I was looking at YouTube videos to take a look at other people's ideas for water bottle rockets and I found this video and I thought it was pretty awesome.  Just thought I would show everyone.

First day of construction

We accomplished a lot on our first day of constructing our rocket.  As you can see in the blueprint above, we used the trapezoidal fins that point downward because we read that that they were good for cutting through the air and had great aerodynamics.  We also used the big fins because we read that they were better for guiding the rocket then smaller ones.  You can see that the fins are reasonably big and they almost reach the top of our rocket.  We hope to do good on our test launch tomorrow.

This is Chase and I's first rocket design without our nose cone and clay mold. Our rocket ahs come a long way. We think itwill be succesful.

Our Blue print took two attempts to accurately proportion our rocket to the design. This blue print shows all our demensions of our rocket as well as a front view and a side view. We explained how physics and aerodynamics come into play when building a sucessful rocket.

This is our first fin design. This is the design we used. It has a trapezoid shape but is longer. We read tha this shape cuts the wind the most creating a smooth steady flight.

This is a picture of our rocket SAIF 1. We used trapezoid fins and a round nose cone for more aerodynamics. We studied many designs for the rocket and its details to get it the way we wanted it.

Flight One

Body:

Payload Height (cm): 17.78cm_________

Nozzle Radius (cm): 0.549cm_________

Fairing: Yes__x___ or No _____

Fairing radius (cm): 4.851cm_____

Nose Cone:

Shape: conical___________

Material: Solid balsa___________

Propulsion:

Water (liters): 0.546508L____

Pressure (KPa): 401.873_____

Fin Design:

Fin Height: 4.314cm_____

Fin Shape: trapezoidal_____

Number of Fins: 3_____

Fin Dimensions:

Length: 10.391cm

Width: 7.852cm

L.E. ang: 58

T.E. ang: 29

Launch Stats:

Max Altitude (m): 27m_____

Max Velocity (m/s): 35m/s_____

Flight Two

Body:

Payload Height (cm): 0cm_________

Nozzle Radius (cm): 0.488cm_________

Fairing: Yes_x____ or No _____

Fairing radius (cm): 1.27cm_____

Nose Cone:

Shape: Elliptic___________

Material: Solid rubber___________

Propulsion:

Water (liters): 0L_____

Pressure (KPa): 546.779_____

Fin Design:

Fin Height: -6.35cm_____

Fin Shape: trapezoidal_____

Number of Fins: 3_____

Fin Dimensions:

Length: 12.7cm

Width: 12.7cm

L.E. ang: 45

T.E. ang: 30

Launch Stats:

Max Altitude (m): 30m_____

Max Velocity (m/s): 49m/s_____

I noticed that when there was less water and more pressure, the rocket had a better flight. Also, when the center of gravity was higher, the rocket had a better flight. I found the elliptical nose to work better than the conical nose. I messed around with the fin designs for a while but was never able to determine which fin design gave the best flight.

Initial Observations: As the rocket protoypes were launched I noticed that the longer bottles such as the Smart Water went much further and somewhat higher. Its aerodynamics cut through the wind making it a much smoother flight. Also the bottles with more curvature had a smoother flight due to the shape of the bottle. To my opinion the longer bottles work better and more efficiently then the smaller, shorter, fatter bottles.