Penaaaay

IN A GALAXY FAR FAR AWAY...

*cue Star Wars theme song*

There were a group of rocketeers who sat in the back of the room. Too cool for the rest of the class. They attempted water bottle rockets. It all started in physics. Determined to find the best design of rocket. They traveled far and wide, to the far reaches of planet Earth. There they found the blueprints of a masterpiece. 

Day Wonizzle

NAKED ROCKETZ.

 

We launched our bottles bare, with no attachments. Our bottle stayed in the air for a total of 6 seconds. 500 mL of rocket fuel was used with a total of 60 psi.

Day Twizzle

Two Launches with One Modification.

Launch data courtesy of Mr. Blake

Day two has arrived! This time we had to launch the Millennium I-Batt with a modification. For reference on how to design the individual parts for our rocket, we used multiple websites. We used this website to design our fins http://van.physics.illinois.edu/qa/listing.php?id=2140. It provided insight on to what the fins actually do to help the rocket and designs and placement in which to get the most out of them. http://www.h2orocket.com/ helped us come up with design ideas for every part of the rocket and gave us the idea of joining two, two liter bottles. For our first modification, we decided to cut one bottle in half and attach it to the bottle that wasn't tampered with. This modification increased our launch times by one to two seconds. We kept the amount of water and pressure used at launch a constant 500 mL and 60 psi. Our rocket stayed in the air for around seven seconds before hitting the ground; a success in our eyes! 

Day Thrizzle

Launch with a Parachute.

Today, we had to launch our rocket with a parachute. We constructed our parachute using the toy soldiers as a basis for it's creation. For the chute, we used a trash bag which we cut open and then into a circle. We then used string to attach the parachute to our rocket. There were eight strings of the same length attached at each cardinal direction: N, NW, SW, S, etc. The strings were then brought together and taped to another piece of string, which gave it distance from the actual rocket so it had the chance to fill up with air without anything prohibiting air flow. On this launch day, we rushed to put everything together, so we only had enough time for one launch. However, that one launch went very successful. We used 600 mL of water this time and according to Chevy, the psi was around 80. The launch went perfectly and the chute opened and our rocket stayed in the air for 11 seconds! Everything worked out just as planned.

Day Fourizzle

In the air for 5+ seconds. 

 

With the finalized modifications, the Millennium I-Batt was now ready for launch. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t in a cooperative mood today. Kamehameha Schools was literally in a cloud that day. High speed gusts of wind, sheets of sharp rain, and the fogginess of the cloud, were all weather factors that would change the variables of our launch. But the I-Batt Rocketeers weren’t afraid and had faith in the Millennium I-Batt. We knew that the winds would have the biggest effect on our rocket because of the resistance that it provided. The wind and weight of our rocket played an important role in the launch process. But we found out from our boys at NASA the equation to a perfect launch. This equation is as so, pressure+aerodynamics+effective weight=height in launch. This added onto a successful parachute release would equal the maximum time spent in the air. We set up camp around the middle of the field, closer to Konia bus stop, but away from Konia. Prepared to launch, I began pumping air into the Millennium I-Batt, I would say around 80 PSI. 3,2,1 TSSSSS! Off it went, to heights only imaginable by the other groups. But as we stared up amazed at the Millennium I-Batt, a large gust of wind blew and carried our rocket to the left towards the bus stop. A loud thump occured as we realized that our beloved rocket had landed on the roof of Konia bus stop. AUWE!

Day Fivizzle

Final Launch - 10 seconds in the ayyyerrrr 

Final launch day data courtesy of Mr. Blake

As the I-Batt Rocketeers suffered a great loss the previous launch day losing the Millennium I-Batt was gone. The roof took Millennium and the rocket was gone for good. On the final day the I-Batt Rocketeers dealt with no rocket and built a brand new one from scratch. Using all the materials that were present to them at the time, the team got to work to make a new and improved Millennium I-Batt II. All previous steps were repeated just as the first rocket was made. The main problem that the team had with their rocket was the parachute. The parachute was made in a quick fashion and was not able to be made as efficient as the previous rocket. It was launch time, and the I-Batt Rocketeers were ready to test their new rocket to see if it could take the challenge. We took position in the middle of Konia field. The weather wasn't the greatest for the second launch day in a row. Wind and rain would be another factor to the time in the air the rocket will be able to withstand. For our first launch, around 80 PSI was added in to the rocket. The string was pulled and the rocket blast into orbit. Unfortunately the rockets parachute did not open up and the rockets time in the air was only determined by how high the rocket went. Our fins also fell off of the rocket during the first launch so our rocket was now not able to stay in a stable direction as it was launched. As we went to pick up our rocekt, our parachute broke off the the rocket and flew onto the roof. We went tack to the room to make a new parachute. The parachute was not in the greatest condition, but we had to deal with it for the time being. Our second launch for that day every step was repeated, and the parachute failed to burst out again. We retrieved our rocket and again the parachute broke off. So for our final launch we just had a bottle to launch. None of our launches stayed in the air for the required amount. 

