Rockets Educator Guide pdf - NASA - Arvind Gupta

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ROCKETS An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology Educational Product Educators Grades K–12 EG-2003-01-108-HQ National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Transcript of Rockets Educator Guide pdf - NASA - Arvind Gupta

ROCKETSAn Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science,

Mathematics, and Technology

Educational Product

Educators Grades K–12

EG-2003-01-108-HQ

National Aeronautics andSpace Administration

ROCKETSAn Educator’s Guide with Activities In Science,

Mathematics, and Technology

EG-2003-01-108-HQ

This publication is in the Public Domain and is not protected by copyright.Permission is not required for duplication.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Office of Human Resources and EducationOffice of Education

Washington, DC

Teaching From Space ProgramNASA Johnson Space Center

Houston, TX

This publication was developed for theNational Aeronautics and SpaceAdministration with the assistance ofhundreds of teachers in the Texas Region IVarea and educators of the AerospaceEducation Services Program, OklahomaState University.

Writers:

Deborah A. ShearerGregory L. Vogt, Ed.D.Teaching From Space ProgramNASA Johnson Space CenterHouston, TX

Editor:

Carla B. RosenbergTeaching From Space ProgramNASA HeadquartersWashington, DC

Special Thanks to:

Timothy J. WickenheiserChief, Advanced Mission Analysis BranchNASA Lewis Research Center

Gordon W. EskridgeAerospace Education SpecialistOklahoma State University

Dale M. OliveTeacher, Hawaii

Acknowledgments

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iii

Table of Contents How To Use This Guide ............................... 1

Activity Format ............................................. 3

Brief History of Rockets ................................ 5

Rocket Principles ....................................... 13

Practical Rocketry ...................................... 18

Launch Vehicle Family Album .................... 25

Activities ..................................................... 35

Activity Matrix ....................................... 36 Pop Can Hero Engine .......................... 39 Rocket Racer ....................................... 45 3-2-1 Pop! ............................................ 53 Antacid Tablet Race ............................. 57 Paper Rockets ...................................... 61 Newton Car .......................................... 67 Balloon Staging .................................... 73 Rocket Transportation .......................... 76 Altitude Tracking .................................. 79 Bottle Rocket Launcher ........................ 87 Bottle Rocket ........................................ 91 Project X-35 ......................................... 95 Additional Extensions ......................... 114

Glossary ................................................... 115

NASA Educational Materials .................... 116

Suggested Reading.................................. 116

Electronic Resources ............................... 117

NASA Resources for Educators ............... 118

NASA Educator Resource Center Network ................................. 118

Evaluation Reply Card .......................... Insert

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Rockets are the oldest form of self-containedvehicles in existence. Early rockets were inHow To Use This Guide

use more than two thousand years ago. Over along and exciting history, rockets have evolvedfrom simple tubes filled with black powder intomighty vehicles capable of launching a spacecraftout into the galaxy. Few experiences cancompare with the excitement and thrill ofwatching a rocket-powered vehicle, such as theSpace Shuttle, thunder into space. Dreams ofrocket flight to distant worlds fire the imaginationof both children and adults.

With some simple and inexpensive materials,you can mount an exciting and productive unitabout rockets for children that incorporatesscience, mathematics, and technology education.The many activities contained in this teachingguide emphasize hands-on involvement,prediction, data collection and interpretation,teamwork, and problem solving. Furthermore,the guide contains background information aboutthe history of rockets and basic rocket science tomake you and your students “rocket scientists.”

The guide begins with background informationon the history of rocketry, scientific principles, andpractical rocketry. The sections on scientificprinciples and practical rocketry focus on SirIsaac Newton’s Three Laws of Motion. Theselaws explain why rockets work and how to makethem more efficient.

Following the background sections are a seriesof activities that demonstrate the basic science ofrocketry while offering challenging tasks indesign. Each activity employs basic andinexpensive materials. In each activity you willfind construction diagrams, material and toolslists, and instructions. A brief background sectionwithin the activities elaborates on the conceptscovered in the activities and points back to theintroductory material in the guide. Also included isinformation about where the activity applies toscience and mathematics standards, assessmentideas, and extensions. Look on page 3 for moredetails on how the activity pages are constructed.

Because many of the activities anddemonstrations apply to more than one subjectarea, a matrix chart identifies opportunities forextended learning experiences. The chartindicates these subject areas by activity title. Inaddition, many of the student activities encourage

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student problem-solving and cooperativelearning. For example, students can useproblem-solving to come up with ways to improvethe performance of rocket cars. Cooperativelearning is a necessity in the Altitude Trackingand Balloon Staging activities.

The length of time involved for eachactivity varies according to its degree of difficultyand the development level of the students. Withthe exception of the Project X-35 activity at theguide's end, students can complete mostactivities in one or two class periods.

Finally, the guide concludes with a glossary ofterms, suggested reading list, NASA educationalresources including electronic resources, and anevaluation questionnaire. We would appreciate

your assistance in improving this guide in future editionsby completing the questionnaire and makingsuggestions for changes and additions.

A Note on Measurement

In developing this guide, metric units ofmeasurement were employed. In a fewexceptions, notably within the "Materials andTools" lists, English units have been listed. In theUnited States, metric-sized parts such as screwsand wood stock are not as accessible as theirEnglish equivalents. Therefore, English unitshave been used to facilitate obtaining requiredmaterials.

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Student Data PagesStudent Instruction Pages

Activity Format

Standards

Assessment Ideas

Extensions

BackgroundInformation

What You Need

Management Tips

Objectives ofthe Activity

Description of Whatthe Activity Does

Discussion Ideas

Materials and Tools

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Brief History ofRockets science and technology of the past. They are

natural outgrowths of literally thousands of years ofexperimentation and research on rockets and rocketpropulsion.

One of the first devices to successfullyemploy the principles essential to rocket flight was awooden bird. The writings of Aulus Gellius, aRoman, tell a story of a Greek named Archytas wholived in the city of Tarentum, now a part of southernItaly. Somewhere around the year 400 B.C.,Archytas mystified and amused the citizens ofTarentum by flying a pigeon made of wood.Escaping steam propelled the bird suspended onwires. The pigeon used the action-reactionprinciple, which was not to be stated as a scientificlaw until the 17th century.

About three hundred years after the pigeon,another Greek, Hero of Alexandria, invented a

similar rocket-like device called an aeolipile. It,too, used steam as a propulsive gas. Hero

mounted a sphere on top of a water kettle.A fire below the kettle turned the water intosteam, and the gas traveled through pipes

to the sphere. Two L-shaped tubes onopposite sides of the sphere allowed the gas

to escape, and in doing so gave a thrust to thesphere that caused it to rotate.

Just when the first true rockets appeared isunclear. Stories of early rocket-like devices appearsporadically through the historical records of variouscultures. Perhaps the first true rockets were

accidents. In the first century A.D., theChinese reportedly had a simple form ofgunpowder made from saltpeter, sulfur, andcharcoal dust. They used the gunpowdermostly for fireworks in religious and other

festive celebrations. To create explosionsduring religious festivals, they filled bamboo tubeswith the mixture and tossed them into fires.Perhaps some of those tubes failed to explode andinstead skittered out of the fires, propelled by thegases and sparks produced from the burninggunpowder.

The Chinese began experimenting with thegunpowder-filled tubes. At some point, theyattached bamboo tubes to arrows and launchedthem with bows. Soon they discovered that

these gunpowder tubes could launchthemselves just by the power producedfrom the escaping gas. The true rocket was

born.Hero Engine

oday’s rockets are remarkable collections ofhuman ingenuity that have their roots in theT

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The date reporting the first use of truerockets was in 1232. At this time, the Chinese andthe Mongols were at war with each other. Duringthe battle of Kai-Keng, the Chinese repelled theMongol invaders by a barrage of “arrows of flyingfire.” These fire-arrows were a simple form of asolid-propellant rocket. A tube, capped at one end,contained gunpowder. The other end was left openand the tube was attached to a long stick. Whenthe powder ignited, the rapid burning of the powderproduced fire, smoke, and gas that escaped out theopen end and produced a thrust. The stick acted as

By the 16th century rockets fell into a time ofdisuse as weapons of war, though they were stillused for fireworks displays, and a German fireworksmaker, Johann Schmidlap, invented the “steprocket,” a multi-staged vehicle for lifting fireworks tohigher altitudes. A large sky rocket (first stage)carried a smaller sky rocket (second stage). Whenthe large rocket burned out, the smaller onecontinued to a higher altitude before showering thesky with glowing cinders. Schmidlap’s idea is basicto all rockets today that go into outer space.

Nearly all uses of rockets up to this timewere for warfare or fireworks, but an interesting oldChinese legend reports the use of rockets as ameans of transportation. With the help of many

a simple guidance system that kept the rocketheaded in one general direction as it flew throughthe air. How effective these arrows of flying firewere as weapons of destruction is not clear, buttheir psychological effects on the Mongols musthave been formidable.

Following the battle of Kai-Keng, theMongols produced rockets of their own and mayhave been responsible for the spread of rockets toEurope. Many records describe rocket experimentsthrough out the 13th to the 15th centuries. InEngland, a monk named Roger Bacon worked onimproved forms of gunpowder that greatly increasedthe range of rockets. In France, Jean Froissartachieved more accurate flights by launching rocketsthrough tubes. Froissart’s idea was the forerunnerof the modern bazooka. Joanes de Fontana of Italydesigned a surface-running rocket-powered torpedofor setting enemy ships on fire.

assistants, a lesser-known Chinese official namedWan-Hu assembled a rocket-powered flying chair.He had two large kites attached to the chair, andfixed to the kites were forty-seven fire-arrowrockets.

On the day of the flight, Wan-Hu sat himselfon the chair and gave the command to light therockets. Forty-seven rocket assistants, each armedwith torches, rushed forward to light the fuses. Atremendous roar filled the air, accompanied bybillowing clouds of smoke. When the smokecleared, Wan-Hu and his flying chair were gone. Noone knows for sure what happened to Wan-Hu, butif the event really did take place, Wan-Hu and hischair probably did not survive the explosion. Fire-arrows were as apt to explode as to fly.

Rocketry Becomes a Science

During the latter part of the 17th century, thegreat English scientist Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) laid the scientific foundations for modernrocketry. Newton organized his understanding ofphysical motion into three scientific laws. The lawsexplain how rockets work and why they are able towork in the vacuum of outer space. (See RocketPrinciples for more information on Newton’s ThreeLaws of Motion beginning on page 13.)

Surface-Running Torpedo

Chinese soldier launches a fire-arrow.

Chinese Fire-Arrows

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Tsiolkovsky Rocket Designs

Austrian rocket brigades met their match againstnewly designed artillery pieces. Breech-loadingcannon with rifled barrels and exploding warheadswere far more effective weapons of war than thebest rockets. Once again, the military relegatedrocketry to peacetime uses.

Modern Rocketry Begins

In 1898, a Russian schoolteacher,Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935), proposed theidea of space exploration by rocket. In a report hepublished in 1903, Tsiolkovsky suggested the use ofliquid propellants for rockets in order to achievegreater range. Tsiolkovsky stated that only theexhaust velocity of escaping gases limited thespeed and range of a rocket. For his ideas, carefulresearch, and great vision, Tsiolkovsky has beencalled the father of modern astronautics.

Early in the 20th century, an American,Robert H. Goddard (1882-1945), conductedpractical experiments in rocketry. He had becomeinterested in a way of achieving higher altitudesthan were possible for lighter-than-air balloons. Hepublished a pamphlet in 1919 entitled A Method ofReaching Extreme Altitudes. Today we call thismathematical analysis the meteorological soundingrocket.

In his pamphlet, Goddard reached severalconclusions important to rocketry. From his tests,he stated that a rocket operates with greater

Newton’s laws soon began to have apractical impact on the design of rockets. About1720, a Dutch professor, Willem Gravesande, builtmodel cars propelled by jets of steam. Rocketexperimenters in Germany and Russia beganworking with rockets with a mass of more than 45kilograms. Some of these rockets were so powerfulthat their escaping exhaust flames bored deepholes in the ground even before liftoff.

During the end of the 18th century and earlyinto the 19th, rockets experienced a brief revival asa weapon of war. The success of Indian rocketbarrages against the British in 1792 and again in1799 caught the interest of an artillery expert,Colonel William Congreve. Congreve set out todesign rockets for use by the British military.

The Congreve rockets were highlysuccessful in battle. Used by British ships to poundFort McHenry in the War of 1812, they inspiredFrancis Scott Key to write “the rockets’ red glare,” inhis poem that later became The Star-SpangledBanner.

Even with Congreve’s work, the accuracy ofrockets still had not improved much from the earlydays. The devastating nature of war rockets wasnot their accuracy or power, but their numbers.During a typical siege, thousands of them might befired at the enemy. All over the world, rocketresearchers experimented with ways to improveaccuracy. An Englishman, William Hale, developeda technique called spin stabilization. In this method,the escaping exhaust gases struck small vanes atthe bottom of the rocket, causing it to spin much asa bullet does in flight. Many rockets still usevariations of this principle today.

Rocket use continued to be successful inbattles all over the European continent.However, in a war with Prussia, the

Legendary Chinese official Wan Hu braceshimself for "liftoff."

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efficiency in a vacuum than in air. At thetime, most people mistakenly believed thatthe presence of air was necessary for arocket to push against. A New York Timesnewspaper editorial of the day mockedGoddard’s lack of the “basic physics ladledout daily in our high schools.” Goddardalso stated that multistage or step rocketswere the answer to achieving high altitudesand that the velocity needed to escapeEarth’s gravity could be achieved in thisway.

Goddard’s earliest experimentswere with solid-propellant rockets. In 1915,he began to try various types of solid fuelsand to measure the exhaust velocities ofthe burning gases.

While working on solid-propellantrockets, Goddard became convinced that arocket could be propelled better by liquidfuel. No one had ever built a successfulliquid-propellant rocket before. It was amuch more difficult task than building solid-propellant rockets. Fuel and oxygen tanks,turbines, and combustion chambers would

be needed. In spite of the difficulties, Goddardachieved the first successful flight with a liquid-propellant rocket on March 16, 1926. Fueled byliquid oxygen and gasoline, the rocket flew for onlytwo and a half seconds, climbed 12.5 meters, andlanded 56 meters away in a cabbage patch. Bytoday’s standards, the flight was unimpressive, butlike the first powered airplane flight by the Wrightbrothers in 1903, Goddard’s gasoline rocketbecame the forerunner of a whole new era in rocketflight.

Goddard’s experiments in liquid-propellantrockets continued for many years. His rockets grewbigger and flew higher. He developed a gyroscopesystem for flight control and a payload compartmentfor scientific instruments. Parachute recoverysystems returned the rockets and instruments safelyto the ground. We call Goddard the father ofmodern rocketry for his achievements.

A third great space pioneer, HermannOberth (1894-1989) of Germany, published a bookin 1923 about rocket travel into outer space. Hiswritings were important. Because of them,many small rocket societies sprang up

Dr. Goddard's 1926 Rocket

Dr. Robert H. Goddard makes adjustments on theupper end of a rocket combustion chamber in this 1940picture taken in Roswell, New Mexico.

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around the world. In Germany, the formation of onesuch society, the Verein fur Raumschiffahrt (Societyfor Space Travel), led to the development of the V-2rocket, which the Germans used against Londonduring World War II. In 1937, German engineersand scientists, including Oberth, assembled inPeenemunde on the shores of the Baltic Sea.There, under the directorship of Wernher vonBraun, engineers and scientists built and flew themost advanced rocket of its time.

The V-2 rocket (in Germany called the A-4)was small by comparison to today’s rockets. Itachieved its great thrust by burning a mixture ofliquid oxygen and alcohol at a rate of about one tonevery seven seconds. Once launched, the V-2 wasa formidable weapon that could devastate wholecity blocks.

Fortunately for London and the Allied forces,the V-2 came too late in the war to change itsoutcome. Nevertheless, by war’s end, Germanrocket scientists and engineers had already laidplans for advanced missiles capable of spanningthe Atlantic Ocean and landing in the United States.These missiles would have had winged upperstages but very small payload capacities.

With the fall of Germany, the Allies capturedmany unused V-2 rockets and components. ManyGerman rocket scientists came to the United States.Others went to the Soviet Union. The Germanscientists, including Wernher von Braun, wereamazed at the progress Goddard had made.

Both the United States and the Soviet Unionrecognized the potential of rocketry as a militaryweapon and began a variety of experimentalprograms. At first, the United States began aprogram with high-altitude atmospheric soundingrockets, one of Goddard’s early ideas. Later, theydeveloped a variety of medium- and long-rangeintercontinental ballistic missiles. These becamethe starting point of the U.S. space program.Missiles such as the Redstone, Atlas, and Titanwould eventually launch astronauts into space.

On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Unionstunned the world by launching an Earth-orbitingartificial satellite. Called Sputnik I, the satellite wasthe first successful entry in a race for spacebetween the two superpower nations. Less than amonth later, the Soviets followed with the launch ofa satellite carrying a dog named Laika on board.Laika survived in space for seven days before beingput to sleep before the oxygen supply ran out.

A few months after the first Sputnik, theUnited States followed the Soviet Union with a

satellite of its own. The U.S. Army

German V-2 (A-4) Missile

Container forliquid oxygen

Propellantturbopump

Air vane

Warhead(Explosive charge)

Alcoholmainvalve

Oxygen mainvalve

Jet vane

Rocket motor

Vaporizer for turbinepropellant (propellantturbopump drive)

Container for turbine propellant(hydrogen peroxide)

Steamexhaust

from turbine

Automatic gyrocontrol

Guidebeam and radiocommand receivers

Container foralcohol-watermixture

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launched Explorer I on January 31, 1958. InOctober of that year, the United States formallyorganized its space program by creating theNational Aeronautics and Space Administration(NASA). NASA became a civilian agency with thegoal of peaceful exploration of space for the benefitof all humankind.

Soon, rockets launched many people andmachines into space. Astronauts orbited Earth andlanded on the Moon. Robot spacecraft traveled tothe planets. Space suddenly opened up to explor-ation and commercial exploitation. Satellitesenabled scientists to investigate our world, forecastthe weather, and communicate instantaneouslyaround the globe. The demand for more and largerpayloads created the need to develop a wide arrayof powerful and versatile rockets.

Scientific exploration of space using roboticspacecraft proceeded at a fast pace. Both Russiaand the United States began programs to investi-gate the Moon. Developing the technology tophysically get a probe to the Moon became theinitial challenge. Within nine months of Explorer 1the United States launched the first unmanned lunarprobe, but the launch vehicle, an Atlas with an Ableupper stage, failed 45 seconds after liftoff when thepayload fairing tore away from the vehicle. TheRussians were more successful with Luna 1, whichflew past the Moon in January of 1959. Later thatyear the Luna program impacted a probe on theMoon, taking the first pictures of its far side. Be-tween 1958 and 1960 the United States sent aseries of missions, the Pioneer Lunar Probes, tophotograph and obtain scientific data about theMoon. These probes were generally unsuccessful,primarily due to launch vehicle failures. Only one ofeight probes accomplished its intended mission tothe Moon, though several, which were stranded inorbits between Earth and the Moon, did provideimportant scientific information on the number andextent of the radiation belts around Earth. TheUnited States appeared to lag behind the SovietUnion in space.

With each launch, manned spaceflight camea step closer to becoming reality. In April of 1961, aRussian named Yuri Gagarin became the first manto orbit Earth. Less than a month later the UnitedStates launched the first American, Alan Shepard,into space. The flight was a sub-orbital lofting intospace, which immediately returned to Earth. TheRedstone rocket was not powerful enough to placethe Mercury capsule into orbit. The flight lasted onlya little over 15 minutes and reached an altitude of187 kilometers. Alan Shepard experienced about

five minutes of microgravity then returned to Earth,during which he encountered forces twelve timesgreater than the force of gravity. Twenty days later,though still technically behind the Soviet Union,President John Kennedy announced the objective toput a man on the Moon by the end of the decade.

