about his/her rocket experiences in his/her iblog – include original images, videos, charts, diagrams, etc.

Group	Rocket	Length(cm)	Weight(g)	Distance(m)	Precision(-m)	Duration(s)	Artistry	Problem Solving	Digital Story	Group Rank
A Ace
A Callum
A Kyhe
B Abby
B Nicole
B Taylor
C Will
C Kamdyn
C Riley
D Lydia
D Andrea
D Nahanni
E Rhyan
E Avery K
E Avery C
F Caybrie
F Chloe
F Sheray
G Haya
G Emma W
G Emma C H Reese H Mark H Cale I Chandler I Kai M I Brett