Rocket Project

Helpful Hints

Xeroxed Rocket Project Handouts: Many, but not all, are a required part of your final project. Please, please take the time to read them, it will help your grade on this project!

Don’t “doodle” on them!

If you need a new copy of a form, ask me or download it from the IPS website.

Hypotheses: You should be able to have a stranger on the street read your hypothesis and they would understand what question or problem your attempting to solve.

Examples of Best Nose Cone Shape Hypothesis

Poor

/ I think cone shape best.
/ Cone shape would work best on rocket.
A cone shaped nose cone would make a rocket go high.

Acceptable

/ On a water bottle rocket, a cone shaped nose cone would be the most aerodynamic efficient shape to help eliminate the affects of drag on the rocket and thus allow it to reach its optimum possible height.

Data Tables:

Every data table needs a descriptive title.
Columns / Columns

Rows

If you do them by hand, sharpen your pencil or use your best black/blue pen.

If you do them by hand, use a ruler to lay out your tables.

The header cell at the top of each column needs to describe what the numbers underneath it mean. (Label units too.)

Every table needs a descriptive title. You should be able to show one of the tables used in this project to a person on the street and they would have a clue what that information is about.

At the top of every table column should be a descriptive heading (no naked numbers!)

Graphs:

Independent Variable: The variable being tested.
Dependent Variable: The variable that is measured.

If you do your graphs by hand, use a ruler.
Leave enough blank margin so they can be bound in your project cover.
Make your graphs big (No bigger then one piece of graph paper). They should take up about 90% of the graph paper. The bigger you make the graph the more accurately you can plot the points and then more information can be gathered from the graph.

You don’t have to number every graph line. The example below represents just a portion of the graph. Assume a person could figure out that each graph box represents 2 tenths of a unit. Don’t clutter your graphs with numbers.

Properly label each axis. (Example: Amount of water in pressurized 2-liter bottle (milliliters), Basketball (rocket) hang time form launch to ground (seconds)).
Every graph in this project will be a “best fit” line graph.
The “Nose Cone Graph” should have all 4 nose cone experiments plotted on one graph. This way you can easily compare the aerodynamic qualities of each tested nose cone. Provide a key to the side of the graph or label each line.
The “Ideal Water Volume/Angle Data”: The average sextant angles of each test need to be converted to a height. The tangent of the average angle multiplied times our base distance (30 meters, the distance we set up from the launch pad) equals the height in meters of the rocket. Make sure you plot the rocket water volume versus the height, not the water volume versus the angle.
Every graph you ever make needs a good descriptive title. When your done with a graph give it to anybody, without any explanation from you they should be able to figure out what that graph is about!
A good graph title will be a little “wordy”!

Examples of Ideal Water Volume/Hang Time Graph Titles

Poor

/ Hang Time
/ Hang Time Versus Water
Amount of water in rocket compared to how long they stayed in air.

Acceptable

/ Experimental results testing the amount of water needed in a water bottle rocket to achieve the longest hang time (launch to ground)

Conclusions: Hey, the conclusions of this project are worth a bunch of points! Don’t skimp on these.

Carefully read each water rocket project section and make sure you include all required parts of the conclusion.

Rocket Design: This section requires a pre-design, a final design, and cardboard cut out of your rocket.

The rocket designs are not drawings or sketches; they are the blueprints, a scale diagram, the scientific design of your rocket.
Use a sharp pencil and a ruler.
The rocket pre-design is your plan, your vision of what your rocket will look like after you are done building it.
Short rockets should use the large grid design paper, tall rockets the small grid paper.
When you have completed your rocket pre-design, show it to me. You need my official “oky dokey” on your design before you can start building your rocket.
Your pre-design should include all of the information shown in the attached example. (Except for the final mass and center of mass and pressure indicated.)
Undoubtedly, your completed rocket will be different from your initial design. That is why you need a final design.
You will need to measure (metric) your actual rocket to complete the final design.
When you have completed the rocket cardboard cut out, turn it in, so I can check that off on your grading guideline.
Make sure you indicate your rocket’s center of mass and pressure on your final design. (See “Rocket Design” handout.)