In February of 1962, John Glenn becamethe first American to orbit Earth in a small capsuleso filled with equipment that he only had room to sit.Launched by the more powerful Atlas vehicle, JohnGlenn remained in orbit for four hours and fifty-fiveminutes before splashing down in the AtlanticOcean. The Mercury program had a total of sixlaunches: two suborbital and four orbital. Theselaunches demonstrated the United States’ ability tosend men into orbit, allowed the crew to function inspace, operate the spacecraft, and make scientificobservations.

The United States then began an extensiveunmanned program aimed at supporting themanned lunar landing program. Three separateprojects gathered information on landing sites andother data about the lunar surface and the sur-rounding environment. The first was the Rangerseries, which was the United States first attempt to

Close-up picture of the Moon taken by the Ranger9 spacecraft just before impact. The small circleto the left is the impact site.

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take close-up photographs of the Moon. Thespacecraft took thousands of black and whitephotographs of the Moon as it descended andcrashed into the lunar surface. Though the Rangerseries supplied very detailed data, mission plannersfor the coming Apollo mission wanted more exten-sive data.

The final two lunar programs were designedto work in conjunction with one another. LunarOrbiter provided an extensive map of the lunarsurface. Surveyor provided detailed color photo-graphs of the lunar surface as well as data on theelements of the lunar sediment and an assessmentof the ability of the sediment to support the weight ofthe manned landing vehicles. By examining bothsets of data, planners were able to identify sites forthe manned landings. However, a significantproblem existed, the Surveyor spacecraft was toolarge to be launched by existing Atlas/Agenarockets, so a new high energy upper stage calledthe Centaur was developed to replace the Agenaspecifically for this mission. The Centaur upperstage used efficient hydrogen and oxygen propel-lants to dramatically improve its performance, butthe super cold temperatures and highly explosivenature presented significant technical challenges.In addition, they built the tanks of the Centaur withthin stainless steel to save precious weight. Moder-ate pressure had to be maintained in the tank toprevent it from collapsing upon itself. Rocketbuilding was refining the United State's capability toexplore the Moon.

The Gemini was the second mannedcapsule developed by the United States. It wasdesigned to carry two crew members and waslaunched on the largest launch vehicle available—the Titan II. President Kennedy’s mandate signifi-cantly altered the Gemini mission from the generalgoal of expanding experience in space to preparefor a manned lunar landing on the Moon. It pavedthe way for the Apollo program by demonstratingrendezvous and docking required for the lunarlander to return to the lunar orbiting spacecraft, theextravehicular activity (EVA) required for the lunarsurface exploration and any emergency repairs, andfinally the ability of humans to function during theeight day manned lunar mission duration. TheGemini program launched ten manned missions in1965 and 1966, eight flights rendezvous anddocked with unmanned stages in Earth orbit andseven performed EVA.

Launching men to the moon required launchvehicles much larger than those available. To

achieve this goal the United States

A fish-eye camera view of a Saturn 5 rocket just afterengine ignition.

developed the Saturn launch vehicle. The Apollocapsule, or command module, held a crew of three.The capsule took the astronauts into orbit about theMoon, where two astronauts transferred into a lunarmodule and descended to the lunar surface. Aftercompleting the lunar mission, the upper section ofthe lunar module returned to orbit to rendezvouswith the Apollo capsule. The Moonwalkers trans-ferred back to the command module and a servicemodule, with an engine, propelled them back toEarth. After four manned test flights, Apollo 11astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first man onthe moon. The United States returned to the lunarsurface five more times before the manned lunarprogram was completed. After the lunar programthe Apollo program and the Saturn boosterlaunched Skylab, the United State's first spacestation. A smaller version of the Saturn vehicleransported the United States' crew for the firstrendezvous in space between the United States andRussia on the Apollo-Soyuz mission.

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During this manned lunar program, un-manned launch vehicles sent many satellites toinvestigate our planet, forecast the weather, andcommunicate instantaneously around the world. Inaddition, scientists began to explore other planets.Mariner 2 successfully flew by Venus in 1962,becoming the first probe to fly past another planet.The United State’s interplanetary space programthen took off with an amazing string of successfullaunches. The program has visited every planetexcept Pluto.

After the Apollo program the United Statesbegan concentrating on the development of areusable launch system, the Space Shuttle. Solidrocket boosters and three main engines on theorbiter launch the Space Shuttle. The reusableboosters jettison little more than 2 minutes into theflight, their fuel expended. Parachutes deploy todecelerate the solid rocket boosters for a safesplashdown in the Atlantic ocean, where two shipsrecover them. The orbiter and external tankcontinue to ascend. When the main engines shutdown, the external tank jettisons from the orbiter,eventually disintegrating in the atmosphere. A brieffiring of the spacecraft’s two orbital maneuveringsystem thrusters changes the trajectory to achieveorbit at a range of 185-402 kilometers above Earth’ssurface. The Space Shuttle orbiter can carryapproximately 25,000 kilograms of payload into orbitso crew members can conduct experiments in amicrogravity environment. The orbitalmaneuvering system thrusters fire to slowthe spacecraft for reentry into Earth’satmosphere, heating up the orbiter’sthermal protection shield up to 816°Celsius. On the Shuttle’s final descent, itreturns to Earth gliding like an airplane.

Since the earliest days of discov-ery and experimentation, rockets haveevolved from simple gunpowder devicesinto giant vehicles capable of travelinginto outer space, taking astronauts to theMoon, launching satellites to explore ouruniverse, and enabling us to conductscientific experiments aboard the SpaceShuttle. Without a doubt rockets haveopened the universe to direct explorationby humankind. What role will rocketsplay in our future?

The goal of the United Statesspace program is to expand our horizonsin space, and then to open the spacefrontier to international human expansionand the commercial development. For

this to happen, rockets must become more costeffective and more reliable as a means of getting tospace. Expensive hardware cannot be thrown awayeach time we go to space. It is necessary to con-tinue the drive for more reusability started during theSpace Shuttle program. Eventually NASA maydevelop aerospace planes that will take off fromrunways, fly into orbit, and land on those samerunways, with operations similar to airplanes.

To achieve this goal two programs arecurrently under development. The X33 and X34programs will develop reusable vehicles, whichsignificantly decrease the cost to orbit. The X33 willbe a manned vehicle lifting about the same payloadcapacity as the Space Shuttle. The X34 will be asmall, reusable unmanned launch vehicle capableof launching 905 kilograms to space and reduce thelaunch cost relative to current vehicles by twothirds.

The first step towards building fully reusablevehicles has already occurred. A project called theDelta Clipper is currently being tested. The DeltaClipper is a vertical takeoff and soft landing vehicle.It has demonstrated the ability to hover and maneu-ver over Earth using the same hardware over andover again. The program uses much existingtechnology and minimizes the operating cost.Reliable, inexpensive rockets are the key to en-abling humans to truly expand into space.

Three reusable future space vehicles concepts underconsideration by NASA.

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enclosing a gas under pressure. A small opening atone end of the chamber allows the gas to escape,and in doing so provides a thrust that propels therocket in the opposite direction. A good example ofthis is a balloon. Air inside a balloon is compressedby the balloon’s rubber walls. The air pushes backso that the inward and outward pressing forcesbalance. When the nozzle is released, air escapesthrough it and the balloon is propelled in theopposite direction.

When we think of rockets, we rarely think ofballoons. Instead, our attention is drawn to thegiant vehicles that carry satellites into orbit andspacecraft to the Moon and planets. Nevertheless,

there is a strong similarity between the two.The only significant difference is the way the

pressurized gas is produced. With spacerockets, the gas is produced by burning

propellants that can be solid or liquidin form or a combination of the two.

One of the interesting factsabout the historical development ofrockets is that while rockets androcket-powered devices have beenin use for more than two thousandyears, it has been only in the lastthree hundred years that rocketexperimenters have had a scientificbasis for understanding how theywork.

The science of rocketrybegan with the publishing of a book in

1687 by the great English scientist SirIsaac Newton. His book, entitled

Philosophiae Naturalis PrincipiaMathematica, described physical principles in

nature. Today, Newton’s work is usually just calledthe Principia.

In the Principia, Newton stated threeimportant scientific principles that govern the motionof all objects, whether on Earth or in space.Knowing these principles, now called Newton’sLaws of Motion, rocketeers have been able toconstruct the modern giant rockets of the 20thcentury such as the Saturn 5 and the Space Shuttle.Here now, in simple form, are Newton’s Laws ofMotion.

1. Objects at rest will stay at rest and objects inmotion will stay in motion in a straight line unlessacted upon by an unbalanced force.

Air Moves Balloon Moves

Inside Air Pressure

Outside Air Pressure

Rocket Principles A rocket in its simplest form is a chamber

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become unbalanced. The ball then changes from astate of rest to a state of motion.

In rocket flight, forces become balanced andunbalanced all the time. A rocket on the launch padis balanced. The surface of the pad pushes therocket up while gravity tries to pull it down. As theengines are ignited, the thrust from the rocketunbalances the forces, and the rocket travelsupward. Later, when the rocket runs out of fuel, itslows down, stops at the highest point of its flight,and then falls back to Earth.

Objects in space also react to forces. Aspacecraft moving through the solar system is inconstant motion. The spacecraft will travel

Ball at Rest

Lift

Gravity

2. Force is equal to mass times acceleration.

3. For every action there is always an opposite andequal reaction.

As will be explained shortly, all three laws are reallysimple statements of how things move. But withthem, precise determinations of rocket performancecan be made.

Newton’s First Law

This law of motion is just an obviousstatement of fact, but to know what it means,it is necessary to understand the terms rest,motion, and unbalanced force.

Rest and motion can be thought of asbeing opposite to each other. Rest is the state ofan object when it is not changing position inrelation to its surroundings. If you are sitting still ina chair, you can be said to be at rest. This term,however, is relative. Your chair may actually be oneof many seats on a speeding airplane. Theimportant thing to remember here is that you are notmoving in relation to your immediate surroundings.If rest were defined as a total absence of motion, itwould not exist in nature. Even if you were sitting inyour chair at home, you would still be moving,because your chair is actually sitting on the surfaceof a spinning planet that is orbiting a star. The staris moving through a rotating galaxy that is, itself,moving through the universe. While sitting “still,”you are, in fact, traveling at a speed of hundreds ofkilometers per second.

Motion is also a relative term. All matter inthe universe is moving all the time, but in the firstlaw, motion here means changing position inrelation to surroundings. A ball is at rest if it issitting on the ground. The ball is in motion if it isrolling. A rolling ball changes its position in relationto its surroundings. When you are sitting on a chairin an airplane, you are at rest, but if you get up andwalk down the aisle, you are in motion. A rocketblasting off the launch pad changes from a state ofrest to a state of motion.

The third term important to understandingthis law is unbalanced force. If you hold a ball inyour hand and keep it still, the ball is at rest. All thetime the ball is held there though, it is being actedupon by forces. The force of gravity is trying to pullthe ball downward, while at the same time yourhand is pushing against the ball to hold it up. Theforces acting on the ball are balanced. Let the ballgo, or move your hand upward, and the forces

15Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

in a straight line if the forces on it are in balance.This happens only when the spacecraft is very farfrom any large gravity source such as Earth or theother planets and their moons. If the spacecraftcomes near a large body in space, the gravity ofthat body will unbalance the forces and curve thepath of the spacecraft. This happens, in particular,when a satellite is sent by a rocket on a path that istangent to the planned orbit about a planet. Theunbalanced gravitational force causes the satellite'spath to change to an arc. The arc is a combinationof the satellite's fall inward toward the planet'scenter and its forward motion. When these twomotions are just right, the shape of the satellite'spath matches the shape of the body it is travelingaround. Consequently, an orbit is produced. Sincethe gravitational force changes with height above aplanet, each altitude has its own unique velocity thatresults in a circular orbit. Obviously, controllingvelocity is extremely important for maintaining thecircular orbit of the spacecraft. Unless anotherunbalanced force, such as friction with gas

Action

Reaction

Satellite's Forward Motion

Pull ofPlanet'sGravityResultant Path

(Orbit)

The combination of a satellite's forward motion and the pullof gravity of the planet, bend the satellite's path into anorbit.

molecules in orbit or the firing of a rocket engine inthe opposite direction , slows down the spacecraft, itwill orbit the planet forever.

Now that the three major terms of this firstlaw have been explained, it is possible to restatethis law. If an object, such as a rocket, is at rest, ittakes an unbalanced force to make it move. If theobject is already moving, it takes an unbalancedforce, to stop it, change its direction from a straightline path, or alter its speed.

Newton’s Third Law

For the time being, we will skip the Second Law andgo directly to the Third. This law states that everyaction has an equal and opposite reaction. If youhave ever stepped off a small boat that has notbeen properly tied to a pier, you will know exactlywhat this law means.

A rocket can liftoff from a launch pad onlywhen it expels gas out of its engine. The rocketpushes on the gas, and the gas in turn pushes onthe rocket. The whole process is very similar toriding a skateboard. Imagine that a skateboard andrider are in a state of rest (not moving). The riderjumps off the skateboard. In the Third Law, thejumping is called an action. The skateboardresponds to that action by traveling some distancein the opposite direction. The skateboard’s oppositemotion is called a reaction. When the distancetraveled by the rider and the skateboard arecompared, it would appear that the skateboard hashad a much greater reaction than the action of therider. This is not the case. The reason the

16Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

skateboard has traveled farther is that it has lessmass than the rider. This concept will be betterexplained in a discussion of the Second Law.

With rockets, the action is the expelling ofgas out of the engine. The reaction is themovement of the rocket in the opposite direction.To enable a rocket to lift off from the launch pad, theaction, or thrust, from the engine must be greaterthan the weight of the rocket. While on the pad theweight of the rocket is balanced by the force of theground pushing against it. Small amounts of thrustresult in less force required by the ground to keepthe rocket balanced. Only when the thrust isgreater than the weight of the rocket does the forcebecome unbalanced and the rocket lifts off. Inspace where unbalanced force is used to maintainthe orbit, even tiny thrusts will cause a change inthe unbalanced force and result in the rocketchanging speed or direction.

One of the most commonly asked questionsabout rockets is how they can work in space wherethere is no air for them to push against. The answerto this question comes from the Third Law. Imaginethe skateboard again. On the ground, the only partair plays in the motions of the rider and theskateboard is to slow them down. Moving throughthe air causes friction, or as scientists call it, drag.The surrounding air impedes the action-reaction.

As a result rockets actually work better inspace than they do in air. As the exhaust gasleaves the rocket engine it must push away thesurrounding air; this uses up some of the energy ofthe rocket. In space, the exhaust gases can escapefreely.

Newton’s Second Law

This law of motion is essentially a statement of amathematical equation. The three parts of theequation are mass (m), acceleration (a), and force(f). Using letters to symbolize each part, theequation can be written as follows:

f = ma

The equation reads: force equals mass timesacceleration. To explain this law, we will use an oldstyle cannon as an example.

When the cannon is fired, an explosion propels acannon ball out the open end of the barrel. It flies akilometer or two to its target. At the same time the

cannon itself is pushed backward a meter or two.This is action and reaction at work (Third Law). Theforce acting on the cannon and the ball is the same.What happens to the cannon and the ball isdetermined by the Second Law. Look at the twoequations below.

f = m(cannon )

a(cannon )

f = m(ball )

a(ball )

The first equation refers to the cannon and thesecond to the cannon ball. In the first equation, themass is the cannon itself and the acceleration is themovement of the cannon. In the second equationthe mass is the cannon ball and the acceleration isits movement. Because the force (exploding gunpowder) is the same for the two equations, theequations can be combined and rewritten below.

m(cannon )

a(cannon )

= m(ball )

a(ball )

In order to keep the two sides of the equationsequal, the accelerations vary with mass. In otherwords, the cannon has a large mass and a smallacceleration. The cannon ball has a small massand a large acceleration.

Apply this principle to a rocket. Replace themass of the cannon ball with the mass of the gasesbeing ejected out of the rocket engine. Replace themass of the cannon with the mass of the rocketmoving in the other direction. Force is the pressurecreated by the controlled explosion taking placeinside the rocket's engines. That pressureaccelerates the gas one way and the rocket theother.

Some interesting things happen with rocketsthat do not happen with the cannon and ball in thisexample. With the cannon and cannon ball, thethrust lasts for just a moment. The thrust for therocket continues as long as its engines are

AM

A MF

17Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

firing. Furthermore, the mass of the rocket changesduring flight. Its mass is the sum of all its parts.Rocket parts include: engines, propellant tanks,payload, control system, and propellants. By far,the largest part of the rocket's mass is itspropellants. But that amount constantly changes asthe engines fire. That means that the rocket's massgets smaller during flight. In order for the left side ofour equation to remain in balance with the rightside, acceleration of the rocket has to increase asits mass decreases. That is why a rocket starts offmoving slowly and goes faster and faster as itclimbs into space.

Newton's Second Law of Motion isespecially useful when designing efficient rockets.To enable a rocket to climb into low Earth orbit, it isnecessary to achieve a speed, in excess of 28,000km per hour. A speed of over 40,250 km per hour,called escape velocity, enables a rocket to leaveEarth and travel out into deep space. Attainingspace flight speeds requires the rocket engine toachieve the greatest action force possible in theshortest time. In other words, the engine must burna large mass of fuel and push the resulting gas outof the engine as rapidly as possible. Ways of doingthis will be described in the next chapter.

Newton’s Second Law of Motion can berestated in the following way: the greater the massof rocket fuel burned, and the faster the gasproduced can escape the engine, the greater thethrust of the rocket.

Putting Newton’s Laws of MotionTogether

An unbalanced force must be exerted for arocket to lift off from a launch pad or for a craft inspace to change speed or direction (First Law).The amount of thrust (force) produced by a rocketengine will be determined by the rate at which themass of the rocket fuel burns and the speed of thegas escaping the rocket (Second Law). Thereaction, or motion, of the rocket is equal to and inthe opposite direction of the action, or thrust, fromthe engine (Third Law).

18Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

exploded on launching. Others flew on erraticcourses and landed in the wrong place. Being arocketeer in the days of the fire-arrows must havebeen an exciting, but also a highly dangerousactivity.

Today, rockets are much more reliable.They fly on precise courses and are capable ofgoing fast enough to escape the gravitational pull ofEarth. Modern rockets are also more efficient todaybecause we have an understanding of the scientificprinciples behind rocketry. Our understanding hasled us to develop a wide variety of advanced rockethardware and devise new propellants that can beused for longer trips and more powerful takeoffs.

Rocket Engines and Their Propellants

Most rockets today operate with either solidor liquid propellants. The word propellant does notmean simply fuel, as you might think; it means bothfuel and oxidizer. The fuel is the chemical therocket burns but, for burning to take place, anoxidizer (oxygen) must be present. Jet enginesdraw oxygen into their engines from the surroundingair. Rockets do not have the luxury that jet planeshave; they must carry oxygen with them into space,where there is no air.

Solid rocket propellants, which are dry to thetouch, contain both the fuel and oxidizer combinedtogether in the chemical itself. Usually the fuel is amixture of hydrogen compounds and carbon andthe oxidizer is made up of oxygen compounds.Liquid propellants, which are often gases that havebeen chilled until they turn into liquids, are kept inseparate containers, one for the fuel and the otherfor the oxidizer. Just before firing, the fuel andoxidizer are mixed together in the engine.

