Kyra Hoover

Water rocket project report

Purpose/ background:
The objective of this lab is to research, design, and build a water and air powered rocket
out of soda bottles and to maximize the rocket’s hang time in the air.
Rocketry is the science behind rockets and rocket propulsion. The first rocket was
designed in about 1100 AD in China, but the idea of rockets has been around since 400 BC.
The three “fathers of rocketry” are Konstantin E. Tsiolkovsky, Robert Goddard, and Hermann
Oberth. The first United States liquid propelled rocket, created by Robert Goddard, was
launched in Auburn, Massachusetts on March 16, 1926. He had U.S. patents to use a liquid
fueled rocket and a two or three stage rocket with solid fuel. Tsiolkovsky published the rocket
equation, which related rocket speed, the speed of gas leaving the rocket, and the mass of the
rocket. Oberth realized the importance of multiple stages of a rocket launch.
Center of pressure is the point where the total sum of a pressure field acts on a body,
causing a force to act through that point. Center of gravity is the point from which the weight of a
body or system may be considered to act, where the object will be in perfect balance. This is the
same as the center of mass. The center of gravity can be determined by attaching a string to the
rocket and having both sides balance perfectly. Once the balance is maintained, the center of
gravity is found. To have a stable rocket, the center of pressure should be directly below the
center of gravity. Other ways to increase stability of a rocket is to increase the area of the fins,
move the fins farther back on the rocket, and increase the mass of the nose cone of the rocket.
Water rockets demonstrate all three of Newton’s Laws. The first law states that an object
will stay at rest until an external force acts upon it. For example, the rocket will sit on the launch
pad until and unbalanced force is exerted, causing the rocket to take off. The second law
explains how the velocity of an object changes when it is subjected to an external force. The
force of the rocket is dependent on the amount of air pumped into it. To increase the force, add
a little bit of water which will increase the mass expelled by the air pressure. The third law states
that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This force of the air and water
leaving the rocket body is equal to the force pushing the rocket upwards.
Drag is the aerodynamic force that opposes an aircraft’s motion through the air. Ideally,
drag should be limited as much as possible on the way up, however, as it is falling, there should
be as much drag as possible to slow down the fall. To limit drag, the rocket should be narrow
with a nose cone to cut through the air. The larger the rocket is, the more drag it will have
because it has to push more air out of the way. To increase drag, add a parachute secured
under the nose cone that will open as the rocket is falling.
Bernoulli’s principle states that as a fluid increases in speed, the pressure of the fluid will
decrease, and vice versa. This principle explains lift, explaining that the air flows faster over the
top of the fins and slower underneath to create lift.

Materials:
● 1.25 L bottle
● Old CDs
● Thick paper, like manila folder material
 ● Duct tape
● Packing tape
● String
● Sheet of garbage bag material
● Hole punch
● Cool temperature glue and gun
● Cap for bottle
● Sharpie
● Scissors

Design aspects:
Nose cones are used to minimize aerodynamic drag. The shape we chose for our nose
cone was a simple cone made from thicker paper which is more stable than regular paper. We
reinforced the nose cone with several layers of duct tape to make it more sturdy and to add
more weight to the rocket. Duct tape was the thickest tape we had available to us at the time of
building our rocket, so it was the best option for making our nose cone sturdy.
Fins are used to maintain stability of the rocket after it is launched. Using three fins
makes the rocket the most stable out of any amount of fins used, therefore we made three fins.
We chose to make elliptical shaped fins, which are the best shape of fins according to the
internet. To do so, we used the already elliptical shape of old CDs and cut them to fit against the
side of our bottle. The CD material was our best option since they are very light weight and the
height of each CD was already about one third of our total rocket height, which is what was
suggested to us for the height of our fins.
Parachutes are used to slow the motion of an object by creating drag. Adding a
parachute to our rocket was a practical move to increase the amount of time in the air. We
chose to use the white garbage bag like material because that is what was supplied to us by
Ms. Keith. The size was predetermined by the sheet we received. The shape of our parachute is
a round parachute because this shape opens up faster and uses less altitude than other
shapes.

Pictures:
Rocket measurements:
Total mass 0.1124 kg

Number of fins 3 fins

Size of fins 11.6 cm

Location of fins 1.2 cm to 12.8 cm

Height of rocket 45.1 cm

Height of nose cone 13.3 cm

Location of center of gravity 23.4 cm

Launch measurements:
Trial #1 Trial #2

Volume of water used (L) .4140 L .4140 L

Air pressure used (psi) 110 psi 100 psi

Time in air (sec) 8.00 sec 23.59 sec

Calculations:
Trial #1

Trial #2
P₁+ρgy+(½)V₁^2=P₂+ρgy+(½)V₂²
P₁+ρgy=P₂+(½)V₂^2
689000 Pa + 1000 kg/m³ × 9.81 m/s² × .123m = 1.013×10⁵ N/m² + (½) × 1000 kg/m³ × V²
690207 Pa = 1.013×10⁵ N/m² + 500 kg/m³ × V²
1177.81 = V²
V = 34.3 m/s

m₁v₁ = m₂v₂
(0.1124 kg +.4140 kg) × 34.3 m/s = 0.1124 kg × V²
0.5264 kg × 34.3 m/s = 0.1124 kg × V²
v = 160. 6 m/s

Conclusion:
Overall, our rocket was fairly stable in the air after launching it. The three fins and the
secure attachments of each helped this. To increase the stability, we could increase the mass in
the nose cone. After our first launch, the bottle leaked on the launch pad, causing the launch to
happen before the pressure reached what we wanted it to. Since it was an issue with the bottle,
we decided not to fix it since that would mean remaking the whole rocket.
 During the first initial launch, the rocket with the nose cone attached came back down to
earth pretty quickly, since there was nothing attached to the rocket to slow down the fall. For the
second day of launching, we added the parachute under the nose cone to increase the time of
the rocket in the air. This helped greatly in adding seconds to the time in the air.
If we were to redo this project and build a new rocket, we would experiment with different
sized fins. The elliptical shape we used was successful, however the fins were quite skinny. We
would make larger fins in the same shape to attempt to get a better result of the elliptical fins.
The larger fins would stabilize the rocket body more and reduce the drag of the rocket. We were
happy with the shape and pattern of the nose cone, so the gummy bear duct tape cone would
definitely stay.
We researched quite a few different designs of water rockets and sketched out what we
thought were the best ways to go with this project. Then we built a rocket that was powered by
air and water that worked, to our surprise. We maximized the air time by adding a parachute for
our second launch trial. The flight time increased from 8.00 seconds to 23.59 seconds. This
further proves the importance of the parachute to the success of our rocket.
This entire project was a learning experience for us. We learned what Bernoulli’s
Equation is and how it relates pressure and velocity of a fluid. We learned about pressure and
volume and how each are important aspects for the flight of our bottle rockets.

AP Physics Laboratory Notebooks Rubric

Student: Kyra Hoover

Segment of Laboratory Write-up Points Earned Points Worth

Project Title/ Your Name 1 1

Purpose or Objective of Project 3 3

Background Discussion/Research 15 16

Materials Listing 4 4

Design Aspects 11 11

Pictures of completed rockets 2 2

Rocket Measurements 8 8
 Launch measurements 10 10

Calculations 8 10

Conclusion 19 20

Completed Rocket (not part of report) 10 10

REPORTS LATE ______ days at 10 pts. Per day 0 ----

TOTAL SCORE: 91 Out of 95

TEACHER COMMENTS: Excellent report! Just be sure to fully discuss your conclusion and be careful
with your calculation! Keep up the good work!