Beginner's Guide To Rockets
Beginner's Guide To Rockets
At this Web site you can study how rockets operate at your own pace and to your own level of interest. There is a lot of
mathematics at this web site, so we provide background pages on many mathematical topics. The flight of the rocket
involves the interaction of forces, so we include background pages on the fundamentals of forces. Aerodynamics plays a
major role in the flight of toy rockets and in the generation of thrust for full scale rockets, so there are background pages
devoted to basic aerodynamics . There are also background pages on thermodynamics and gas dynamics because of the
role they play in rocket propulsion. Since we will be sending rockets to the Moon and Mars , we provide some background
information on these destinations in addition to our home planet.
The majority of the information at this web site is presented at a high school or early college level, although much of the
information can also be used by middle school students and the general public. Information is provided for both students
and teachers. The site includes materials that were developed over a ten year span by several different authors, so the
pages do not all look the same. We have added navigation buttons to ease movement across and within the work of a given
author. Most of the pages are presented in the following format: a graphic at the top which the user can capture and
incorporate into their own presentations or class notes; a text explaining the topic presented in the graphic and including
many hyperlinks to related topics; navigation links at the bottom to related educational activities, closely related web pages,
and an index of all the pages.
Using the Index of Web Pages, you are never more than two clicks away from any other Web page at this site. Just click on
the word "Index" at the bottom of any page, and then click to a new page from the index. We have intentionally organized
this site to mirror the unstructured nature of the world wide web. However, if you prefer a more structured approach, you can
also take one of our Guided Tours through the site. Each tour provides a sequence of pages dealing with some type or
aspect of rockets. Web pages that include Interactive Java applets are noted in the index. RocketModeler III, RocketThrust
Simulator, and the AtmosModeler Simulator are provided to encourage students to explore science and math. The programs
allow students to design and fly rockets on their personal computer and can be downloaded to operate off-line. Additional
Classroom Activities are also available at this site.
This site was prepared at the NASA Glenn Research Center in support of the Educational Programs Office and was funded
by the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. Many of the pages at this site were prepared to support videoconferencing
for teachers and students as provided by the Digital Learning Network. Much of the information available in the Rockets
Educator's Guide publication is available on-line at this site.
NOTICE --- We have made every effort to support Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. Many of the pages contain
mathematical equations that have been produced graphically and are too long or complex to provide in an "ALT"
tag. For these pages, we have included the mathematical equations in the text portion of the web page. Many pages
include Java applets which are not yet totally accessible for all interpretive software. We are continually monitoring
efforts by SUN Microsystems (producers of Java) to make these applets more accessible, and will implement
improved versions of the applets as the technology is made available.
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