A solid-propellant rocket has the simplestform of engine. It has a nozzle, a case, insulation,propellant, and an igniter. The case of the engine isusually a relatively thin metal that is lined withinsulation to keep the propellant from burningthrough. The propellant itself is packed inside theinsulation layer.

Many solid-propellant rocket engines featurea hollow core that runs through the propellant.Rockets that do not have the hollow core must beignited at the lower end of the propellants andburning proceeds gradually from one end of therocket to the other. In all cases, only the surface ofthe propellant burns. However, to get higher thrust,the hollow core is used. This increases the

Practical Rocketry he first rockets ever built, the fire-arrows of theChinese, were not very reliable. Many justT

19Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

surface of the propellants available for burning. Thepropellants burn from the inside out at a muchhigher rate, sending mass out the nozzle at a higherrate and speed. This results in greater thrust. Somepropellant cores are star shaped to increase theburning surface even more.

To ignite solid propellants, many kinds ofigniters can be used. Fire-arrows were ignited byfuses, but sometimes these ignited too quickly andburned the rocketeer. A far safer and more reliableform of ignition used today is one that employselectricity. An electric current, coming through wiresfrom some distance away, heats up a special wireinside the rocket. The wire raises the temperatureof the propellant it is in contact with to thecombustion point.

Other igniters are more advanced than thehot wire device. Some are encased in a chemicalthat ignites first, which then ignites the propellants.Still other igniters, especially those for large rockets,are rocket engines themselves. The small engineinside the hollow core blasts a stream of flames andhot gas down from the top of the core and ignitesthe entire surface area of the propellants in afraction of a second.

The nozzle in a solid-propellant engine is anopening at the back of the rocket that permits thehot expanding gases to escape. The narrow part ofthe nozzle is the throat. Just beyond the throat isthe exit cone.

The purpose of the nozzle is to increase theacceleration of the gases as they leave the rocketand thereby maximize the thrust. It does this bycutting down the opening through which the gasescan escape. To see how this works, you canexperiment with a garden hose that has a spraynozzle attachment. This kind of nozzle does nothave an exit cone, but that does not matter in theexperiment. The important point about the nozzle isthat the size of the opening can be varied.

Start with the opening at its widest point.Watch how far the water squirts and feel the thrustproduced by the departing water. Now reduce thediameter of the opening, and again note thedistance the water squirts and feel the thrust.Rocket nozzles work the same way.

As with the inside of the rocket case,insulation is needed to protect the nozzle from thehot gases. The usual insulation is one thatgradually erodes as the gas passes through. Smallpieces of the insulation get very hot and break awayfrom the nozzle. As they are blown away, heat iscarried away with them.

The other main kind of rocket engine is onethat uses liquid propellants, which may be eitherpumped or fed into the engine by pressure. This isa much more complicated engine, as is evidencedby the fact that solid rocket engines were used for atleast seven hundred years before the firstsuccessful liquid engine was tested. Liquidpropellants have separate storage tanks—one forthe fuel and one for the oxidizer. They also have acombustion chamber, and a nozzle.

Nozzle Throat

Fins

Combustion Chamber

Propellant (grain)

Casing(body tube)

Igniter

Payload

Core

Solid Propellant Rocket

20Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

The fuel of a liquid-propellant rocket isusually kerosene or liquid hydrogen; the oxidizer isusually liquid oxygen. They are combined inside acavity called the combustion chamber. Here thepropellants burn and build up high temperaturesand pressures, and the expanding gas escapesthrough the nozzle at the lower end. To get themost power from the propellants, they must bemixed as completely as possible. Small injectors(nozzles) on the roof of the chamber spray and mixthe propellants at the same time. Because the

chamber operates under high pressures, thepropellants need to be forced inside. Modern liquidrockets use powerful, lightweight turbine pumps totake care of this job.

With any rocket, and especially with liquid-propellant rockets, weight is an important factor. Ingeneral, the heavier the rocket, the more the thrustneeded to get it off the ground. Because of thepumps and fuel lines, liquid engines are muchheavier than solid engines.

One especially good method of reducing theweight of liquid engines is to make the exit cone ofthe nozzle out of very lightweight metals. However,the extremely hot, fast-moving gases that passthrough the cone would quickly melt thin metal.Therefore, a cooling system is needed. A highlyeffective though complex cooling system that isused with some liquid engines takes advantage ofthe low temperature of liquid hydrogen. Hydrogenbecomes a liquid when it is chilled to -253o C.Before injecting the hydrogen into the combustionchamber, it is first circulated through small tubesthat lace the walls of the exit cone. In a cutawayview, the exit cone wall looks like the edge ofcorrugated cardboard. The hydrogen in the tubesabsorbs the excess heat entering the cone wallsand prevents it from melting the walls away. It alsomakes the hydrogen more energetic because of theheat it picks up. We call this kind of cooling systemregenerative cooling.

Engine Thrust Control

Controlling the thrust of an engine is veryimportant to launching payloads (cargoes) into orbit.Thrusting for too short or too long of a period of timewill cause a satellite to be placed in the wrong orbit.This could cause it to go too far into space to beuseful or make the satellite fall back to Earth.Thrusting in the wrong direction or at the wrong timewill also result in a similar situation.

A computer in the rocket’s guidance systemdetermines when that thrust is needed and turns theengine on or off appropriately. Liquid engines dothis by simply starting or stopping the flow of propel-lants into the combustion chamber. On morecomplicated flights, such as going to the Moon, theengines must be started and stopped several times.

Some liquid-propellant engines control theamount of engine thrust by varying the amount ofpropellant that enters the combustion chamber.Typically the engine thrust varies for controlling theacceleration experienced by astronauts or to limitthe aerodynamic forces on a vehicle.

Payload

Oxidizer

Fuel

Pumps

Injectors

Combustion Chamber

Fins

Nozzle

Liquid Propellant Rocket

21Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Solid-propellant rockets are not as easy tocontrol as liquid rockets. Once started, thepropellants burn until they are gone. They are verydifficult to stop or slow down part way into the burn.Sometimes fire extinguishers are built into theengine to stop the rocket in flight. But using them isa tricky procedure and does not always work.Some solid-fuel engines have hatches on their sidesthat can be cut loose by remote control to releasethe chamber pressure and terminate thrust.

The burn rate of solid propellants is carefullyplanned in advance. The hollow core running thelength of the propellants can be made into a starshape. At first, there is a very large surfaceavailable for burning, but as the points of the starburn away, the surface area is reduced. For a time,less of the propellant burns, and this reduces thrust.The Space Shuttle uses this technique to reducevibrations early in its flight into orbit.

NOTE: Although most rockets used bygovernments and research organizations are veryreliable, there is still great danger associated withthe building and firing of rocket engines. Individualsinterested in rocketry should never attempt to buildtheir own engines. Even the simplest-looking rocketengines are very complex. Case-wall burstingstrength, propellant packing density, nozzle design,and propellant chemistry are all design problemsbeyond the scope of most amateurs. Many home-built rocket engines have exploded in the faces oftheir builders with tragic consequences.

Stability and Control Systems

Building an efficient rocket engine is onlypart of the problem in producing a successfulrocket. The rocket must also be stable in flight. Astable rocket is one that flies in a smooth, uniformdirection. An unstable rocket flies along an erraticpath, sometimes tumbling or changing direction.Unstable rockets are dangerous because it is notpossible to predict where they will go. They mayeven turn upside down and suddenly head backdirectly to the launch pad.

Making a rocket stable requires some formof control system. Controls can be either active orpassive. The difference between these and howthey work will be explained later. It is first importantto understand what makes a rocket stable orunstable.

All matter, regardless of size, mass, orshape, has a point inside called the center of mass

(CM). The center of mass is the exact

spot where all of the mass of that object is perfectlybalanced. You can easily find the center of mass ofan object such as a ruler by balancing the object onyour finger. If thematerial used to makethe ruler is of uniformthickness and density,the center of massshould be at the halfwaypoint between one endof the stick and theother. If the ruler weremade of wood, and aheavy nail were driveninto one of its ends, thecenter of mass would nolonger be in the middle.The balance point wouldthen be nearer the endwith the nail.

The center ofmass is important inrocket flight because it isaround this point that an unstable rocket tumbles.As a matter of fact, any object in flight tends totumble. Throw a stick, and it tumbles end over end.Throw a ball, and it spins in flight. The act ofspinning or tumbling is a way of becoming stabilizedin flight. A Frisbee will go where you want it to onlyif you throw it with a deliberate spin. Try throwing aFrisbee without spinning it. If you succeed, you willsee that the Frisbee flies in an erratic path and fallsfar short of its mark.

In flight, spinning or tumbling takes placearound one or more of three axes. They are calledroll, pitch, and yaw. The point where all three ofthese axes intersect is the center of mass. For

rocket flight, the pitch and yaw axes are the mostimportant because any movement in either of thesetwo directions can cause the rocket to go off course.The roll axis is the least important becausemovement along this axis will not affect the flightpath. In fact, a rolling motion will help stabilize the

ROLL

PITCH

YAW

Centerof

Pressure

Centerof

Mass

22Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

rocket in the same way a properly passed football isstabilized by rolling (spiraling) it in flight. Although apoorly passed football may still fly to its mark even ifit tumbles rather than rolls, a rocket will not. Theaction-reaction energy of a football pass will becompletely expended by the thrower the momentthe ball leaves the hand. With rockets, thrust fromthe engine is still being produced while the rocket isin flight. Unstable motions about the pitch and yawaxes will cause the rocket to leave the plannedcourse. To prevent this, a control system is neededto prevent or at least minimize unstable motions.

In addition to center of mass, there isanother important center inside the rocket thataffects its flight. This is the center of pressure (CP).The center of pressure exists only when air isflowing past the moving rocket. This flowing air,rubbing and pushing against the outer surface of therocket, can cause it to begin moving around one ofits three axes. Think for a moment of a weathervane. A weather vane is an arrow-like stick that ismounted on a rooftop and used for telling winddirection. The arrow is attached to a vertical rodthat acts as a pivot point. The arrow is balanced sothat the center of mass is right at the pivot point.When the wind blows, the arrow turns, and the headof the arrow points into the oncoming wind. The tailof the arrow points in the downwind direction.

The reason that the weather vane arrowpoints into the wind is that the tail of the arrow has amuch larger surface area than the arrowhead. Theflowing air imparts a greater force to the tail than thehead, and therefore the tail is pushed away. Thereis a point on the arrow where the surface area is thesame on one side as the other. This spot is calledthe center of pressure. The center of pressure isnot in the same place as the center of mass. If itwere, then neither end of the arrow would befavored by the wind and the arrow would not point.The center of pressure is between the center ofmass and the tail end of the arrow. This means thatthe tail end has more surface area than the headend.

It is extremely important that the center ofpressure in a rocket be located toward the tail andthe center of mass be located toward the nose. Ifthey are in the same place or very near each other,then the rocket will be unstable in flight. The rocketwill then try to rotate about the center of mass in thepitch and yaw axes, producing a dangeroussituation. With the center of pressure located in theright place, the rocket will remain stable.

Control systems for rockets are intended tokeep a rocket stable in flight and to steer it. Small

rockets usually require only a stabilizing controlsystem. Large rockets, such as the ones thatlaunch satellites into orbit, require a system that notonly stabilizes the rocket, but also enable it tochange course while in flight.

Controls on rockets can either be active orpassive. Passive controls are fixed devices thatkeep rockets stabilized by their very presence onthe rocket’s exterior. Active controls can be movedwhile the rocket is in flight to stabilize and steer thecraft.

The simplest of all passive controls is astick. The Chinese fire-arrows were simple rocketsmounted on the ends of sticks. The stick kept thecenter of pressure behind the center of mass. Inspite of this, fire-arrows were notoriously inaccurate.Before the center of pressure could take effect, airhad to be flowing past the rocket. While still on theground and immobile, the arrow might lurch and firethe wrong way.

Years later, the accuracy of fire-arrows wasimproved considerably by mounting them in atrough aimed in the proper direction. The trough

Moveable Fins

Air

Str

eam

Air

Str

eam

Rocke

t

Chang

es

Directi

on

Rocket

Changes

Direction

23Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

guided the arrow in the right direction until it wasmoving fast enough to be stable on its own.

As will be explained in the next section, theweight of the rocket is a critical factor inperformance and range. The fire-arrow stick addedtoo much dead weight to the rocket, and thereforelimited its range considerably.

An important improvement in rocketry camewith the replacement of sticks by clusters oflightweight fins mounted around the lower end nearthe nozzle. Fins could be made out of lightweightmaterials and be streamlined in shape. They gaverockets a dart-like appearance. The large surfacearea of the fins easily kept the center of pressurebehind the center of mass. Some experimenterseven bent the lower tips of the fins in a pinwheelfashion to promote rapid spinning in flight. Withthese “spin fins,” rockets become much more stablein flight. But this design also produces more dragand limits the rocket’s range.

With the start of modern rocketry in the 20thcentury, new ways were sought to improve rocketstability and at the same time reduce overall rocket

weight. The answer to this was the development ofactive controls. Active control systems includedvanes, movable fins, canards, gimbaled nozzles,vernier rockets, fuel injection, and attitude-controlrockets. Tilting fins and canards are quite similar toeach other in appearance. The only real differencebetween them is their location on the rockets.Canards are mounted on the front end of the rocketwhile the tilting fins are at the rear. In flight, the finsand canards tilt like rudders to deflect the air flowand cause the rocket to change course. Motionsensors on the rocket detect unplanned directionalchanges, and corrections can be made by slighttilting of the fins and canards. The advantage ofthese two devices is size and weight. They aresmaller and lighter and produce less drag than thelarge fins.

Other active control systems can eliminatefins and canards altogether. By tilting the angle atwhich the exhaust gas leaves the rocket engine,course changes can be made in flight. Severaltechniques can be used for changing exhaustdirection.

Vanes are small finlike devices that areplaced inside the exhaust of the rocket engine.Tilting the vanes deflects the exhaust, and byaction-reaction the rocket responds by pointing theopposite way.

Another method for changing the exhaustdirection is to gimbal the nozzle. A gimbaled nozzleis one that is able to sway while exhaust gases arepassing through it. By tilting the engine nozzle inthe proper direction, the rocket responds bychanging course.

Vernier rockets can also be used to changedirection. These are small rockets mounted on theoutside of the large engine. When needed they fire,producing the desired course change.

In space, only by spinning the rocket alongthe roll axis or by using active controls involving theengine exhaust can the rocket be stabilized or haveits direction changed. Without air, fins and canardshave nothing to work upon. (Science fiction moviesshowing rockets in space with wings and fins arelong on fiction and short on science.) Whilecoasting in space, the most common kinds of activecontrol used are attitude-control rockets. Smallclusters of engines are mounted all around thevehicle. By firing the right combination of thesesmall rockets, the vehicle can be turned in anydirection. As soon as they are aimed properly, themain engines fire, sending the rocket off in the newdirection.

Gimbaled Nozzle

Rocke

t

Chang

es

Directi

on

Rocket

Changes

Direction

24Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Mass

Mass is another important factor affectingthe performance of a rocket. The mass of a rocketcan make the difference between a successful flightand just wallowing around on the launch pad. As abasic principle of rocket flight, it can be said that fora rocket to leave the ground, the engine must producea thrust that is greater than the total mass of thevehicle. It is obvious that a rocket with a lot ofunnecessary mass will not be as efficient as one thatis trimmed to just the bare essentials.

For an ideal rocket, the total mass of thevehicle should be distributed following this generalformula:

Of the total mass, 91 percent should bepropellants; 3 percent should be tanks,engines, fins, etc.; and 6 percent can be thepayload.

Payloads may be satellites, astronauts, or spacecraftthat will travel to other planets or moons.

In determining the effectiveness of a rocket design, rocketeers speak in terms of mass fraction(MF). The mass of the propellants of the rocketdivided by the total mass of the rocket gives massfraction:

MF =masstotal

ofmass

propellants

The mass fraction of the ideal rocket givenabove is 0.91. From the mass fraction formula onemight think that an MF of 1.0 is perfect, but then theentire rocket would be nothing more than a lump ofpropellants that would simply ignite into a fireball. Thelarger the MF number, the less payload the rocket cancarry; the smaller the MF number, the less its rangebecomes. An MF number of 0.91 is a good balancebetween payload-carrying capability and range. TheSpace Shuttle has an MF of approximately 0.82. TheMF varies between the different orbiters in the SpaceShuttle fleet and with the different payload weights ofeach mission.

Large rockets, able to carry aspacecraft into space, have serious weightproblems. To reach space and properorbital velocities, a great deal of propellantis needed; therefore, the tanks, engines,and associated hardware become larger.Up to a point, bigger rockets can carrymore payload than smaller rockets, butwhen they become too large their struc-tures weigh them down too much, and themass fraction is reduced to an impossiblenumber. Saturn 5 rocket being transported to the launch pad.

A solution to the problem of giant rocketsweighing too much can be credited to the 16th-centuryfireworks maker Johann Schmidlap. Schmidlapattached small rockets to the top of big ones. Whenthe large rocket was exhausted, the rocket casing wasdropped behind and the remaining rocket fired. Muchhigher altitudes were achieved by this method. (TheSpace Shuttle follows the step rocket principle bydropping off its solid rocket boosters and external tankwhen they are exhausted of propellants.)

The rockets used by Schmidlap were calledstep rockets. Today this technique of building a rocketis called staging. Thanks to staging, it has becomepossible not only to reach outer space but the Moonand other planets too.

25Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Launch VehicleFamily Album

T he pictures on the next several pages serve as apartial "family album" of NASA launch vehicles.

NASA did not develop all of the vehicles shown, buthas employed each in its goal of "exploring theatmosphere and space for peaceful purposes forthe benefit of all." The album contains historicrockets, those in use today, and concept designsthat might be used in the future. They are arrangedin three groups: rockets for launching satellites andspace probes, rockets for launching humans intospace, and concepts for future vehicles.

The album tells the story of nearly 40 yearsof NASA space transportation. Rockets haveprobed the upper reaches of Earth's atmosphere,carried spacecraft into Earth orbit, and sentspacecraft out into the solar system and beyond.Initial rockets employed by NASA, such as theRedstone and the Atlas, began life asintercontinental ballistic missiles. NASA scientistsand engineers found them ideal for carryingmachine and human payloads into space. As theneed for greater payload capacity increased, NASAbegan altering designs for its own rockets andbuilding upper stages to use with existing rockets.Sending astronauts to the Moon required a biggerrocket than the rocket needed for carrying a smallsatellite to Earth orbit.

Today, NASA's only vehicle for liftingastronauts into space is the Space Shuttle.Designed to be reusable, its solid rocket boostershave parachute recovery systems. The orbiter is awinged spacecraft that glides back to Earth. Theexternal tank is the only part of the vehicle whichhas to be replaced for each mission.

Launch vehicles for the future will continueto build on the experiences of the past. Vehicleswill become more versatile and less expensive tooperate as new technologies become available.

26Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Most significant rocket developments have taken place in the twentieth century. After 1958, allentries in this timeline relate to NASA space missions. Provided here are the years in whichnew rocket systems were first flown. Additional information about these events can be found inthis guide on the pages indicated by parentheses.

