Topography map
This project was where we were able to create a map without the use of electronics. We learned how large the park was through walking and counting how many steps you took and putting that into a math formula which will give us the shape and length of the park. It was a really fun project and really interesting to learn about.
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Rube Goldberg
For this project, we created a complex apparatus that triggered a chain reaction that worked itself after an initial physical "push". I sadly don't have a lot to say about this project due to the fact that we didn't get any instruction to update our page and talk about certain aspects of the project. However, I will tell you that my partner and I's apparatus sprinkled cupcakes. It was delicious.
Rocket Project
Rocket project reflection
Instead of my first design (which ultimately failed), we had to go with a very simple, plain design, and I think that if we just improved the first design, our final would have gotten much more air and could hold a lot more water. We also had a washer around the nozzle, so the water would come out much faster, and we would get shot higher. Our idea of gluing a smart bottle on top of a 2 liter soda bottle, while full-proof, wasn’t the best rocket to build. I feel like the rocket would’ve been much better if we just improved the first one rather than restarting and making a simpler rocket.
Next time, I would spend more time on figuring out how the parachute will deploy, and work on getting a better cone. My parachute was folded perfectly, and when tossed in the air, unfolded beautifully, but because we packed the parachute so tightly inside the bottle, it didn’t deploy. Our cone was supposed to pull the parachute out with a piece of scotch tape, and then fall off, but, it fell off the moment it launched. I would figure out another way to pull the parachute out and get the cone to stay on somehow.
The exhibition wasn’t as good as it could be, because of the weather. But, I really liked a lot of the rockets. I really liked Dylan and Al’s rocket, since their cone was so large and pointed, and it was so well put together, it just flew like the wind wasn’t even there. Some of the rocket designs I didn’t get a chance to see before hand were great, too. Bryce and Cayton’s (and Ginny’s!) rocket had a great design. Summer and J.J’s rocket was a really fun idea to begin with, because candy would’ve fallen out of their parachute.
I would improve the rocket project by making sure you launch on a day when the weather is much more decent, so the rockets don’t fail simply because of the wind, because I feel that a lot of rockets didn’t do as well as they could simply because of the weather. We could also get more materials for the rocket provided by the school. It was really hard to find something to make the cones out of, so maybe you could purchase blocks of styrofoam, or tough foam for students to take and carve their cones out of.
Next time, I would spend more time on figuring out how the parachute will deploy, and work on getting a better cone. My parachute was folded perfectly, and when tossed in the air, unfolded beautifully, but because we packed the parachute so tightly inside the bottle, it didn’t deploy. Our cone was supposed to pull the parachute out with a piece of scotch tape, and then fall off, but, it fell off the moment it launched. I would figure out another way to pull the parachute out and get the cone to stay on somehow.
The exhibition wasn’t as good as it could be, because of the weather. But, I really liked a lot of the rockets. I really liked Dylan and Al’s rocket, since their cone was so large and pointed, and it was so well put together, it just flew like the wind wasn’t even there. Some of the rocket designs I didn’t get a chance to see before hand were great, too. Bryce and Cayton’s (and Ginny’s!) rocket had a great design. Summer and J.J’s rocket was a really fun idea to begin with, because candy would’ve fallen out of their parachute.
I would improve the rocket project by making sure you launch on a day when the weather is much more decent, so the rockets don’t fail simply because of the wind, because I feel that a lot of rockets didn’t do as well as they could simply because of the weather. We could also get more materials for the rocket provided by the school. It was really hard to find something to make the cones out of, so maybe you could purchase blocks of styrofoam, or tough foam for students to take and carve their cones out of.
Physics behind the rocket
Using Newtons first law of physics, which is an object at rest will stay and at, and a moving object will continue to move until an outside force stops it, our rocket was at rest at the lunch pad, with all of it’s kinetic energy inside the rocket as we prepped it, it as at rest and held back by our launch pad. Once we released what was gripping the rocket, it moved. Of course, it didn’t fly forever, but that’s because of gravity, friction, the force of the air, and the amount of wind we had that day. All of those forces combined helped pull the rocket downwards back towards earth.
Newton’s second law is the acceleration of an object is proportional to the net force, and inversely proportional to the mass of the object accelerated. That roughly means the lighter the object is, the faster and farther it flies in a perfect world. The larger, heavier rockets wouldn’t have flown as high or fast as the smaller, lighter ones. My rocket, for example, was fairly light weight and small, so if the wind wasn’t as harsh that day, it would’ve flown higher and faster.
Newton’s third law is that forces come in pairs. For example, when our rocket was on the launch pad, there was a force pulling it to the left, and a force pulling it to the right; a force pulling it up, and a force pulling it down. They came in pairs. When our rocket launched, it didn’t lose it’s bottom force, because that bottom force was what was helping our rocket fly. Until we ran our of fuel (water), the bottom force was constant. This law applies better to static objects, which our rocket was before it launched.
Newton’s second law is the acceleration of an object is proportional to the net force, and inversely proportional to the mass of the object accelerated. That roughly means the lighter the object is, the faster and farther it flies in a perfect world. The larger, heavier rockets wouldn’t have flown as high or fast as the smaller, lighter ones. My rocket, for example, was fairly light weight and small, so if the wind wasn’t as harsh that day, it would’ve flown higher and faster.
Newton’s third law is that forces come in pairs. For example, when our rocket was on the launch pad, there was a force pulling it to the left, and a force pulling it to the right; a force pulling it up, and a force pulling it down. They came in pairs. When our rocket launched, it didn’t lose it’s bottom force, because that bottom force was what was helping our rocket fly. Until we ran our of fuel (water), the bottom force was constant. This law applies better to static objects, which our rocket was before it launched.