For this lab we made bottle rockets! This rocket was made out of paper, aluminum foil, masking tape, rocket fuel made of sugar and potassium nitrate. and a fuse.
What we did/The process: We first started by wrapping a piece of paper around a dowel, we had to make sure it was tight but not too tight so that we could slide the dowel back in to pack the rocket. We then rolled the paper in masking tape a couple of times to stiffen the paper tube. After making sure the paper wouldn't bend we inserted a piece of aluminum foil into the tube and packed down the tin foil forming a cap in the end of the rocket. Making the fuel was easy we added a 9:1 ratio of potassium Nitrate to sugar and gridded it up into powder (the consistency of icing sugar) and poured the mixture into the tube. Once we filled it to the top I packed it down so that I could fill it as much I could, after packing it down a few more times I capped it off with more aluminum foil and packed it down once more. Looking at it then I made sure it wasn't to thick so that it could fly better/get more air. After capping it off and taping the end that I most recently capped, I drilled into the first capped end until it hit the packed powder. My teacher gave me a red fuse to jam in there. To finish it off we taped a dowel onto the rocket.
How it worked: The fuel that we made burned really easily, so when the fuse was lit the fuel turned into gas and shot out of the bottom creating thrust, this is what made the rocket shoot up. When we tested my rocket it flew well, but not as high as I wanted it to, what would have made it work better was if we added more surface to the actual rocket and lightened the weight it could have flew higher. The sound that it made was high pitched which got louder as it rose in the sky, as it leveled out the sound got lower and the rocket fell to the ground.
Looking back: I really liked how everyone made their own/ or just shared with other people. I made my own so I could do anything with it my rocket (as you can see I drew a dorky face on it). I liked the process of making the bottle rocket because I thought it was harder than it actually is, but it was really hectic in the classroom because there was so much movement round the class room. Everyone needed the same materials at the same time so supply and demand was a problem some of the time, nothing that couldn't be fix though.
Looking forward: I'm axious to get into the next section becasue I plan to collect rocks and cut them down and polish them so ican make more jewelry ( see bismuth blog post). If I was given the option to do this lab again I would, I would do it again at home but with more supervison I guess because it could be quite dangerous.
Looking beyond: A lot happened inside the rocket, it might have only been a bit of paper and some powder but the chemical reaction that happened inside the rocket is an example of phase change. When a solid turns into gas it takes on more mass than it originally had. Gas is all around us, it is the oxygen you breath, there is 8 pounds of weight resting on your shoulders from the atmosphere alone. Gas is particles and atoms floating around not being limited by being a solid or liquid.
Take aways: I really enjoyed this lab because the sence of accomplishment that I felt afterward was amazing! I felt like I could do anything! It was something so simple yet so powerful. For me I think its important to give it your all and most of all Commit to what you want to accomplish.
What we did/The process: We first started by wrapping a piece of paper around a dowel, we had to make sure it was tight but not too tight so that we could slide the dowel back in to pack the rocket. We then rolled the paper in masking tape a couple of times to stiffen the paper tube. After making sure the paper wouldn't bend we inserted a piece of aluminum foil into the tube and packed down the tin foil forming a cap in the end of the rocket. Making the fuel was easy we added a 9:1 ratio of potassium Nitrate to sugar and gridded it up into powder (the consistency of icing sugar) and poured the mixture into the tube. Once we filled it to the top I packed it down so that I could fill it as much I could, after packing it down a few more times I capped it off with more aluminum foil and packed it down once more. Looking at it then I made sure it wasn't to thick so that it could fly better/get more air. After capping it off and taping the end that I most recently capped, I drilled into the first capped end until it hit the packed powder. My teacher gave me a red fuse to jam in there. To finish it off we taped a dowel onto the rocket.
How it worked: The fuel that we made burned really easily, so when the fuse was lit the fuel turned into gas and shot out of the bottom creating thrust, this is what made the rocket shoot up. When we tested my rocket it flew well, but not as high as I wanted it to, what would have made it work better was if we added more surface to the actual rocket and lightened the weight it could have flew higher. The sound that it made was high pitched which got louder as it rose in the sky, as it leveled out the sound got lower and the rocket fell to the ground.
Looking back: I really liked how everyone made their own/ or just shared with other people. I made my own so I could do anything with it my rocket (as you can see I drew a dorky face on it). I liked the process of making the bottle rocket because I thought it was harder than it actually is, but it was really hectic in the classroom because there was so much movement round the class room. Everyone needed the same materials at the same time so supply and demand was a problem some of the time, nothing that couldn't be fix though.
Looking forward: I'm axious to get into the next section becasue I plan to collect rocks and cut them down and polish them so ican make more jewelry ( see bismuth blog post). If I was given the option to do this lab again I would, I would do it again at home but with more supervison I guess because it could be quite dangerous.
Looking beyond: A lot happened inside the rocket, it might have only been a bit of paper and some powder but the chemical reaction that happened inside the rocket is an example of phase change. When a solid turns into gas it takes on more mass than it originally had. Gas is all around us, it is the oxygen you breath, there is 8 pounds of weight resting on your shoulders from the atmosphere alone. Gas is particles and atoms floating around not being limited by being a solid or liquid.
Take aways: I really enjoyed this lab because the sence of accomplishment that I felt afterward was amazing! I felt like I could do anything! It was something so simple yet so powerful. For me I think its important to give it your all and most of all Commit to what you want to accomplish.