Inven

tion

of

GunPow

der

1st C

entu

ry (5

)

Rocket Timeline

Chines

e

Fire A

rrows

13th

Cen

tury

(6)

Step

Rocke

t

16th

Centur

y (6)

Liquid Propellant Rocket - 1926 (8)

V2 Rocket - 1944 (9)

Jupite

r C la

unch of E

xplorer 1

- 1958 (9

, 10, 2

7)

Mercury

Redstone - 1

961 (10, 2

9)

Delta,

Scout

- 196

0 (27

)

Atlas -

1963

(10,

29)

Tita

n III

- 19

74 (2

8)Gemini

Tita

n - 1

965

(11,

28,

30)

Apol

lo S

atur

n V

- 196

8 (1

1, 3

1)

Apollo

Sat

urn

1B -

1968

(11,

30)

Skyl

ab S

atur

n V

- 197

3 (1

1, 3

1)

Apo

llo-S

opyu

z S

atur

n 1B

- 19

75 (1

1, 3

0)

Apol

lo S

atur

n 1B

- 19

68 (1

1, 3

0)S

pace

Shu

ttle

- 198

1 (1

2, 3

2)P

egas

us -

199

0 (2

8)D

elta

Clip

per -

199

5 (3

3)

X R

ocke

ts -

20?

? (3

4)

1900

2000

2000

+

Centuries1 0 1 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 1 7 1 8 1 9 2 0 2 11 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Congr

eve R

ocke

ts

19th

Cen

tury

(7)

27Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Rockets for LaunchingSatellites and Space Probes

NASA's Scout rocket is a four-stage solidrocket booster that can launch small satellitesinto Earth orbit. The Scout can carry about a140 kilogram payload to a 185 kilometer highorbit. NASA used the Scout for more than 30years. This 1965 launch carried the Explorer27 scientific satellite.

One of NASA's most successful rockets is theDelta. The Delta can be configured in avariety of ways to change its performance tomeet needs of the mission. It is capable ofcarrying over 5,000 kilograms to a 185kilometer high orbit or 1,180 kilograms to ageosynchronous orbit with an attachedbooster stage. This Delta lifted the Galaxy-Ccommunication satellite to space onSeptember 21, 1984.

The Jupiter-C rocket that carried Explorer Isits on the launch pad venting beforelaunch, January 31, 1958.

28Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

The Pegasus air-launched spacebooster roars toward orbit following itsrelease from a NASA B-52 aircraft. Thebooster, built by Orbital SciencesCorporation and Hercules AerospaceCompany, is a low-cost way of carryingsmall satellites to Earth orbit. Thislaunch took place on April 5, 1990.

A Titan III Centaur rocket carried Voyager 1,the first interplanetary spacecraft to fly byboth Jupiter and Saturn, into space onSeptember 5, 1975. The Titan, a U.S. AirForce missile, combined with NASA'sCentaur upper stage and two additionalside-mounted boosters, provided theneeded thrust to launchVoyager.

29Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Allan Shepard became the first Americanastronaut to ride to space on May 5, 1961.Shepard rode inside a Mercury spacecapsule on top of a Redstone rocket.

An Atlas launch vehicle, with a Mercuryspace capsule at the top, underwent a staticfiring test to verify engine systems before itsactual launch. The Mercury/Atlascombination launched four Mercury orbitalmissions including the historic first Americanorbital flight of John Glenn.

Rockets for Sending AstronautsInto Space

30Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Virgil I. Grissom and John W. Young rode toorbit inside a Gemini spacecraft mounted atthe top of this Titan rocket. The spacecraftreached an orbit ranging from 161 to 225kilometers on March 23, 1965.

Used to lift Apollo spacecraft to Earth orbit,the nearly 70-meter-tall Saturn 1B rocketcarries the Apollo 7 crew on October 11,1968. Saturn 1B rockets also transportedcrews for Skylab (1973-74) and Apollo/Soyuz missions (1975).

31Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

The 111-meter-high Saturn 5 rocketcarried the Apollo 11 crew to theMoon.

Using a modified Saturn 5rocket, NASA sent the 90,600kilogram Skylab Space Stationto orbit on May 14, 1973. Thespace station replaced theSaturn 5's third stage.

32Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Today, NASA Astronauts launch into space onboard the Space Shuttle. The Shuttle consistsof a winged orbiter that climbs into space as a rocket, orbits Earth as a satellite, and lands on arunway as an airplane. Two recoverable solid rocket boosters provide additional thrust and anexpendable external tank carries the propellants for the orbiter's main engines. This was thelaunch of STS-53 on December 2, 1992.

33Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Concepts for Future Vehicles

The launch vehicles on this and the next page areideas for future reusable launch vehicles. Most arevariations of the winged Space Shuttle orbiter.

The Delta Clipper Experimental (DC-X) vehicle, originally developed forthe Department of Defense, lifts off at the White Sands Missile Range inNew Mexico. NASA has assumed the role of managing the vehicle'sfurther development. The DC-X lifts off and lands vertically. NASAhopes this vehicle could lead to a low-cost payload launching system.The Delta Clipper was recently renamed the "Clipper Graham" in honorof the late space pioneer Lt. General Daniel O. Graham.

34Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

The X-34 is a reusable booster conceptthat could lead to larger vehicles in thefuture. This rocket would launch from acarrier aircraft to deliver a payload to orbit.

NASA has choosen this concept toreplace the Space Shuttle fleet inthe 21st centry. The X-33 will bea single-stage-to-orbit vehicle inwhich the entire vehicle lifts off intospace and returns to Earth intact.

Looking like a Space Shuttleorbiter, this new launcher conceptis also a single-stage-to-orbitvehicle.

35Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Activities Activity Matrix .......................................... 36

Pop Can Hero Engine ............................. 39

Rocket Car .............................................. 45

3-2-1 Pop! ............................................... 53

Antacid Tablet Race ................................ 57

Paper Rockets ......................................... 61

Newton Car ............................................. 67

Balloon Staging ....................................... 73

Rocket Transportation ............................. 76

Altitude Tracking ..................................... 79

Bottle Rocket Launcher ........................... 87

Bottle Rocket ........................................... 91

Project X-35 ............................................ 95

36Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Activity MatrixStandards and Skills

Sci

ence

Sta

nd

ard

sS

cien

ce P

roce

ss S

kills

Investi

gating

Observi

ng

Communicatin

g

Measurin

g

Collecti

ng Data

Inferri

ng

Predict

ing

Making M

odels

Making G

raphs

Hypoth

esizing

Controllin

g Variables

Defining O

perationally

Interp

retin

g Data

Pop Can Hero Engine

Rocket Racer

3-2-1 Pop!

Antacid Tablet Race

Paper Rockets

Newton Car

Balloon Staging

Rocket Transportation

Altitude Tracking

Bottle Rocket Launcher

Bottle Rocket

Project X-35

- Underst

anding about Scie

nce &

Tech

nology

Science

as Inquiry

Physica

l Scie

nce

- Posit

ion & M

otion of O

bjects

- Pro

perties o

f Objects

and Mate

rials

Unifying C

oncepts

and Pro

cess

es

- Change, C

onstancy

, & M

easure

ment

- Evid

ence, M

odels, &

Exp

lanation

Science

and Tech

nology

- Abilit

ies of T

echnologica

l Desig

n

Science

in P

ersonal &

Socia

l Persp

ective

s

- Scie

nce and Te

chnology i

n Local C

hallenges

Pop Can Hero Engine

Rocket Racer

3-2-1 Pop!

Antacid Tablet Race

Paper Rockets

Newton Car

Balloon Staging

Rocket Transportation

Altitude Tracking

Bottle Rocket Launcher

Bottle Rocket

Project X-35

37Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Mat

hem

atic

s S

tan

dar

ds

Trigonometry

Problem S

olving

Communicatio

n

Reasoning

Connections

Number & N

umber Relatio

nships

Computatio

n & E

stimatio

n

Pattern

s & Functi

ons

Statis

tics

Probabilit

y

Measure

ment

Functions

Geometry

Pop Can Hero Engine

Rocket Racer

3-2-1 Pop!

Antacid Tablet Race

Paper Rockets

Newton Car

Balloon Staging

Rocket Transportation

Altitude Tracking

Bottle Rocket Launcher

Bottle Rocket

Project X-35

38Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

39Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Educator Information

Pop Can HeroEngine

the learners construct the engine and test it.Part two focuses on variables that affect theaction of the engine. The experimentstresses prediction, data collection, andanalysis of results. Be sure to recycle thesoda pop cans at the end of the activity.

Background Information:

Hero of Alexandria invented the Hero enginein the first century B.C. His engine operatedbecause of the propulsive force generated byescaping steam. A boiler produced steamthat escaped to the outside through L-shapedtubes bent pinwheel fashion. The steam'sescape produced an action-reaction forcethat caused the sphere to spin in the oppositedirection. Hero's engine is an excellentdemonstration of Newton's Third Law of

Part One

Materials and Tools:• Empty soda pop can with the opener lever still attached - one per group of students• Common nail - one per group of students• Nylon fishing line (light weight)• Bucket or tub of water - several for entire class• Paper towels for cleanup• Meter stick• Scissors to cut fishing line

Objectives:• To demonstrate Newton's Third Law of Motion by using the

force of falling water to cause a soda pop can to spin.• To experiment with different ways of increasing the spin of

the can.

Description:A soft drink can suspended by a string spins by the forcecreated when water streams out of slanted holes near thecan's bottom.Science Standards:

Science as InquiryPhysical Science - Position and motion of objectsUnifying Concepts and Processes - Change,

constancy, and measurementScience and Technology - Understanding about

science and technology

Science Process Skills:ObservingCommunicatingMeasuringCollecting DataInferringPredictingMaking ModelsInterpreting DataMaking GraphsHypothesizingControlling VariablesDefining OperationallyInvestigating

Mathematics Standards:Computation and EstimationWhole Number ComputationMeasurementStatisticsProbability

Management:This activity works well with small groups oftwo or three students. Allow approximately40 to 45 minutes to complete. The activity is

divided into two parts. In part one

40Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

many times it rotates. Ask students topredict what they think might happen tothe rotation of the Hero engine if theypunched larger or smaller holes in thecans. Discuss possible hypotheses forthe experiment.

2

With nail still inserted,push upper end of nailto the side to bend thehole.

Part Two:Experimenting with Soda Pop Can HeroEngines1. Tell the students they are going to do an

experiment to find out if there is anyrelationship between the size of the holespunched in the Hero Engine and how

Part Two

Materials and Tools:• Student Work Sheets• Hero Engines from part one• Empty soda pop can with the opener lever still attached (three per group of students)• Common nails - Two different diameter shafts (one each per group)• Nylon fishing line (light weight)• Bucket or tub of water - Several for entire class• Paper towels for cleanup• Meter stick• Large round colored gum labels or marker pens• Scissors to cut fishing line

How To Bend The Holes

1 Punch hole with nail.

Motion (See page 5 for more informationabout Hero's Engine and pages 15-16 fordetails about Newton's Third Law of Motion.).This activity substitutes the action forceproduced by falling water for the steam inHero's Engine.

Part One:Making a Soda Pop Can Hero Engine:

1. Distribute student pages and one sodapop can and one medium-size commonnail to each group. Tell the students thatyou will demonstrate the procedure formaking the Hero engine.

2. Lay the can on its side and use the nail topunch a single hole near its bottom.Before removing the nail, push the nail toone side to bend the metal, making thehole slant in that direction.

3. Remove the nail and rotate the canapproximately 90 degrees. Make asecond hole like the first one. Repeat thisprocedure two more times to produce fourequally spaced holes around the bottomof the can. All four holes should slant inthe same direction going around the can.

4. Bend the can’s opener lever straight upand tie a 40-50 centimeter length offishing line to it. The soda pop can Heroengine is complete.

Running the Engine:1. Dip the can in the water tub until it fills

with water. Ask the students to predictwhat will happen when you pull the canout by the fishing line.

2. Have each group try out their Heroengine.

Discussion:1. Why did the cans begin spinning when

water poured out of the holes?2. What was the action? What was the

reaction?3. Did all cans spin equally well? Why or

why not?

41Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

2. Provide each group with the materialslisted for Part Two. The nails should havedifferent diameter shafts from the oneused to make the first engine. Identifythese nails as small (S) and large (L).Older students can measure thediameters of the holes in millimeters.Since there will be individual variations,record the average hole diameter. Havethe groups make two additional enginesexactly like the first, except that the holeswill be different sizes.

3. Discuss how to count the times theengines rotate. To aid in counting thenumber of rotations, stick a brightly-colored round gum label or some othermarker on the can. Tell them to practicecounting the rotations of the cans severaltimes to become consistent in theirmeasurements before running the actualexperiment.

4. Have the students write their answers foreach of three tests they will conduct onthe can diagrams on the Student Pages.(Test One employs the can created inPart One.) Students should not predictresults for the second and third cans untilthey have finished the previous tests.

5. Discuss the results of each group'sexperiment. Did the results confirm theexperiment hypothesis?

6. Ask the students to propose other ways ofchanging the can's rotation (Make holesat different distances above the bottom ofthe can, slant holes in different directionsor not slanted at all, etc.) Be sure theycompare the fourth Hero Engine theymake with the engine previously madethat has the same size holes.

Discussion:1. Compare the way rockets in space

change the directions they are facing inspace with the way Hero Engines work.

2. How can you get a Hero Engine to turn inthe opposite direction?

3. Can you think of any way to put HeroEngines to practical use?

1. File the middle of the brass tube toproduce a notch. Do not file the tube inhalf. File notch

in middleof tube.(Step 1.)

Teacher Model

Materials and Tools:• Copper toilet tank float (available from some hardware or plumbing supply stores)• Thumb screw, 1/4 inch•�Brass tube, 3/16 I.D., 12 in. (from hobby shops)• Solder• Fishing line• Ice pick or drill• Metal file• Propane torch

4. In what ways are Hero Engines similar torockets? In what ways are they different?

Assessment:Conduct a class discussion where studentsshare their findings about Newton's Laws ofMotion. Collect and review completedStudent Pages.

Extensions:• Compare a rotary lawn sprinkler to Hero's

Engine.• Research Hero and his engine. Was the

engine put to any use?• Build a steam-powered Hero engine - See

instructions below.

Steam-Powered Hero EngineA steam powered Hero engine can bemanufactured from a copper toilet tank floatand some copper tubing. Because thisversion of the Hero engine involves steam, itis best to use it as a demonstration only.

42Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

2. Using the ice pick or drill, bore two smallholes on opposite sides of the float at itsmiddle. The holes should be just largeenough to pass the tube straight throughthe float.

3. With the tube positioned so that equallengths protrude through the float, heatthe contact points of the float and tubewith the propane torch. Touch the end ofthe solder to the heated area so that itmelts and seals both joints.

4. Drill a water access hole through thethreaded connector at the top of the float.

5. Using the torch again, heat the protrudingtubes about three centimeters from eachend. With pliers, carefully bend the tubetips in opposite directions. Bend thetubes slowly so they do not crimp.

6. Drill a small hole through the flat part ofthe thumb screw for attaching the fish lineand swivel. Twist the thumb screw intothe threaded connector of the float in step4 and attach the line and swivel.

Finished Steam-Powered Hero Engine

Procedure:Using the Steam-Powered Hero Engine

1. Place a small amount of water (about 10to 20 ml) into the float. The preciseamount is not important. The float can befilled through the top if you drilled anaccess hole or through the tubes bypartially immersing the engine in a bowl ofwater with one tube submerged and theother out of the water.

2. Suspend the engine and heat its bottomwith the torch. In a minute or two, theengine should begin spinning. Becareful not to operate the engine too longbecause it may not be balanced well andcould wobble violently. If it begins towobble, remove the heat.

Caution: Wear eye protection whendemonstrating the engine. Be sure to confirmthat the tubes are not obstructed in any waybefore heating. Test them by blowingthrough one like a straw. If air flows out theother tube, the engine is safe to use.

43Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Pop Can Hero Engine

Test Number 3

Design an experiment that will test the effect that the size of the holes has onthe number of spins the can makes. What is your experiment hypothesis?

Test Number 2

Based on your results, was yourhypothesis correct?

Why?

Mark each can to help you count the spins.Test each Hero Engine and record your data on the cansbelow.

Hero EngineNumber of Holes:

of Spins:

Size of Holes:

Actual Number

of Spins:

Difference (+ or -):

Predicted Number

Hero EngineNumber of Holes:

of Spins:

Size of Holes:

Actual Number

of Spins:

Difference (+ or -):

Predicted Number

Hero EngineNumber of Holes:

of Spins:

Size of Holes:

Actual Number

of Spins:

Difference (+ or -):

Predicted Number

Names of Team Members:

Test Number 1

43

44Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Design a new Hero Engine experiment. Remember, changeonly one variable in your experiment.

What is your experiment hypothesis?

Compare this engine with the engine from your first experimentthat has the same size holes.

Based on your results, wasyour hypothesis correct?

Why?

Hero EngineNumber of Holes:

of Spins:

Size of Holes:

Actual Number

of Spins:

Difference (+ or -):

Predicted Number

Describe what you learned about Newton's Laws of Motion bybuilding and testing your Hero Engines.

Share your findings with other members of your class.

44

45Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Educator Information

Rocket Racer

Objectives:• To construct a rocket propelled vehicle.• To experiment with ways of increasing the distance the

rocket racer travels.

Description:Students construct a balloon-powered rocket racer from astyrofoam tray, pins, tape, and a flexible straw, and test italong a measured track on the floor.

Materials and Tools:•�4 Pins• Styrofoam meat tray•�Masking tape•�Flexible straw•�Scissors•�Drawing compass•�Marker pen• Small round party balloon• Ruler•�Student Sheets (one set per group)•�10 Meter tape measure or other measuring markers for track (one for the whole class)

Science Standards:Science as InquiryPhysical Science - Position and motion of objectsScience and Technology - Abilities of technological

designUnifying Concepts and Processes - Change,

constancy, and measurement

Science Process Skills:ObservingCommunicatingMeasuringCollecting DataInferringMaking ModelsInterpreting DataMaking GraphsControlling VariablesDefining OperationallyInvestigating

Mathematics Standards:Mathematics as Problem SolvingMathematics as CommunicationMathematics as ReasoningMathematical ConnectionsMeasurementStatistics and ProbabilityPatterns and Relationships

Management:This activity can be done individually or withstudents working in pairs. Allow 40 to 45minutes to complete the first part of the

activity. The activity stresses

technology education and provides studentswith the opportunity to modify their racerdesigns to increase performance. Theoptional second part of the activity directsstudents to design, construct, and test a newrocket racer based on the results of the firstracer. Refer to the materials list and providewhat is needed for making one rocket racerfor each group of two students. Styrofoamfood trays are available from butchers insupermarkets. They are usually sold for afew cents each or you may be able to getthem donated. Students can also save traysat home and bring them to class.

46Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

If compasses are not available, students cantrace circular objects to make the wheels oruse the wheel and hubcap patterns printed onpage 48. Putting hubcaps on both sides ofthe wheels may improve performance.

If using the second part of the activity, provideeach group with an extra set of materials.Save scraps from the first styrofoam tray tobuild the second racer. You may wish to holddrag or distance races with the racers. Theracers will work very well on tile floors andcarpeted floors with a short nap. Severaltables stretched end to end will also work, butracers may roll off the edges.

Although this activity provides one rocketracer design, students can try any racershape and any number, size, and placementof wheels they wish. Long racers often workdifferently than short racers.

Background Information:

The Rocket Racer is a simple way to observeNewton's Third Law of Motion. (Please referto pages 15-16 of the rocket principles sectionof this guide for a complete description.)While it is possible to demonstrate Newton'sLaw with just a balloon, constructing a rocketracer provides students with the opportunityto put the action/reaction force to practicaluse. In this case, the payload of the balloonrocket is the racer. Wheels reduce frictionwith the floor to help racers move. Becauseof individual variations in the student racers,they will travel different distances and often inunplanned directions. Through modifications,the students can correct for undesirableresults and improve their racers' efficiency.

Making a Rocket Racer:1. Distribute the materials and construction

tools to each student group. If you aregoing to have them construct a secondracer, tell them to save styrofoam trayscraps for later. Hold back the additional

materials for the second racer until studentsneed them.

