Launch Day 1

Our first attempt at launching our water bottle rocket was interesting to say the least. Once Mr. Blake showed us how the launcher works and what we will be doing, our group diligently began brainstorming ideas on how to improve our rocket. We prepared everything perfectly and had our launch ready to go, until we were met with a technical malfunction. Our copper pressure piece, attaching our pump to our tube going into the bottle came lose as we were pumping air pressure numerous times. Thus, after failed attempts, we decided to try to take apart our contraption. However, a grave mistake occurred as Matt was attacked by a malfunctioning bottle rocket and was wounded with a small bruise on his shin. We had thought that all the pressure had been released from the bottle, however Matt tried to release the bottle from its binding and found that the pressure remained in the bottle, but had not been caught by our meter. Overall, we took today as a learning experience, giving us preparation for our future endeavors in trying to build and launch a successful bottle rocket.

Launch Day 1 Blog (Root Beer Bottle)

Today, on Monday, February 28th 2011, my group and I launched our first water bottle rocket. The launch came with little success. Our first model consisted of just an empty two liter bottle (which previously contained Root Beer, our real testing bottle will have previously been a Mountain Dew bottle, thus the name "mountainallstar" for our site) with a full cup of water inside of it. The water acted as fuel for the rocket. I predict that the more water that is used for fuel, the higher the bottle will launch, up to a certain point, when the water level becomes an inconvenience rather than an advantage. I predict that this limit may be about 2 cups. For our next launch, I will try to add a little more water than 1 cup and see if it affects the height of the bottle during its launch. Our first launch did not take off of the ground at all. We experienced many problems with our apparatus when trying to pump the bottle up. When we finally decided to switch apparatuses, we knew that we had to launch the rocket for what little pressure it contained. Matthew, one of our group members, made the mistake of pulling on the string which held the rocket in place too slowly. As a result, the rocket tipped toward Matthew and shot into his shin. Therefore, the first launch was a failure. My group and I now know that the string needs to be pulled quickly in order for it to launch successfully. Our next model will contain fins and a cone so that it looks more like a rocket.

Water Bottle Rocket resources

http://www.pack236.org/waterbottlerockets.htm

I found this site to be very useful because it shows the basic design of a water bottle rocket. It also has many other resources linked on the page to more specific information on how to design and build a water bottle rocket. It was cool how there are so many different ways to build an effective rocket. This site might not be the best, but it definitely provides useful information on your basic water bottle rocket.

Bottle Rocket Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SquAFwwjEhI- This is a video which gives the basic instructions on how to construct a bottle rocket. Using simple, everyday products, it is shown that creating a bottle rocket can be simple and fun. (Andrew Lee)

Water Bottle Rocket With Parachute

This website gives easy to follow step by step instructions with pictures on how to build a water bottle rocket with a side deployment parachute. The site also lists all of the supplies that are necessary to successfully construct the rocket as well as a brief overview of the project. I chose this website over a lot of the others that I found, because it featured a parachute in the design. The parachute, I believe, will keep the rocket in the air for a longer period of time. Since the rocket has to be in the air for a minimum of 10 seconds, I figured that suspending the rocket in the air after it reaches its peak with a parachute is a wise idea.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Water_Rocket_Parachute_Deployment_Mechanism/#step1