*All videos taken by Kaeo Paik, Chevy Fonseca, and Ian Higa*

Final Launch

Today was the final launch and unfortunately, we weren't able to retrieve our rocket off of the roof because the wind beat us to it. Because we couldn't get our rocket back, we had to start all over to make another one. The thing is, we only had one day to make one that's just as good as our first one. Too bad that didn't happen. This time our rocket fell apart on the first launch attempt. Fins flew everywhere and the nose cone detached itself. We did our launch procedures the same exact way. We kept the amount of water we used and the amount of pressure we used a constant, but the rocket just wouldn't perform as well as the first one. I believe it's because we used different shape bottles and a different parachute design. This rocket wasn't constructed as well due to time constraints and lack of supplies. It only stayed up in the air for 5 seconds compared to our 11 second launch on the third launch day.

The IBatt launch

Contemplating on how were going to get the rocket off of the roof. We can't just climb up there and grab it. Shucks, if the parachute opened it wouldn't have fell that close. Okay hold up, let me start my story from the beginning. Today was our fifth launch with our highly modified and upgraded water bottle rocket. Our rocket had three fins, a parachute, and swagger designs. In our last launch our highest time was 11.4 seconds. With more time on our hands we thought that we would be able to sharpen our launch. But sadly today was a horrible launch day because the winds were blowing vigorously, the rain was falling harshly, and the ground was turned into a marsh. Today we did three launches, of which none of them our parachute opened. We thought that the amount of air pressure being pumped into the bottle was preventing the lid from coming off to allow the parachute to open. But in our last launch, with a scream of IBatt!, our rocket soared to a record height. But as the wind blew and our rocket flying closer and closer to the bus stop, Bam! Our rocket landed onto the roof of the Konia bus stop. Devastated we just left our rocket hoping for it to be blown off and found at a later time. Horribly that didn't happen and now we are beginning construction on our new and improved rocket.

Launch #4

This is our third launch day and it was a success. For the third day we made a lot of modifications. The first thing that we added to our rocket was that we added three fins to the outside of the rocket. Before we put the fins on, we measured the the bottles circumference and then made precise markings to which each fin would be equidistant to each other. Then we hot-glued each fin to the bottle and then the fins were finished. The next thing we did is that we cut off the top of our rocket and left a big gap on the top for a parachute. We cut off the top so that the parachute could fit inside, but also so that during its time in the air, the top would come off and then the parachute would burst out of the rocket and pop open for the  parachute to be in effect. We cut a trash  bag and cut it into the shape of a parachute. Then  we added string to the parachute to connect to the bottle. The idea behind our awesome parachute came from the process of how a toy-soldier parachute works. 

Launch Day 2

This is our second day of the IBatt Rocketeers in action! Launch day 2 was a lot different than launch day 1. With the fail that we had yesterday using the orange launch pad, we decided to use the normal launch pad. Our group also made modifications to our rocket today. We took one of our 2L bottles and cut them in half and added it to the top of the rocket to increase the length of our rocket. Our launches were successful in increasing time in the air. Our rocket increased to being in the air to around 6 to 7 seconds in the air. The next step of modifications that we plan on making to our rocket are adding a parachute and fins to our rocket. Well just have to wait and see how our rocket turns out after the modifications. 

Launch day 1

Ready! Launching! 5..4..3..2..1.. BLAST OFF! Today was our first launch day for the water bottle rocket. We launched our rocket with no modifications and with just a plain bottle. The materials we used were a pump, a stand, launch protectors, and a string attached to a clamp. The pump was a bike pump used for pumping air into the rocket. The stand was a special bottle stand for which you attach to the cap side of your bottle. The launch protectors were used to prevent the bottle from flying to the side and instead fly straight up. Then the string attached to the clamp would be pulled to let the rocket fly. The science behind the bottle is that when we fill up water into the bottle it acts as a resistor for the air. When we begin to pump the air using the pump it creates a force in the upward direction. When the force is great enough it will project. Because of newtons law of force we know that force down is equal to the force up. This is why the rocket flies up at a certain speed and force.