2. Students should plan the arrangement ofparts on the tray before cutting them out. Ifyou do not wish to use scissors, studentscan trace the pattern pieces with the sharppoint of a pencil or a pen. The pieces willsnap out of the styrofoam if the lines arepressed deeply.

3. Lay out a track on the floor approximately10 meters long. Several metric tapemeasures joined together can be placed onthe floor for determining how far the racerstravel. The students should measure in 10centimeter intervals.

4. Test racers as they are completed.Students should fill in the data sheets andcreate a report cover with a drawing of theracer they constructed.

5. If a second racer will be constructed,distribute design pages so that the studentscan design their racers before startingconstruction.

Extensions:• Hold Rocket Racer races.• Tie a loop of string around the

inflated balloon before releasingthe racer. Inflate the ballooninside the string loop each timeyou test the racers. This willincrease the accuracy of thetests by insuring the ballooninflates the same amount each time.

• Make a balloon-powered pinwheelby taping another balloon to aflexible straw. Push a pin through the strawand into the eraser of a pencil. Inflate theballoon and watch it go.

Assessment:Students will create "Rocket Racer TestReports" to describe test runs andmodifications that improved their racer'sefficiency. Use these reports for assessmentalong with the design sheet and new racer,should you choose to use the second part ofthis activity.

47Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

1. Lay out your patternon a styrofoam tray.You need 1 car body,4 wheels, and 4hubcaps. Use acompass to draw thewheels.

3.

4.

Car Body

Wheels

Hubcaps

2.

Blow up the balloonthrough the straw.Squeeze the end of thestraw. Place the racer onfloor and let it go!

Push pins through thehubcaps into the wheelsand then into the edges ofthe rectangle.

Blow up the balloon and let the airout. Tape the balloon to the shortend of a flexible straw and thentape the straw to the rectangle.

How To Build A Rocket Racer

47

48Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Wheel Patterns(Crosses mark the centers.)

Hubcap Patterns(Crosses mark the centers.)

48

49Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Rocket RacerTest Report

Draw a picture of your rocket racer.

BY

DATE:

49

50Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Rocket Racer Test Report

Place your rocket racer on the test track and measure how far it travels.

1. Describe how your rocket racer ran during the first trial run.(Did it run on a straight or curved path?)

How far did it go? centimeters

Color in one block on the graph for each 10 centimeters your racer traveled.

2. Find a way to change and improve your rocket racer and test it again.

What did you do to improve the rocket racer for the second trial run?

How far did it go? centimeters

Color in one block on the graph for each 10 centimeters your racer traveled.

3. Find a way to change and improve your rocket racer and test it again.

What did you do to improve the rocket racer for the third trial run?

How far did it go? centimeters

Color in one block on the graph for each 10 centimeters your racer traveled.

4. In which test did your racer go the farthest?

Why?

50

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Rocket Racer Data Sheet

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000

Centimeters

Rocket Racer Trial #1

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000

Centimeters

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000

Centimeters

Rocket Racer Trial #2

Rocket Racer Trial #3

51

52Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

DESIGN SHEETDesign and build a newrocket racer based onyour earlier experiments. F

ront

Vie

wS

ide

Vie

w

Top V

iew

52

53Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

3-2-1 POP!Objective:To demonstrate how rocket liftoff is an application ofNewton's Laws of Motion.

Description:Students construct a rocket powered by the pressuregenerated from an effervescing antacid tablet reacting withwater.

Science Standards:Physical Science - Position and motion of objectsScience and Technology - Abilities of technological

design - Understanding about science andtechnology

Process Skills:ObservingCommunicatingMaking ModelsInferring

Management:For best results, students should work inpairs. It will take approximately 40 to 45minutes to complete the activity. Makesamples of rockets in various stages ofcompletion available for students to study.This will help some students visualize theconstruction steps.

A single sheet of paper is sufficient to make arocket. Be sure to tell the students to planhow they are going to use the paper. Let thestudents decide whether to cut the paper theshort or long direction to make the body tubeof the rocket. This will lead to rockets ofdifferent lengths for flight comparison.

The most common mistakes in constructingthe rocket are: forgetting to tape the filmcanister to the rocket body, failing to mountthe canister with the lid end down, and notextending the canister far enough from thepaper tube to make snapping the lid easy.Some students may have difficulty in formingthe cone. To make a cone, cut out a pieshape from a circle and curl it into a cone.See the pattern on the next page. Cones canbe any size.

Educator Information

Materials and Tools:• Heavy paper (60-110 index stock or construction paper)•�Plastic 35 mm film canister*• Student sheets• Cellophane tape• Scissors• Effervescing antacid tablet• Paper towels• Water• Eye protection* The film canister must have an internal-sealing

lid. See management section for more details.

54Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Film canisters are available from camerashops and stores where photographicprocessing takes place. These businessesrecycle the canisters and are often willing todonate them for educational use. Be sure toobtain canisters with the internal sealing lid.These are usually translucent canisters.Canisters with the external lid (lid that wrapsaround the canister rim) will not work. Theseare usually opaque canisters.

Background Information:This activity is a simple but excitingdemonstration of Newton's Laws of Motion.The rocket lifts off because it is acted uponby an unbalanced force (First Law). This isthe force produced when the lid blows off bythe gas formed in the canister. The rockettravels upward with a force that is equal andopposite to the downward force propelling thewater, gas, and lid (Third Law). The amountof force is directly proportional to the mass ofwater and gas expelled from the canister andhow fast it accelerates (Second Law). For amore complete discussion of Newton's Lawsof Motion, see pages 13-17 in this guide.

Procedure:Refer to the Student Sheet.

Discussion:• How does the amount of water placed in the

cylinder affect how high the rocket will fly?• How does the temperature of the water

affect how high the rocket will fly?• How does the amount of the tablet used

affect how high the rocket will fly?• How does the length or empty weight of the

rocket affect how high the rocket will fly?•�How would it be possible to create a two-

stage rocket?

Assessment:Ask students to explain how Newton's Lawsof Motion apply to this rocket. Compare therockets for skill in construction. Rockets thatuse excessive paper and tape are likely to beless efficient fliers because they carryadditional weight.

Extensions:• Hold an altitude contest to see which rock-

ets fly the highest. Launch the rocketsnear a wall in a room with a high ceiling.Tape a tape measure to the wall. Standback and observe how high the rocketstravel upward along the wall. Let all stu-dents take turns measuring rocket altitudes

• What geometric shapes are present in arocket?

• Use the discussion questions to designexperiments with the rockets. Graph yourresults.

55Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Lid

2

34

Overlap this edge to form cone

Cone Pattern

Tape

Cones can beany size!

Tape fins toyour rocket.

Roll a cone of paper andtape it to the rocket'supper end.

3-2-1 POP!

Wrap and tapea tube ofpaper aroundthe filmcanister. Thelid end of thecanister goesdown!

Ready forflight

51

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56Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

ROCKETEER NAMES

COUNTDOWN:

1. Put on your eye protection.2. Turn the rocket upside down

and fill the canister one-thirdfull of water.

Work quickly on the next steps!

3. Drop in 1/2 tablet.4. Snap lid on tight.5. Stand rocket on launch

platform.6. Stand back.

LIFTOFF!

What three ways can you improveyour rocket?

1.

2.

3.

56

57Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Antacid TabletRace

500 ml

400

300

200

100

500 ml

400

300

200

100

55 60 5

10

15

20

2530

35

40

45

50

1

Science Standards:Science as InquiryPhysical Science - Properties of objects and

materialsScience and Technology - Abilities of technological

design

Science Process Skills:ObservingCommunicatingMeasuringCollecting DataInferringPredictingInterpreting DataMaking GraphsHypothesizingControlling VariablesInvestigating

Mathematics Standards:Mathematics as CommunicationMathematical ConnectionsEstimationMeasurementStatistics and Probability

Management:This activity should be done in groups of twoor three students. The specific brand ofeffervescent antacid tablets used for theexperiment is not important, but different

brands should not be mixed during

the experiments. Give student groups onlytwo tablets at a time. Make sure they knowhow to fill in the stopwatch graphs on thestudent pages. Although there is little eyehazard involved with the experiment, it isvaluable for students to get in the habit ofwearing eye protection for experimentsinvolving chemicals.

Background Information:This activity enables students to discovermethods of increasing the rate that rocketpropellants release energy. When rocketpropellants burn faster, the mass of exhaustgases expelled increases as well as how fastthose gases accelerate out of the rocketnozzle. Newton's Second Law of Motion

Educator Information

Materials and Tools:• Effervescent Antacid tablets (four per group)•�Two beakers (or glass or plastic jars)•�Tweezers or forceps• Scrap paper•�Watch or clock with second hand• Thermometer•�Eye protection• Water (warm and cold)

Objective:To investigate methods of increasing thepower of rocket fuels by manipulatingsurface area and temperature.

Description:Students compare the reaction rates ofeffervescent antacid tablets under differentconditions.

58Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

states that the force or action of a rocketengine is directly proportional to the massexpelled times its acceleration.Consequently, increasing the efficiency ofrocket fuels increases the performance of therocket.

Students will discover two methods forincreasing the efficiency of rocket fuels byusing antacid tablets. The first experimentmeasures the relationship between thesurface area of a tablet and its reaction ratein water. Students will learn that increasingthe surface area of a tablet by crushing it intoa powder, increases its reaction rate with thewater. This is a similar situation to the way arocket's thrust becomes greater by increasingthe burning surface of its propellants.

Expanding the burning surface increases itsburning rate. In solid rockets, a hollow coreextending the length of the propellant permitsmore propellant to burn at a time. Thisincreases the amount of gas (mass) andacceleration of the gas as it leaves the rocketengine. Liquid propellants spray into thecombustion chamber of a liquid propellantrocket to maximize their surface area.Smaller droplets react more quickly than dolarge ones, increasing the acceleration of theescaping gases. (See page 20 for moreinformation.)

The second experiment measures thereaction rate of tablets in different watertemperatures. Tablets in warm water reactmuch more quickly than tablets in cold water.In liquid propellant rocket engines, super coldfuel, such as liquid hydrogen, is preheatedbefore being combined with liquid oxygen.This increases the reaction rate and therebyincreases the rocket's thrust. Moreinformation about this process appears onpage 20.

Assessment:Conduct a class discussion where studentsexplain how this experiment relates to theway rocket fuel burns. Collect and reviewcompleted student pages.

Extensions:• Try a similar activity relating to the surfacearea of rocket fuels using small pieces ofhard candy. Take two pieces of candy andcrush one. Then, give the whole candypiece to one student and the crushed candyto another student to dissolve in theirmouths. Which candy will dissolve first?

59Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Jar 1 ResultsYour Prediction: ____________ seconds

TeamMembers:Antacid

Tablet RaceExperiment 11. Fill both jars half full with water that

is at the same temperature.

2. Put on your eye protection.

3. Predict how long it will take for thetablet to dissolve in the water. Dropa tablet in the first jar. Shade in thestopwatch face for the actual numberof minutes and seconds it took tocomplete the reaction. Thestopwatch can measure six minutes.

4. Wrap another tablet in paper andplace it on a table top. Crush thetablet with the wood block.

5. Predict how long it will take for thecrushed tablet to dissolve. Drop thepowder in the other jar. Shade in theclock face for the number of minutesand seconds it took to complete thereaction.

Jar 2 ResultsYour Prediction: ____________ seconds

0

1

2

3

4

5

1530

45

15

30

45

Describe what happened in the experiment and why. 0

1

2

3

4

5

1530

45

15

30

45

59

60Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Experiment 2

1. Empty the jars from the firstexperiment. Put warm water in onejar and cold in the other.

2. Measure the temperature of the firstjar. Predict how long it will take for atablet to dissolve. Drop a tablet inthe jar. Shade in the clock face forthe actual number of minutes andseconds it took to complete thereaction.

3. Measure the temperature of thesecond jar. Predict how long it willtake for a tablet to dissolve in thewater. Drop a tablet in the jar.Shade in the clock face for the actualnumber of minutes and seconds ittook to complete the reaction.

Describe what happened in theexperiment and why.

How can you apply the results fromthese experiments to improve rocketperformance?

Jar 1 ResultsTemperature: ____________0CYour Prediction:____________ Seconds

0

1

2

3

4

5

1530

45

15

30

45

Jar 2 ResultsTemperature: ____________0CYour Prediction:____________ Seconds

0

1

2

3

4

5

1530

45

15

30

45

60

61Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-06-108-HQ

Educator Information

Paper Rockets

When students complete the rockets,distribute straws. Select a location for flyingthe rockets. A room with open floor space ora hallway is preferable. Prepare the floor bymarking a 10-meter test range with tapemeasures or meter sticks laid end to end.As an alternative, lay out the planetary targetrange as shown on the next page. Havestudents launch from planet Earth, and tellthem to determine the farthest planet they areable to reach with their rocket. Use theplanetary arrangement shown on the nextpage for laying out the launch range.Pictures for the planets are found on page63. Enlarge these pictures as desired.

Record data from each launch on the PaperRocket Launch Record Report form. Theform includes spaces for data from threedifferent rockets. After the first launches,

Materials and Tools:• Scrap bond paper•�Cellophane tape•�Scissors•�Sharpened fat pencil•�Milkshake straw (slightly thinner than pencil)•�Eye protection•�Metric ruler•�Masking tape or Altitude trackers•�Pictures of the Sun and planets

Objective:To design, construct, and fly paper rockets that will travelthe greatest distance possible across a floor model of thesolar system.

Description:In this activity, students construct small flying rockets out ofpaper and propel them by blowing air through a straw.

Science Standards:Science as InquiryPhysical Science - Position and motion of objectsScience and Technology - Abilities of technological

designUnifying Concepts and Processes - Evidence,

models, and explanation

Science Process Skills:ObservingCommunicatingMeasuringCollecting DataInferringPredictingMaking ModelsInterpreting DataControlling VariablesDefining OperationallyInvestigating

Mathematics Standards:Mathematics as Problem SolvingMathematics as ReasoningMathematical ConnectionsGeometry and Spatial SenseStatistics and Probability

Management:After demonstrating a completed paperrocket to the students, have them constructtheir own paper rockets and decorate them.Students may work individually or in pairs.

Because the rockets are projectiles, makes u r e students wear eye protection.

62Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

students should construct new and"improved" paper rockets and attempt alonger journey through the solar system.Encourage the students to try different sizedrockets and different shapes and number offins. For younger students, create a chartlisting how far each planet target is fromEarth. Older students can measure thesedistances for themselves.

Background Information:

Although the activity uses a solar systemtarget range, the Paper Rockets activitydemonstrates how rockets fly through theatmosphere. A rocket with no fins is muchmore difficult to control than a rocket withfins. The placement and size of the fins iscritical to achieve adequate stability while notadding too much weight. More informationon rocket fins can be found on pages 22-23of this guide.

Pluto

Uranus

Neptune

Saturn

Mars

Jupiter

Venus

Earth

MercurySun

Suggested Target Range LayoutArrange pictures of the Sun and theplanets on a clear floor space as shownbelow. The distance between Earth andPluto should be about 8 meters. Refer toan encyclopedia or other reference for achart on the actual distances to eachplanet.

Making and Launching Paper Rockets:

1. Distribute the materials and constructiontools to each student.

2. Students should each construct a rocketas shown in the instructions on thestudent sheet.

3. Tell students to predict how far theirrocket will fly and record their estimates inthe test report sheet. After test flying therocket and measuring the distance itreached, students should record theactual distance and the differencebetween predicted and actual distanceson the Paper Rockets Test Report.

4. Following the flight of the first rocket,students should construct and test twoadditional rockets of different sizes and findesigns.

63Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-06-108-HQ

Planet Targets (Not Drawn To Scale)

Pluto0.9X

Neptune3.9X

Uranus4X

Saturn9.4X

Jupiter11.2X

Venus0.95X

Mars0.53X

Earth1X

Mercury0.38X

Enlarge these pictures on a copy machine or sketch copiesof the pictures on separate paper. Place these pictures onthe floor according to the arrangement on the previouspage. If you wish to make the planets to scale, refer to thenumbers beside the names indicating the relative sizes ofeach body. Earth's diameter is given as one and all theother bodies are given as multiples of one.

Sun108X

64Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Assessment:Students will complete test reports that willdescribe the rockets they constructed andhow those rockets performed. Ask thestudents to create bar graphs on a blanksheet of paper that show how far each of thethree rockets they constructed flew. Havestudents write a summarizing paragraph inwhich they pick which rocket performed thebest and explain their ideas for why itperformed as it did.

Discussion:1. What makes one rocket perform better

than another? (Do not forget to examinethe weight of each rocket. Rockets madewith extra tape and larger fins weighmore.)

2. How small can the fins be and stillstabilize the rocket?

3. How many fins does a rocket need tostabilize it?

4. What would happen if you placed therocket fins near the rocket's nose?

5. What will happen to the rocket if you bendthe lower tips of the fins pinwheelfashion?

6. Are rocket fins necessary in outer space?

Extensions:Try to determine how high the rockets fly. Todo so, place masking tape markers on a wallat measured distances from the floor to theceiling. While one student launches therocket along the wall, another studentcompares the height the rocket reached withthe tape markers. Be sure to have thestudents subtract the height from where therocket was launched from the altitudereached. For example, if students held therocket 1.5 meters from the floor to launch it,and it reached 4 meters above the floor, theactual altitude change was 2.5 meters. Referto the Altitude Tracker activity starting onpage 79 for details on a second method formeasuring the height the paper rocketsreach.

65Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-06-108-HQ

Roll paper strip aroundpencil.

Tape tube in 3 places.

Cut off ends.

Cut out fins in anyshape you like.

Fold out tabs andtape fins to tube.

Fold over upper endand tape shut. Insert straw.

Blow throughstraw to launch.

PAPER ROCKETS

LAUNCH

Follow the arrows to build your rocket.

4 by 28 centimeter

strip of paper

65

66Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Paper Rocket Test Report

Rocket 1

How far did it flyin centimeters?

Average distancein centimeters?

Make notes about the flights here.

1.2.3.

1.2.3.

Make notes about the flights here.

Make notes about the flights here.

1.2.3.

Predict how many centimetersyour rocket will fly.

How far did it flyin centimeters?

Average distance?

Difference between yourprediction and the averagedistance?

Rocket 2

Predict how many centimetersyour rocket will fly.

How far did it flyin centimeters?

Average distance?

Difference between yourprediction and the averagedistance?

Rocket 3

1. Launch your rocket three times. How far did it fly each time. What is the averagedistance your rocket flew? Write your answer in the spaces below.

2. Build and fly a rocket of a new design. Before flying it, predict how far it will go.Fly the rocket three times and average the distances. What is the differencebetween your prediction and the actual average distance?

3. Build a third rocket and repeat step 2.4. On the back of this paper, write a short paragraph describing each rocket you built

and how it flew. Draw pictures of the rockets you constructed.

Names:

66

67Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Educator Information

Newton Car

Science Standards:Science as InquiryPhysical Science - Properties of objects and

materialsUnifying Concepts and Processes - Evidence,

models, and explanationUnifying Concepts and Processes - Change,

constancy, and measurement

Science Process Skills:ObservingCommunicatingMeasuringCollecting DataInferringPredictingInterpreting DataMaking GraphsControlling VariablesDefining OperationallyInvestigating

Mathematics Standards:Mathematics as Problem SolvingMathematics as CommunicationMathematical ConnectionsMeasurementStatistics and ProbabilityPatterns and Relationships

Management:Conduct this activity in groups of threestudents. Use a smooth testing surface suchas a long, level table top or uncarpeted floor.The experiment has many variables that

students must control including: the

Objective:To investigate how increasing the mass of anobject thrown from a Newton Car affects thecar's acceleration over a rolling track(Newton's Second Law of Motion).

