Project Description:
Overview:
In this project, students will need to design a water-powered rocket using
a two-liter bottle. The ultimate goal is to maximize the time of flight.
Specifics:
- The functioning portion of the rocket must be a plastic two-liter
bottle. The student may choose to add decorative elements and/or
other funtioning portions to this fundamental section.
- Students may use a parachute to lengthen the flight time.
- Students will have to decide how much water and pressure to use
in their rocket. For safety reasons, the pressure will be limited to 60 psi.
- Students will not be responsible for building a launching platform.
Objectives/Standards:
The objective of this project is to expose students to the concepts of force,
impulse, momentum,Newton's Laws of Motion, and energy.
Timeline:
Most of the work for this project should be completed by the student out
of class (2-3 weeks). A minimum of 10 minutes should be taken by the
teacher to introduce and discuss the project. One full class period will
be needed to test the devices. A practice/workshop day is recommended .
Materials:
Construction materials:
The materials for this project should be provided by the student. Possible materials are the following:
- Fin Material-balsa wood, cardboard, foam core board
- Nosecone Material-construction paper, the top of another two liter bottle, funnel
- Parachute Material-plastic trash bag, string, cloth
Testing Materials:
The teacher will provide a launching pad for students to experiment
with during the construction process.(See the Helpful Hints section for launch pad information.)
- Stop Watches
- Water
- Bicycle pump or air compressor
Assessment:
The assessment portion of this project will be based on three items:
- Quality of design - A small portion of each student's grade should
be based on the overall quality of his/her tested design. A well made and
thoroughly constructed design should earn more points than a simple two-liter
bottle. This will serve to reward students who invest time into their projects.
- Performance Time - Each student's bottle rocket will be ranked according
to his/her respective flight times. A score will be assigned based on this rank. The following is a possible scale:
A 8.00 or more seconds aloft
B 6.00-7.99 seconds aloft
C 2.00-5.99 seconds aloft
D < 2.00 seconds aloft
- The paper - Each student's paper should be graded based on the quality
of the explanation of his/her device. (Sample paper template.)