Description:In this activity, students test a slingshot-likedevice that throws a mass causing the car tomove in the opposite direction.

size of the string loop they tie, the placementof the mass on the car, and the placement ofthe dowels. Discuss the importance ofcontrolling the variables in the experimentwith your students.

Making the Newton Car involves cuttingblocks of wood and driving three screws intoeach block. Refer to the diagram on thispage for the placement of the screws as wellas how the Newton Car is set up for theexperiment. Place the dowels in a row likerailroad ties and extend them to one side asshown in the picture. If you have access to a

Materials and Tools:• 1 Wooden block about 10 x 20 x 2.5 cm•�3 3-inch No. 10 wood screws (round head)•�12 Round pencils or short lengths of similar dowel•�Plastic film canister•�Assorted materials for filling canister

(e.g. washers, nuts, etc.)•�3 Rubber bands•�Cotton string•�Safety lighter•�Eye protection for each student•�Metric beam balance (Primer Balance)•�Vice•�Screwdriver•�Meter stick

68Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

drill press, you can substitute short dowels forthe screws. It is important to drill the holesfor the dowels perpendicular into the blockwith the drill press. Add a drop of glue toeach hole.

The activity requires students to load their"slingshot" by stretching the rubber bandsback to the third screw and holding it in placewith the string. The simplest way of doingthis is to tie the loop first and slide the rubberbands through the loop before placing therubber bands over the two screws. Loop thestring over the third screw after stretching therubber bands back.

Use a match or lighter to burn the string. Thesmall ends of string left over from the knotacts as a fuse that permits the students toremove the match before the string burnsthrough. Teachers may want to give studentgroups only a few matches at a time. Tocompletely conduct this experiment, studentgroups will need six matches. It may benecessary for a practice run before startingthe experiment. As an alternative to thematches, students can use blunt nosescissors to cut the string. This requires somefast movement on the part of the studentdoing the cutting. The student needs tomove the scissors quickly out of the way aftercutting the string.

Tell the students to tie all the string loopsthey need before beginning the experiment.The loops should be as close to the samesize as possible. Refer to the diagram on thestudent pages for the actual size of the loops.Loops of different sizes will introduce asignificant variable into the experiment,causing the rubber bands to be stretcheddifferent amounts. This will lead to differentaccelerations with the mass each time theexperiment is conducted.

Use plastic 35 millimeter film canisters for themass in the experiments. Direct students to

completely fill the canister with variousmaterials, such as seeds, small nails, metalwashers, sand, etc. This will enable them tovary the mass twice during the experiment.Have students weigh the canister after it isfilled and record the mass on the studentsheet. After using the canister three times,first with one rubber band and then two andthree rubber bands, students should refill thecanister with new material for the next threetests.

Refer to the sample graph for recording data.The bottom of the graph is the distance thecar travels in each test. Students should plota dot on the graph for the distance the cartraveled. The dot should fall on the y-axisline representing the number of rubber bandsused and on the x-axis for the distance thecar traveled. After plotting three tests with aparticular mass, connect the dots with lines.The students should use a solid line for Mass1 and a line with large dashes for Mass 2. Ifthe students have carefully controlled theirvariables, they should observe that the cartraveled the greatest distance using thegreatest mass and three rubber bands. Thisconclusion will help them conceptualizeNewton's Second Law of Motion.

Background Information:

The Newton car provides an excellent tool forinvestigating Isaac Newton’s Second Law ofMotion. The law states that force equalsmass times acceleration. In rockets, theforce is the action produced by gas expelledfrom the engines. According to the law, thegreater the gas that is expelled and the fasterit accelerates out of the engine, the greaterthe force or thrust. More details on this lawcan be found on page 16 of this guide.

The Newton Car is a kind of a slingshot. Awooden block with three screws driven into itforms the slingshot frame. Rubber bands

69Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

stretch from two of the screws and hold to thethird by a string loop. A mass sits betweenthe rubber bands. When the string is cut, therubber bands throw the block to produce anaction force. The reaction force propels theblock in the opposite direction over somedowels that act as rollers (Newton's ThirdLaw of Motion).

This experiment directs students to launchthe car while varying the number of rubberbands and the quantity of mass thrown off.They will measure how far the car travels inthe opposite direction and plot the data on agraph. Repeated runs of the experimentshould show that the distance the car travelsdepends on the number of rubber bandsused and the quantity of the mass beingexpelled. Comparing the graph lines will leadstudents to Newton's Second Law of Motion.

Discussion:

1. How is the Newton Car similar to rockets?

2. How do rocket engines increase theirthrust?

3. Why is it important to control variables inan experiment?

Assessment:

Conduct a class discussion where studentsshare their findings about Newton's Laws ofMotion. Ask them to compare their resultswith those from previous activities such asPop Can Hero Engine. Collect and reviewcompleted student pages.

Extensions:

Obtain a toy water rocket from a toy store.Try launching the rocket with only air andthen with water and air and observe how farthe rocket travels.

70Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

1. Tie 6 string loops this size.

2. Fill up your film canister andweigh it in grams. Record themass in the Newton CarReport chart.

3. Set up your Newton Car asshown in the picture. Slip therubber band through thestring loop. Stretch therubber band over the twoscrews and pull the stringback over the thirdscrew. Place therods 6centimetersapart. Use only onerubber band the first time.

Newton Car

4. Put on your eye protection!

5. Light the string and stand back. Record the distance the car traveledon the chart.

6. Reset the car and rods. Make sure the rods are 6 centimeters apart!Use two rubber bands. Record the distance the car travels.

7. Reset the car with three rubber bands. Record the distance it travels.

8. Refill the canister and record its new mass.

9. Test the car with the new canister and with 1, 2, and 3 rubber bands.Record the distances the car moves each time.

10. Plot your results on the graph. Use one line for the first set ofmeasurements and a different line for the second set.

Place more rods

in this direction

0 cm

6 cm

12 cm

18cm

70

71Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Newton Car Report

Describe what happened when you tested the car with 1, 2, and 3 rubberbands.

TeamMembers:

MASS 1

MASS 2

grams

grams

grams

grams

Describe what happened when you tested the car with 1, 2, and 3 rubberbands.

Write a short statement explaining the relationship between the amountof mass in the canister, the number of rubber bands, and the distancethe car traveled.

Rubber Bands Distance Traveled

centimeters

centimeters

centimeters

Rubber Bands Distance Traveled

centimeters

centimeters

centimeters

71

72Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Mass

1 =

g

ms

Mass

2 =

g

ms

05

01

00

15

02

00

Ce

nti

me

ters

123

Rubber bandsNe

wto

n C

ar

Te

st R

esu

lts

Mass 1 = gms

Mass 2 = gms

050100150200Centimeters

1

2

3

Ru

bb

er b

an

ds

Sample Graph

72

72Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Mass

1 =

g

ms

Mass

2 =

g

ms

05

01

00

15

02

00

Ce

nti

me

ters

123

Rubber bandsNe

wto

n C

ar

Te

st R

esu

lts

Mass 1 = gms

Mass 2 = gms

050100150200Centimeters

1

2

3

Ru

bb

er b

an

ds

Sample Graph

72

73Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Science Standards:Physical Science - Position and motion of objectsScience and Technology - Abilities of technological

designScience and Technology - Understanding about

science and technology

Science Process Skills:ObservingMaking ModelsDefining Operationally

Management:The activity described below can be done bystudents or used as a demonstration.Younger students may have difficulty incoordinating the assembly steps to achieve asuccessful launch. If you will use the activityin several successive classes, considerattaching the fishing line along one wallwhere there is not much traffic, so studentswill not walk into the line.

Background Information:Traveling into outer space takes enormousamounts of energy. This activity is a simpledemonstration of rocket staging that JohannSchmidlap first proposed in the 16th century.When a lower stage has exhausted its load ofpropellants, the entire stage drops away,making the upper stages more efficient in

reaching higher altitudes. In the

Materials and Tools:• 2 Long party balloons• Nylon monofilament fishing line (any weight)• 2 Plastic straws (milkshake size)• Styrofoam coffee cup• Masking tape• Scissors• 2 Spring clothespins

BalloonStaging

Educator Information

Objective:To demonstrate how rockets can achieve greateraltitudes by using the technology of staging.

Description:This demonstration simulates a multistage rocketlaunch by using two inflated balloons that slide alonga fishing line by the thrust produced from escapingair.

typical rocket, the stages are mounted one ontop of the other. The lowest stage is thelargest and heaviest. In the Space Shuttle,the stages attach side by side. The solidrocket boosters attach to the side of theexternal tank. Also attached to the externaltank is the Shuttle orbiter. When exhaustedthe solid rocket boosters jettison. Later, theorbiter discards the external tank as well.

Procedure:1. Thread the fishing line through the two

straws. Stretch the fishing line snuglyacross a room and secure its ends. Makesure the line is just high enough for peopleto pass safely underneath.

2. Cut the coffee cup in half so that the lip ofthe cup forms a continuous ring.

3. Stretch the balloons by pre-inflating them.

74Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Inflate the first balloon about three-fourthsfull of air and squeeze its nozzle tight. Pullthe nozzle through the ring. Twist thenozzle and hold it shut with a springclothespin. Inflate the second balloon.While doing so, make sure the front end ofthe second balloon extends through thering a short distance. As the secondballoon inflates, it will press against thenozzle of the first balloon and take over theclip's job of holding it shut. It may take abit of practice to achieve this. Clip thenozzle of the second balloon shut also.

4. Take the balloons to one end of the fishingline and tape each balloon to a straw withmasking tape. The balloons should pointparallel to the fishing line.

5. Remove the clip from the first balloon anduntwist the nozzle. Remove the nozzlefrom the second balloon as well, butcontinue holding it shut with your fingers.

6. If you wish, do a rocket countdown as yourelease the balloon you are holding. Theescaping gas will propel both balloonsalong the fishing line. When the firstballoon released runs out of air, it willrelease the other balloon to continue thetrip.

7. Distribute design sheets and ask studentsto design and describe their ownmultistage rocket.

Assessment:Collect and display student designs formultistage rockets. Ask each student toexplain their rocket to the class.

Extensions:• Encourage the students to try other

launch arrangements such as side-by-sideballoons and three stages.

• Can students fly a two stage balloonwithout the fishing line as a guide? Howmight the balloons be modified to make thispossible?

75Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Design a rocket that has atleast two stages. In thespace below, describe whateach stage will do. Do notforget to include a place forpayload and crew.

Design Sheet

DescriptionYour Name:

Rocket Name:

Side View

Top View

75

76Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Background Information:

The mass of a rocket can make thedifference between a successful flight and arocket that just sits on the launch pad. As abasic principle of rocket flight, a rocket willleave the ground when the engine producesa thrust that is greater than the total mass ofthe vehicle.

Large rockets, able to carry a spacecraft intospace, have serious weight problems. Toreach space and proper orbital velocities, agreat deal of propellant is needed; therefore,the tanks, engines, and associated hardwarebecome larger. Up to a point, bigger rocketsfly farther than smaller rockets, but when theybecome too large their structures weigh themdown too much.

RocketTransportationObjective:To problem solve ways to lift a load using a balloon rocket.

Description:Students construct a rocket out of a balloon and use it tocarry a paper clip payload.

Science Standards:Science as InquiryPhysical Science - Position and motion of objectsScience and Technology - Abilities of technological

design

Science Process Skills:ObservingCommunicatingMeasuringCollecting DataInferringPredictingMaking ModelsControlling VariablesDefining OperationallyInvestigating

Mathematics Standards:Problem SolvingCommunicationReasoningConnectionsEstimationMeasurement

Management:This activity works best with students workingin teams of three or four. It will takeapproximately one hour to complete. Theactivity focuses on the scientific processes ofexperimentation.

Educator Information

Materials and Tools:• Large long balloons (Several per group)• Fishing line• Straws• Small paper cups• Paper clips• Tape• Clothes pins• Scales

77Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

A solution to the problem of giant rocketsweighing too much can be credited to the16th-century fireworks maker JohnSchmidlap. Schmidlap attached smallrockets to the top of big ones. When thelarge rockets exhausted their fuel supply therocket casing dropped behind and theremaining rocket fired. Much higher altitudescan be achieved this way.

This technique of building a rocket is calledstaging. Thanks to staging, we can not onlyreach outer space in the Space Shuttle, butalso the Moon and other planets usingvarious spacecraft.

Procedure:1. Attach a fishing line to the ceiling or as

high on the wall as possible. Try attachinga paper clip to a fishing line and hooking iton to the light or ceiling tile braces. Makeone drop with the fishing line to the floor ortable top per group. Note: The line maybe marked off in metric units with a markerto aid students in determining the heighttraveled.

2. Blow up the balloon and hold it shut with aclothes pin. You will remove the clipbefore launch.

3. Use the paper cup as a payload bay tocarry the weights. Attach the cup to theballoon using tape. Encourage students tothink of creative locations to attach the cupto the balloon.

4. Attach the straw to the side of your rocketusing the tape. Be sure the straw runslengthwise along the balloon. This will beyour guide and attachment to your fishingline.

5. Thread the fishing line through the straws.Launch is now possible simply byremoving the clothes pin. NOTE: Thefishing line should be taut for the rocket totravel successfully up the line, and theclipped balloon nozzle must be untwistedbefore release.

6. After trying their rocket have studentspredict how much weight they can lift tothe ceiling. Allow students to change theirdesign in any way that might increase therockets lifting ability between each try (e.g.adding additional balloons, changinglocations of the payload bay, replacing theinitial balloon as it loses some of itselasticity enabling it to maintain the samethrust, etc.)

Discussion:1. Compare what you have learned about

balloons and rockets.

2. Why is the balloon forced along the string?

Assessment:Compare results from student launches.Have students discuss design elements thatmade their launch successful and ideas theythink could be used to create an even moresuccessful heavy-lift launcher.

Extensions:• Can you eliminate the paper cup from the

rocket and have it still carry paper clips?

• If each balloon costs one million dollars andyou need to lift 100 paper clips, how muchmoney would you need to spend? Can youthink of a way to cut this cost?

• Without attaching the paper cup as a pay-load carrier, have the students measure thedistance the balloon travels along the stringin a horizontal, vertical, and 45 degreeangle using metric units. Discuss thedifferences.

78Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Rocket Team

• What other ways could increase the lifting capacity of your rocket?

• Predict how much weight your rocket can lift to the ceiling

Based on your most successful launch:•What was the maximum amount of weight you could lift to the ceiling?

Explain how you designed your rocket to lift themaximum amount of weight.

RocketTransportation

Sketch Your Rocket

Test Weight Lifted Results of Test

1234

(2 small paperclips = approximately 1 gram)

78

79Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

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Science Standards:Physical Science - Position and motion of objectsScience and Technology - Abilities of technological

designScience and Technology - Understanding about

science and technology

Science Process Skills:ObservingMeasuringCollecting DataInterpreting Data

Mathematics Standards:Mathematics as CommunicationMathematics as ReasoningMathematical ConnectionsEstimationNumber Sense and NumerationGeometry and Spatial SenseMeasurementTrigonometry

Management:Determining the altitude a rocket reaches in flightis a team activity. While one group of studentsprepares and launches a rocket, a second groupmeasures the altitude the rocket reaches byestimating the angle of the rocket at its highest

point from the tracking station. The angle is

Educator Information

AltitudeTrackingObjective:To estimate the altitude a rocket achieves duringflight.

Description:In this activity, students construct simple altitudetracking devices for determining the altitude arocket reaches in its flight.

Materials and Tools:• Altitude tracker pattern• Altitude calculator pattern• Thread or lightweight string• Small washer• Brass paper fastener• Scissors• Razor blade knife and cutting surface• Stapler• Meter stick• Rocket and launcher

then input into the altitude tracker calculator andthe altitude is read. Roles are reversed so thateveryone gets to launch and to track. Dependingupon the number of launches held and whether ornot every student makes their own Altitude

Trackers and Altitude Calculators, the activityshould take about an hour or two. While waitingto launch rockets or track them, students canwork on other projects.

Altitude tracking, as used in this activity, can beused with the Paper Rockets (page 61), 3-2-1Pop! (page 53), and Bottle Rockets (page 91)activities and with commercial model rockets.The Altitude Calculator is calibrated for 5, 15, and

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80Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

30 meter baselines. Use the 5-meter baseline forPaper Rockets and 3-2-1 Pop! rockets. Use the15-meter baseline for Project X-35, and use the30-meter baseline for launching commercialmodel rockets.

For practical reasons, the Altitude Calculator isdesigned for angles in increments of 5 degrees.Younger children, may have difficulty in obtainingprecise angle measurements with the AltitudeTracker. For simplicity's sake, roundmeasurements off to the nearest 5 degreeincrement and read the altitude reached directlyfrom the Altitude Calculator. If desired, you candetermine altitudes for angles in between theincrements by adding the altitudes above andbelow the angle and dividing by 2. A moreprecise method for determining altitudes appearslater in the procedures.

A teacher aid or older student should cut out thethree windows in in the Altitude Calculator. Asharp knife or razor and a cutting surface worksbest for cutting out windows. The altitude trackeris simple enough for everyone to make their own,but they can also be shared. Students shouldpractice taking angle measurements and usingthe calculator on objects of known height such asa building or a flagpole before calculating rocketaltitude.

Background Information:This activity makes use of simple trigonometry todetermine the altitude a rocket reaches in flight.The basic assumption of the activity is that therocket travels straight up from the launch site. Ifthe rocket flies away at an angle other than 90degrees, the accuracy of the procedurediminishes. For example, if the rocket climbsover a tracking station, where the angle ismeasured, the altitude calculation will yield ananswer higher than the actual altitude reached.On the other hand, if the rocket flies away fromthe station, the altitude measurement will belower than the actual value. Tracking accuracycan be increased, by using more than onetracking station to measure the rocket's altitude.Position a second or third station in differentdirections from the first station. Averaging thealtitude measurements will reduce individualerror.

Procedure:Constructing the Altitude Tracker Scope1. Copy the pattern for the altitude tracker on

heavy weight paper.2. Cut out the pattern on the dark outside lines.3. Curl (do not fold) the B edge of the pattern to

the back until it lines up with the A edge.4. Staple the edges together where marked. If

done correctly, the As and Bs will be on theoutside of the tracker.

5. Punch a small hole through the apex of theprotractor quadrant on the pattern.

6. Slip a thread or lightweight string through thehole. Knot the thread or string on the backside.

6. Complete the tracker by hanging a smallwasher from the other end of the thread asshown in the diagram above.

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81Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Procedure:Using the Altitude Tracker1. Set up a tracking station location a short

distance away from the rocket launch site.Depending upon the expected altitude of the

rocket, the tracking station should be 5,15, or 30 meters away. (Generally, a 5-meter distance is sufficient for paperrockets and antacid-power rockets. A15-meter distance is sufficient for bottlerockets, and a 30-meter distance issufficient for model rockets.

2. As a rocket launches, the person doingthe tracking will follow the flight with thesighting tube on the tracker. The trackershould be held like a pistol and kept atthe same level as the rocket when it islaunched. Continue to aim the tracker atthe highest point the rocket reached inthe sky. Have a second student readthe angle the thread or string makeswith the quadrant protractor. Recordthe angle.

Procedure:Constructing the Altitude Calculator1. Copy the two patterns for the altitude calculator

onto heavy weight paper or glue the patternson to light weight posterboard. Cut out thepatterns.

2. Place the top pattern on a cutting surface andcut out the three windows.

3. Join the two patterns together where the centermarks are located. Use a brass paper fastenerto hold the pieces together. The pieces shouldrotate smoothly.

Procedure:Determining the Altitude1. Use the Altitude Calculator to determine the

height the rocket reached. To do so, rotate theinner wheel of the calculator so that the noseof the rocket pointer is aimed at the anglemeasured in step 2 of the previous procedure.

2. Read the altitude of the rocket by looking in thewindow. If you use a 5-meter baseline, thealtitude the rocket reached will be in thewindow beneath the 5. To achieve a moreaccurate measure, add the height of theperson holding the tracker to calculate altitude.If the angle falls between two degree marks,average the altitude numbers above and belowthe marks.

90

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82Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Advanced Altitude Tracking:1. A more advanced altitude tracking scope can

be constructed by replacing the rolled sightingtube with a fat milkshake straw. Use whiteglue to attach the straw along the 90 degreeline of the protractor.

2. Once you determine the angle of the rocket,use the following equation to calculate altitudeof the rocket:

Altitude = tan x baseline

Use a calculator with trigonometry functions tosolve the problem or refer to the tangent tableon page 86. For example, if the measuredangle is 28 degrees and the baseline is15 meters, the altitude is 7.97 meters.

Altitude = tan 28o X 15 m Altitude = 0.5317 x 15 m = 7.97 m

3. An additional improvement in accuracy can beobtained by using two tracking stations.Averaging the calculated altitude from the twostations will achieve greater accuracy. See thefigure below.

Assessment:

Have students demonstrate their proficiency withaltitude tracking by sighting on a fixed object ofknown height and comparing their results. Ifemploying two tracking stations, comparemeasurements from both stations.Extensions:• Why should the height of the person holding

the tracker be added to the measurement ofthe rocket's altitude?

• Curriculum guides for model rocketry(available from model rocket supplycompanies) provide instructions for moresophisticated rocket trcking measurements.These activities involve two-station trackingwith altitude and compass directionmeasurement and trigonometric functions.

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83Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

This Altitude Tracker belongs to

Rocket Sighting Instructions:

1. Follow rocket by sighting through tube.2. Read angle of string for highest altitude of rocket.

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Look at the number in thewindow for the distance of thetracking station locationfrom the launch site. Thenumber will tell you the altitudeof the rocket in meters.

5 15 30 m

ALTITUDE CALCULATORRotate the nose of the rocketto the angle you measured.

BASELINE

84

85Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

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86Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

0 0.00001 0.01742 0.03493 0.05244 0.06995 0.08746 0.10517 0.12278 0.14059 0.1583

10 0.176311 0.194312 0.212513 0.230814 0.249315 0.267916 0.286717 0.305718 0.324919 0.344320 0.363921 0.383822 0.404023 0.424424 0.445225 0.466326 0.487727 0.509528 0.531729 0.554330 0.5773

61 1.804062 1.880763 1.962664 2.060365 2.144566 2.246067 2.355868 2.475069 2.605070 2.747471 2.904272 3.077673 3.270874 3.487475 3.732076 4.010777 4.331478 4.704679 5.144580 5.671281 6.313782 7.115383 8.144384 9.514385 11.430086 14.300687 19.081188 28.636289 57.289990 ------------

31 0.600832 0.624833 0.649434 0.674535 0.700236 0.726537 0.753538 0.781239 0.809740 0.839041 0.869242 0.900443 0.932544 0.965645 1.000046 1.035547 1.072348 1.110649 1.150350 1.191751 1.234852 1.279953 1.327054 1.376355 1.428156 1.482557 1.539858 1.600359 1.664260 1.7320

Degree Tan Degree TanDegree Tan

Tangent Table

87Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Educator Information

Bottle RocketLauncherObjective:To construct a bottle rocket launcher for use with the BottleRocket and Project X-35 activities.

Description:Students construct a bottle launcher from "off-the-shelf"hardware and wood using simple tools.

Science Standards:Physical Science - Position and motion of objectsScience and Technology - Abilities of technological

design

Science Process Skills:Measuring

Mathematics Standards:Mathematical ConnectionsMeasurement

Management:Consult the materials and tools list todetermine what you will need to construct asingle bottle rocket launcher. The launcher issimple and inexpensive to construct. Airpressure is provided by means of a hand-operated bicycle pump. The pump shouldhave a pressure gauge for accuratecomparisons between launches. Mostneeded parts are available from hardwarestores. In addition you will need a tire valvefrom an auto parts store and a rubber bottlestopper from a school science experiment.The most difficult task is to drill a 3/8 inchhole in the mending plate called for in thematerials list. Electric drills are a commonhousehold tool. If you do not have access toone, or do not wish to drill the holes in themetal mending plate, find someone who cando the job for you. Ask a teacher or student

in your school's industrial arts shop,

Materials and Tools:* 4 5-inch corner irons with 12 3/4 inch wood

screws to fit* 1 5-inch mounting plate* 2 6-inch spikes* 2 10-inch spikes or metal tent stakes* 2 5-inch by 1/4 inch carriage bolts with six 1/4

inch nuts* 1 3-inch eyebolt with two nuts and washers* 4 3/4-inch diameter washers to fit bolts* 1 Number 3 rubber stopper with a single hole* 1 Snap-in Tubeless Tire Valve (small 0.453 inch hole, 2 inch long)* Wood board 12 by 18 by 3/4 inches* 1 2-liter plastic bottle* Electric drill and bits including a 3/8 inch bit* Screw driver* Pliers or open-end wrench to fit nuts* Vice* 12 feet of 1/4 inch cord* Pencil• Bicycle pump with pressure gauge

a fellow teacher, or the parent of one of yourstudents to help.

If you have each student construct a bottlerocket, having more than one launcher maybe advisable. Because the rockets areprojectiles, safely using more than onelauncher will require careful planning andpossibly additional supervision. Please referto the launch safety instructions.

88Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

MendingPlate

Wood Base

CarrigeBolt

Corner Iron

Hold DownBar

BottleNeck

Background Information:Like a balloon, air pressurizes the bottlerocket. When released from the launchplatform, air escapes the bottle, providing anaction force accompanied by an equal andopposite reaction force (Newton's Third Lawof Motion). Increasing the pressure insidethe bottle rocket produces greater thrustsince a large quantity of air inside the bottleescapes with a higher acceleration (Newton'sSecond Law of Motion). Adding a smallamount of water to the bottle increases theaction force. The water expels from thebottle before the air does, turning the bottlerocket into a bigger version of a water rockettoy available in toy stores.

Construction Instructions:1. Prepare the rubber stopper by enlarging

the hole with a drill. Grip the stopperlightly with a vice and gently enlarge thehole with a 3/8 inch bit and electric drill.The rubber will stretch during cutting,making the finished hole somewhat lessthan 3/8 inches.

2. Remove the stopper from the vice andpush the needle valve end of the tire stemthrough the stopper from the narrow endto the wide end.

3. Prepare the mounting plate by drilling a|3/8 inch hole through the center of theplate. Hold the plate with a vice during

drilling and put on eye protection.Enlarge the holes at the opposite ends ofthe plates, using a drill bit slightly largerthan the holes to do this. The holes mustbe large enough to pass the carriage boltsthrough them. (See Attachment ofMending Plate and Stopper diagrambelow.)

4. Lay the mending plate in the center of thewood base and mark the centers of thetwo outside holes that you enlarged. Drillholes through the wood big enough topass the carriage bolts through.

5. Push and twist the tire stem into the holeyou drilled in the center of the mountingplate. The fat end of the stopper shouldrest on the plate.

6. Insert the carriage bolts through the woodbase from the bottom up. Place a hex nutover each bolt and tighten the nut so thatthe bolt head pulls into the wood.

7. Screw a second nut over each bolt andspin it about half way down the bolt.Place a washer over each nut and thenslip the mounting plate over the two bolts.

8. Press the neck of a 2-liter plastic bottleover the stopper. You will be using thebottle's wide neck lip for measuring in thenext step.

Attach BicyclePump Here

Carrige Bolt

Nut

Nut

Washer

Tire StemRubberStopper

Wood Base

MendingPlate

Attachment of Mending Plate and Stopper

Positioning Corner Irons

89Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

9. Set up two corner irons so they look likebook ends. Insert a spike through the tophole of each iron. Slide the irons near thebottle neck so that the spike restsimmediately above the wide neck lip. Thespike will hold the bottle in place whileyou pump up the rocket. If the bottle istoo low, adjust the nuts beneath themounting plate on both sides to raise it.

10. Set up the other two corner irons as youdid in the previous step. Place them onthe opposite side of the bottle. When youhave the irons aligned so that the spikesrest above and hold the bottle lip, markthe centers of the holes on the woodbase. For more precise screwing, drillsmall pilot holes for each screw and thenscrew the corner irons tightly to the base.

11. Install an eyebolt to the edge of theopposite holes for the hold down spikes.Drill a hole and hold the bolt in place withwashers and nuts on top and bottom.

12. Attach the launch "pull cord" to the headend of each spike. Run the cord throughthe eyebolt.

13. Make final adjustments to the launcher byattaching the pump to the tire stem andpumping up the bottle. Refer to thelaunching instructions for safety notes. Ifthe air seeps out around the stopper, thestopper is too loose. Use a pair of pliersor a wrench to raise each side of themounting plate in turn to press thestopper with slightly more force to thebottle neck. When satisfied with theposition, thread the remaining hex nutsover the mounting plate and tighten themto hold the plate in position.

14. Drill two holes through the wood basealong one side. The holes should belarge enough to pass large spikes ofmetal tent stakes. When the launch padis set up on a grassy field, the stakes willhold the launcher in place when you yankthe pull cord. The launcher is nowcomplete. (See page 90.)

Launch Safety Instructions:1. Select a grassy field that measures

approximately 30 meters across. Placethe launcher in the center of the field andanchor it in place with the spikes or tentstakes. (If it is a windy day, place thelauncher closer to the side of the fieldfrom which the wind is coming so that therocket will drift on to the field as it comesdown.)

2. Have each student or student group setup their rocket on the launch pad. Otherstudents should stand back severalmeters. It will be easier to keep observersaway by roping off the launch site.

3. After the rocket is attached to thelauncher, the student pumping the rocketshould put on eye protection. The rocketshould be pumped no higher than about50 pounds of pressure per square inch.

4. When pressurization is complete, allstudents should stand in back of the ropefor the countdown.

5. Before conducting the countdown, be surethe place where the rocket is expected tocome down is clear of people. Launch therocket when the recovery range is clear.

6. Only permit the students launching therocket to retrieve it.

Extensions:Look up the following references foradditional bottle rocket plans and otherteaching strategies:

Hawthorne, M. & Saunders, G. (1993), "ItsLaunchtime!," Science and Children,v30n5, pp.17-19, 39.

Rogis, J. (1991), "Soaring with AviationActivities," Science Scope, v15n2,pp.14-17.

Winemiller, J., Pedersen, J., & Bonnstetter,R. (1991), "The Rocket Project,"Science Scope, v15n2, pp.18-22.

90Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

To Pump

Launch ReleaseCord

Hold DownSpike

Completed Launcher Ready for Firing.

91Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Science Standards:Physical Science - Position and motion of objectsScience and Technology - Abilities of technological

design

Science Process Skills:MeasuringMaking Models

Mathematics Standards:Mathematical ConnectionsMeasurementGeometry and Spatial Sense

Management:This activity can stand alone or beincorporated in the activity Project X-35 thatfollows. Having the learners work in teamswill reduce the amount of materials required.Begin saving 2-liter bottles several weeks inadvance to have a sufficient supply for yourclass. You will need to have at least onebottle rocket launcher. Construct thelauncher described in the previous activity orobtain one from a science or technologyeducation supply catalog.

The simplest way to construct the rockets isto use low-temperature electric glue guns thatare available from craft stores. High-temperature glue guns will melt the plastic

Bottle RocketEducator Information

Hot Glue

Materials and Tools:

• 2-liter plastic soft drink bottles• Low-temperature glue guns• Poster board• Tape• Modeling clay• Scissors•�Safety Glasses• Decals•�Stickers•�Marker pens•�Launch pad from the Bottle Rocket Launcher

Objective:To construct and launch a simple bottle rocket.

Description:Working in teams, learners will construct a simplebottle rocket from 2-liter soft drink bottles and othermaterials.

bottles. Provide glue guns for each table orset up glue stations in various parts of theroom.

Collect a variety of decorative materialsbefore beginning this activity so students cancustomize their rockets. When the rocketsare complete, test fly them. Refer to theAltitude Tracker activity starting on page 79for information on determining how high therockets fly. While one group of studentslaunches their rocket, have another grouptrack the rocket and determine its altitude.

When launching rockets, it is important forthe other students to stand back.

92Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Countdowns help everybody to know whenthe rocket will lift off. In group discussion,have your students create launch safety rulesthat everybody must follow. Include how farback observers should stand, how manypeople should prepare the rocket for launch,who should retrieve the rocket, etc.

Background Information:Bottle rockets are excellent devices forinvestigating Newton's Three Laws of Motion.The rocket will remain on the launch pad untilan unbalanced force is exerted propelling therocket upward (First Law). The amount offorce depends upon how much air youpumped inside the rocket (Second Law). Youcan increase the force further by adding asmall amount of water to the rocket. Thisincreases the mass the rocket expels by theair pressure. Finally, the action force of theair (and water) as it rushes out the nozzlecreates an equal and opposite reaction forcepropelling the rocket upward (Third Law).

The fourth instruction on the Student Pageasks the students to press modeling clay intothe nose cone of the rocket. Placing 50 to100 grams of clay into the cone helps tostabilize the rocket by moving the center ofmass farther from the center of pressure. Fora complete explanation of how this works,see pages 21-22.

Procedures:Refer to the Student Page for procedures andoptional directions for making paperhelicopters. See the extension section belowfor details on how to use the helicopters.

Assessment:Evaluate each bottle rocket on its quality ofconstruction. Observe how well fins alignand attach to the bottle. Also observe howstraight the nose cone is at the top of therocket. If you choose to measure how high

the rockets fly, compare the altitude therockets reach with their design and quality ofthe construction.

Extensions:• Challenge rocket teams to invent a way to

attach a parachute to the rocket that willdeploy on the rocket’s way back down.

• Parachutes for bottle rockets can be madefrom a plastic bag and string. The nosecone is merely placed over the rocket andparachute for launch. The cone needs to fitproperly for launch or it will slip off. Themodeling clay in the cone will cause thecone to fall off, deploying the parachute orpaper helicopters, after the rocket tilts overat the top of its flight.

• Extend the poster board tube above therounded end of the bottle. This will make apayload compartment for lofting variousitems with the rocket. Payloads mightinclude streamers or paper helicopters thatwill spill out when the rocket reaches the topof its flight. Copy and distribute the page onhow to make paper helicopters. Ask thestudents to identify other possible payloadsfor the rocket. If students suggestlaunching small animals with their rockets,discuss the purpose of flying animals andthe possible dangers if they are actuallyflown.

• Conduct flight experiments by varying theamount of air pressure and water to therocket before launch. Have the studentsdevelop experimental test procedures andcontrol for variables.

• Conduct spectacular nighttime launches ofbottle rockets. Make the rockets visible inflight by taping a small-size chemical lightstick near the nose cone of each rocket.Light sticks are available at toy andcamping stores and can be used for manyflights. This is an especially good activityfor summer "space camp" programs.

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Hot Glue

Building A Bottle Rocket

1. Wrap and glue or tapea tube of posterboardaround the bottle.

2. Cut out several fins ofany shape and gluethem to the tube.

3. Form a nosecone and hold it together with tape or glue.

4. Press a ball ofmodeling clay into thetop of the nosecone.

5. Glue or tape nosecone to upper end of bottle.

6. Decorate your rocket.

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1. Cut on solid black lines.Fold on dashed lines.

2. Fold A and Bto middle.

4. Fold propeller bladesoutward.

Paper Helicopter Plans

5. Test fly by dropping fromfrom over your head.

3. Fold C up.

C

A B

CPaper Helicopter

Pattern

BA

C

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Materials and Tools:(All supplies need to be available per group)• 2 liter soda bottles• 1 liter soda bottles• Film canisters• Aluminium soda cans• Scrap cardboard and poster board• Large cardboard panels• Duct Tape• Electrical tape• Glue sticks• Low-temperature glue gun• Water• Clay• Plastic garbage bags•�Crepe paper•�String• Paint•�Safety glasses• Bottle Rocket Launcher (See page 87.)• Altitude Calculator (See page 79.)

Pro

ject

X-3

5

Science Standards:Science as InquiryPhysical Science - Position and motion of objectsScience and Technology - Abilities of technological

designScience in Personal and Social Perspectives -

Science and technology in local challenges

Science Process Skills:ObservingCommunicatingMeasuringCollecting DataInferringPredictingMaking ModelsInterpreting DataControlling VariablesDefining OperationallyInvestigating

Mathematics Standards:Mathematics as Problem SolvingMathematics as CommunicationMathematical ConnectionsEstimationNumber Sense and NumerationWhole Number ComputationGeometry and Spatial SenseMeasurementFractions and DecimalsFunctions

Educator Information

Project X-35Objective:To demonstrate rocketry principles through acooperative, problem solving simulation.

Description:Teams simulate the development of a commercialproposal to design, build, and launch a rocket.

Management:Prior to this project students should have theopportunity to design, construct, and launch abottle rocket evaluating various watervolumes and air pressures and calculatingthe altitude traveled by these rockets. SeeBottle Rocket page 91 and Altitude Trackingpage 79.

This project is designed to offer students anopportunity to participate in an

96Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

interdisciplinary approach to life skills.Students work in teams of threes. Eachmember has designated tasks for theirspecific job title to help the team functioneffectively. These include: Project Manager,Budget Director, and Design and LaunchDirector. The student section providesbadges and tasks.

The project takes approximately two weeks tocomplete and includes a daily schedule oftasks. Students may need additional time tocomplete daily tasks.

Collect all building materials and copy allreproducibles before beginning the activity.Be sure to make several copies of the orderforms and checks for each group.

Allow enough time on the first day for thestudents to read and discuss all sheets anddetermine how they apply to the projectschedule. Focus on the student score sheetto allow a clear understanding of the criteriaused for assessment of the project.

Project X-35

Background Information:

This project provides students with anexciting activity to discover practicaldemonstrations of force and motion in actualexperiments while dealing with budgetaryrestraints and deadlines reflected in real lifesituations.

The students should have a clearunderstanding of rocket principles dealingwith Newton's Laws of Motion found on page13 and Practical Rocketry found on page 18before beginning this project.

Procedure:

Refer to the student sheets. The events forday 3 and day 6 call for teacherdemonstrations on how to make nose conesand how to determine the center of mass andthe center of pressure.

Assessment:

Assessment will be based on documentationof three designated areas: each group'sproject journal, silhouette, and launch results.See Student Score Sheet for details.

97Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Pro

ject

X-3

5 Request ForProposals

The objectives of Project X-35 are:

a. Design and draw a bottle rocket plan to scale (1 square = 2 cm).b. Develop a budget for the project and stay within the budget allowed.c. Build a test rocket using the budget and plans developed by your team.d. Identify rocket specifications and evaluate rocket stability by determining center of

mass and center of pressure and conducting a swing test.e. Display fully illustrated rocket design in class. Include: dimensional information,

location of center of mass, center of pressure, and flight information such as timealoft and altitude reached.

f. Successfully test launch rocket achieving maximum vertical distance and accuracy.g. Successfully and accurately complete rocket journal.h. Develop a cost analysis and demonstrate the most economically efficient launch.

Proposal Deadline:Two (2) weeks

The United Space Aurhority (USA) is seeking competitive bids for a new advanced rocketlaunch vehicle that will reduce the costs of launching payloads into Earth orbit. Interestedcompanies are invited to submit proposals to USA for designing and building a rocket thatwill meet the following criteria.

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Day 2Project X-35 Schedule

• Develop materials andbudget list.

• Develop scale drawing.

Day 3Project X-35 Schedule

• Demonstration: Find centerof mass and center ofpressure.

• Introduce rocket silhouetteconstruction and beginrocket analysis.

Day 8Project X-35 Schedule

• Launch Day!

Day 9Project X-35 Schedule

• Complete post launchresults, silhouettedocumentation.

• Prepare journal forcollection.

• Documentation and journaldue at beginning of classtomorrow.

Day 7Project X-35 Schedule

• Complete construction.

Day 1Project X-35 Schedule

• Form rocket companies.• Brainstorm ideas for design

and budget.• Sketch preliminary rocket

design.

Day 6Project X-35 Schedule

• Continue construction.

Day 5Project X-35 Schedule

• Demonstration: nose coneconstruction.

• Issue materials and beginconstruction.

Project Schedule

Day 4Project X-35 Schedule

• Finish silhouetteconstruction and completeprelaunch analysis. Hangsilhouette.

• Perform swing test.

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Project X-35 ChecklistProject Grading:

50% Documentation: See Project Journal below. Must be complete, neat,accurate, and on time.

25% Proper display and documentation of rocket silhouette.

25% Launch data: Measurements, accuracy, and completeness.

Project Awards:USA will award exploration contracts to the companies with the top three rockets designsbased on the above criteria. The awards are valued at:

First - $10,000,000Second - $5,000,000Third - $3,000,000

Project Journal: Check off items as you complete them.

1. Creative cover with member's names, date, project number, and companyname.

2. Certificate of Assumed Name (Name of your business).

3. Scale drawing of rocket plans. Clearly indicate scale. Label: Top, Side, andEnd View.

4. Budget Projection.

5. Balance Sheet.

6. Canceled checks, staple or tape checks in ascending numerical order, four to asheet of paper.

7. Pre-Launch Analysis.

8. Rocket Launch Day Log.

9. Score Sheet (Part 3).

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Each group m

ember w

ill be assigned specific tasks to help their team function successfully.

All team

mem

bers assist with design, construction, launch, and paper w

ork. Enlarge the

badges and glue them front and back to poster board. C

ut out the slot and attach a string.

Badge

Fro

nt

Badge

Back

ProjectManager

X-35X-35

7:007:308:008:309:00930

10:0010:3011:00113012:0012:301:001:302:002:303:003:304:004:305:00

Oversees the project. Keepsothers on task. Only person whocan communicate with teacher.

• Arrange all canceled checks inascending numerical order.Make a neat copy of the team'sRocket Journal.

• Use appropriate labels asnecessary.

• Check over balance sheet. Listall materials used in rocketconstruction.

• Complete silhouetteinformation and displayproperly in room.

• Assist other team members asneeded.

Design andLaunchDirector

X-35X-35

Supervises design andconstruction of rocket. Directsothers during launch.

• Make a neat copy of theLaunch Day Log.

• Use appropriate labels asnecessary.

• Arrange to have a creativecover made.

• Assist other team members asneeded.

BudgetDirector

X-35X-35

$Keeps accurate account of moneyand expenses and pays bills. Mustsign all checks.

• Arrange all canceled checks inorder and staple four to a sheetof paper.

• Check over budget projectionsheet. Be sure to show totalproject cost estimates.

• Check over balance sheet. Besure columns are complete andindicate a positive or negativebalance.

• Complete part 3 of the scoresheet.

• Assist other team members asneeded.

Ba

dg

es

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101Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

State of

Certificate ofAssumed

Name

All Information on this form is public information.Please type or print legibly in black ink.

1. State the exact assumed name under which the business is or will be conducted:

2. List the name and title of all persons conducting business under the aboveassumed name:

Today's Date , 19 Class Hour

Filling Fee: a $25 fee must accompany this form.

Project Number

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Project X-35 Budget

Each team will be given a budget of $1,000,000. Use money wisely and keep accuraterecords of all expenditures. Once your money runs out, you will operate in the "red" and thiswill count against your team score. If you are broke at the time of launch, you will be unable topurchase rocket fuel. You will then be forced to launch only with compressed air. You mayonly purchase as much rocket fuel as you can afford at the time of launch.

All materials not purchased from listed subcontractors will be assessed an import duty tax,20% of the market value. Materials not on the subcontractors list will be assessed anOriginality Tax of $5,000.00 per item.

A project delay penalty fee will be assessed for not working, lacking materials, etc. Thispenalty fee could be as high as $300,000 per day.

Approved Subcontractor List

SubContractor Market Price

Bottle Engine Corporation2 L bottle $200,0001 L bottle $150,000

Aluminum Cans Ltd.Can $ 50,000

International Paper CorporationCardboard - 1 sheet $ 25,000Tagboard - 1 sheet $ 30,000Manila Paper - 1 sheet $ 40,000Silhouette Panel - 1 sheet $100,000

International Tape and Glue CompanyDuct Tape - 50 cm segments $ 50,000Electrical Tape - 100 cm segments $ 50,000Glue Stick $ 20,000

Aqua Rocket Fuel Service1 ml $ 300

Strings, Inc.1 m $ 5,000

Plastic Sheet Goods1 bag $ 5,000

Common Earth CorporationModeling Clay - 100 g $ 5,000

NASA Launch Port Launch $100,000NASA Consultation Question $1,000

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103Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Company Name:

Budget Director's Signature

Project X-35 Order Form

Check No.

Date Supply Company Name

Item Ordered Quantity Unit Cost Total Cost

. .

Company Name:

Budget Director's Signature

Project X-35 Order Form

Check No.

Date Supply Company Name

Item Ordered Quantity Unit Cost Total Cost

. .

Company Name:

Budget Director's Signature

Project X-35 Order Form

Check No.

Date Supply Company Name

Item Ordered Quantity Unit Cost Total Cost

. .

Company Name:

Budget Director's Signature

Project X-35 Order Form

Check No.

Date Supply Company Name

Item Ordered Quantity Unit Cost Total Cost

. .

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104Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Project X-35 Budget Projection

Company NameRecord below all expenses your company expects to incur in the design,construction, and launch of your rocket.

Item Supplier Quantity Unit Cost Total Cost

..

..

..

..

..

..

..

..

..

..

..

..

Projected Total Cost .

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105Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Date , 19

X-35

CompanyName:

Check No.

Pay to theorder of $

Dollars

For Authorized Signature

Budget Director'sSignature

Deta

ch o

n D

ash

ed L

ines

Keep This Stub For Your Records

Check No.

Date , 19

To

Amount

For

$

Date , 19

X-35

CompanyName:

Check No.

Pay to theorder of $

Dollars

For Authorized Signature

Budget Director'sSignature

Deta

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ines

Keep This Stub For Your Records

Check No.

Date , 19

To

Amount

For

$

Date , 19

X-35

CompanyName:

Check No.

Pay to theorder of $

Dollars

For Authorized Signature

Budget Director'sSignature

Deta

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Keep This Stub For Your Records

Check No.

Date , 19

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Amount

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$

Date , 19

X-35

CompanyName:

Check No.

Pay to theorder of $

Dollars

For Authorized Signature

Budget Director'sSignature

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Check No.

Date , 19

To

Amount

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105

106Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Project X-35 Balance Sheet

Company Name

Check No. Date To Amount Balance

. .

. .

. .

. .

. .

. .

. .

. .

. .

. .

. .

. .

. .

. .

. .

. .

. .

. .

. .

. .

. .

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107Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Rocket MeasurementsFor Scale Drawing

Project No. ________________Date______________________

Company Name___________________________________________________________

Use metric measurements to measure and record the data in the blanks below.Be sure to accurately measure all objects that are constant (such as the bottles) and thoseyou will control (like the size and design of fins). If additional data lines are needed, use theback of this sheet.

Object Length Width Diameter Circumference

Using graph paper draw a side, top, and bottom view of your rocket, to scale(1 square = 2 cm), based on the measurements recorded above. Attach your drawings tothis paper.

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Scale Drawing1 square = 2 cm

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Rocket Stability DeterminationA rocket that flies straight through the air is said to be a stable rocket. A rocket that veers offcourse or tumbles wildly is said to be an unstable rocket. The difference between the flight of astable and unstable rocket depends upon its design. All rockets have two distinct "centers."The first is the center of mass. This is a point about which the rocket balances. If you couldplace a ruler edge under this point, the rocket would balance horizontally like a seesaw. Whatthis means is that half of the mass of the rocket is on one side of the ruler edge and half is onthe other. Center of mass is important to a rocket's design because if a rocket is unstable, therocket will tumble about this center.

The other center in a rocket is the center of pressure. This is a point where half of the surfacearea of a rocket is on one side and half is on the other. The center of pressure differs fromcenter of mass in that its location is not affected by the placement of payloads in the rocket.This is just a point based on the surface of the rocket, not what is inside. During flight, thepressure of air rushing past the rocket will balance half on one side of this point and half on theother. You can determine the center of pressure by cutting out an exact silhouette of therocket from cardboard and balancing it on a ruler edge.

The positioning of the center of mass and the center of pressure on a rocket is critical to itsstability. The center of mass should be towards the rocket's nose and the center of pressureshould be towards the rocket's tail for the rocket to fly straight. That is because the lower endof the rocket (starting with the center of mass and going downward) has more surface areathan the upper end (starting with the center of mass and going upward). When the rocket flies,more air pressure exists on the lower end of the rocket than on the upper end. Air pressurewill keep the lower end down and the upper end up. If the center of mass and the center ofpressure are in the same place, neither end of the rocket will point upward. The rocket will beunstable and tumble.

4. Lay the cardboard silhouette you just cutout on the ruler and balance it.

5. Draw a straight lineacross the diagram ofyour rocket where theruler is. Mark themiddle of this line with adot. This is the centerof pressure of therocket.

Stability Determination Instructions

1. Tie a string loop around the middle of yourrocket. Tie a second string to the first sothat you can pick it up. Slide the stringloop to a position where the rocketbalances. You may have to temporarilytape the nose cone in place to keep it fromfalling off.

2. Draw a straight line across the scalediagram of the rocket you made earlier toshow where the ruler's position is. Markthe middle of the line with a dot. This isthe rocket's center of mass.

3. Lay your rocket on a piece of cardboard.Carefully trace the rocket on the cardboardand cut it out.

110Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

If your center of mass is in front of the centerof pressure, your rocket should be stable.Proceed to the swing test. If the two centersare next to or on top of each other, add moreclay to the nosecone of the rocket. This willmove the center of mass forward. Repeatsteps 2 and 3 and then proceed to the swingtest.

Swing Test:

1. Tape the string loop you tied around yourrocket in the previous set of instructions sothat it does not slip.

2. While standing in an open place, slowlybegin swinging your rocket in a circle. Ifthe rocket points in the direction you areswinging it, the rocket is stable. If not, addmore clay to the rocket nose cone orreplace the rocket fins with larger ones.Repeat the stability determinationinstructions and then repeat the swing test.

Center of Mass

Center of Pressure

Scale Diagram

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Project X-35 Score Sheet

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rockets. Rocket kits andengines can bepurchased from craftand hobby stores anddirectly from the manu-facturer. Obtain additionalinformation about modelrocketry by contacting the NationalAssociation of Rocketry, P.O. Box 177,Altoona, WI 54720.

• Contact NASA Spacelink for informationabout the history of rockets and NASA'sfamily of rockets under the heading, "SpaceExploration Before the Space Shuttle."

See the resource section at the end of this guide for details.

Additional Extensions

• Construct models of historical rockets. Refer to the reference listfor picture books on rockets to use as information on the appearanceof various rockets. Use scrap materials for the models such as:

• Mailing tubes • Cardboard • Tubes from paper rolls • Spools• Coffee creamer packages (that look like rocket engine nozzles)• Egg-shaped hosiery packages (for nose cones) • Tape• Styrofoam cones • Spheres • Cylinders • Glue

• Use rockets as a theme for artwork. Teachperspective and vanishing points by choosingunusual angles, such as a birds-eye viewfor picturing rocket launches.

• Research the reasons why somany different rockets have beenused for space exploration.

• Design the next generation ofspaceships.

• Compare rockets in sciencefiction with actual rockets.

• Follow up the rocketactivities in this guide withconstruction and launchof commercial model

DISCOVERY

USA

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Glossary

Action - A force (push or pull) acting on anobject. See Reaction.

Active Controls - Devices on a rocket that moveto control the rocket's direction in flight.

Attitude Control Rockets - Small rockets thatare used as active controls to change theattitude (direction) a rocket or spacecraft isfacing in outer space.

Canards - Small movable fins located towardsthe nose cone of a rocket.

Case - The body of a solid propellant rocket thatholds the propellant.

Center of Mass (CM) - The point in an objectabout which the object's mass is centered.

Center of Pressure (CP) - The point in an objectabout which the object's surface area iscentered.

Chamber - A cavity inside a rocket where propel-lants burn.

Combustion Chamber - See Chamber.Drag - Friction forces in the atmosphere that

"drag" on a rocket to slow its flight.Escape Velocity - The velocity an object must

reach to escape the pull of Earth's gravity.Extravehicular Activity (EVA) - Spacewalking.Fins - Arrow-like wings at the lower end of a

rocket that stabilize the rocket in flight.Fuel - The chemical that combines with an

oxidizer to burn and produce thrust.Gimbaled Nozzles - Tiltable rocket nozzles used

for active controls.Igniter - A device that ignites a rocket's

engine(s).Injectors - Showerhead-like devices that spray

fuel and oxidizer into the combustionchamber of a liquid propellant rocket.

Insulation - A coating that protects the case andnozzle of a rocket from intense heat.

Liquid Propellant - Rocket propellants in liquidform.

Mass - The amount of matter contained within anobject.

Mass Fraction (MF) - The mass of propellants ina rocket divided by the rocket's total mass.

Microgravity - An environment that imparts to anobject a net acceleration that is smallcompared with that produced by Earth atits surface.

Motion - Movement of an object in relation toits surroundings.

Movable Fins - Rocket fins that can move tostabilize a rocket's flight.

Nose Cone - The cone-shaped front end of arocket.

Nozzle - A bell-shaped opening at the lowerend of a rocket through which a streamof hot gases is directed.

Oxidizer - A chemical containing oxygencompounds that permits rocket fuel toburn both in the atmosphere and in thevacuum of space.

Passive Controls - Stationary devices, suchas fixed rocket fins, that stabilize arocket in flight.

Payload - The cargo (scientific instruments,satellites, spacecraft, etc.) carried by arocket.

Propellant - A mixture of fuel and oxidizer thatburns to produce rocket thrust.

Pumps - Machinery that moves liquid fuel andoxidizer to the combustion chamber ofa rocket.

Reaction - A movement in the oppositedirection from the imposition of anaction. See Action.

Rest - The absence of movement of an objectin relation to its surroundings.

Regenerative Cooling - Using the low tem-perature of a liquid fuel to cool a rocketnozzle.

Solid Propellant - Rocket fuel and oxidizer insolid form.

Stages - Two or more rockets stacked on topof each other in order to reach higheraltitudes or have a greater payloadcapacity.

Throat - The narrow opening of a rocketnozzle.

Unbalanced Force - A force that is not coun-tered by another force in the oppositedirection.

Vernier Rockets - Small rockets that use theirthrust to help direct a larger rocket inflight.

116Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

NASA Educational Materials

NASA publishes a variety of educational resourcessuitable for classroom use. The following resources,specifically relating to the topic of rocketry, areavailable from the NASA Teacher Resource CenterNetwork. Refer to the next pages for details on how toobtain these materials.

Liftoff to Learning Educational Video SeriesThat Relate to Rockets

Space BasicsLength: 20:55Recommended Level: Middle SchoolApplication: History, Physical ScienceSpace Basics explains space flight concepts such ashow we get into orbit and why we float when orbitingEarth. Includes a video resource guide.

Newton in SpaceLength: 12:37Recommended Level: Middle SchoolApplication: Physical ScienceNewton in Space demonstrates the difference betweenweight and mass and illustrates Isaac Newton's threelaws of motion in the microgravity environment ofEarth Orbit. Includes a video resource guide.

Other Videos

Videotapes are available about Mercury, Gemini,Apollo, and Space Shuttle projects and missions.Contact the Teacher Resource Center that serves yourregion for a list of available titles, or contact CORE(See page 109.).

Publications

McAleer, N. (1988), Space Shuttle - The RenewedPromise, National Aeronautics and SpaceAdministration, PAM-521, Washington, DC.

NASA (1991), Countdown! NASA Launch Vehiclesand Facilities, Information Summaries, NationalAeronautics and Space Administration, PMS-018-B,Kennedy Space Center, FL.

NASA (1991), A Decade On Board America's SpaceShuttle, National Aeronautics and SpaceAdministration, NP-150, Washington, DC.

NASA (1987), The Early Years: Mercury to Apollo-Soyuz, Information Summaries, NationalAeronautics and Space Administration, PMS-001-A,Kennedy Space Center, FL.

NASA (1991), Space Flight, The First 30 Years,National Aeronautics and Space Administration,NP-142, Washington, DC.

NASA (1992), Space Shuttle MissionSummary, The First Decade: 1981-1990,

Information Summaries, National Aeronautics andSpace Administration, PMS-038, Kennedy SpaceCenter, FL.

Roland, A. (1985), A Spacefaring People:Perspectives on Early Spaceflight, NASA Scientificand Technical Information Branch, NASA SP-4405,Washington, DC.

Lithographs

HqL-367 Space Shuttle Columbia Returns fromSpace.

HqL-368 Space Shuttle Columbia Lifts Off Into Space.

Suggested Reading

These books can be used by children and adults tolearn more about rockets. Older books on the listprovide valuable historical information rockets andinformation about rockets in science fiction. Newerbooks provide up-to-date information about rocketscurrently in use or being planned.

Asimov, I. (1988), Rockets, Probes, and Satellites,Gareth Stevens, Milwaukee.

Barrett, N. (1990), The Picture World of Rockets andSatellites, Franklin Watts Inc., New York.

Bolognese, D. (1982), Drawing Spaceships and OtherSpacecraft, Franklin Watts, Inc., New York.

Branley, F. (1987), Rockets and Satellites, Thomas Y.Crowell, New York.

Butterfield, M. (1994), Look Inside Cross-SectionsSpace, Dorling Kindersley, London.

Donnelly, J. (1989), Moonwalk, The First Trip to theMoon, Random House, New York.

English, J. (1995), Transportation, Automobiles toZeppelins, A Scholastic Kid's Encyclopedia,Scholastic Inc., New York.

Fischel, E. & Ganeri, A. (1988), How To DrawSpacecraft, EDC Publishing, Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Furniss, T. (1988), Space Rocket, Gloucester, New York.Gatland, K. (1976), Rockets and Space Travel, Silver

Burdett, Morristown, New Jersey.Gatland, K. & Jeffris, D. (1977), Star Travel: Transport

and Technology Into The 21st Century, UsbornPublishers, London.

Gurney, G. & Gurney, C. (1975), The Launch ofSputnik, October 4, 1957: The Space Age Begins,Franklin Watts, Inc., New York.

Malone, R. (1977), Rocketship: An Incredible VoyageThrough Science Fiction and Science Fact, Harper& Row, New York.

Maurer, R. (1995), Rocket! How a Toy Launched theSpace Age, Crown Publishers, Inc., New York.

Mullane, R. M. (1995), Liftoff, An Astronaut's Dream,

117Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

Silver Burdett Press, Parsippany, NJ.Neal, V., Lewis, C., & Winter, F. (1995), Smithsonian

Guides, Spaceflight, Macmillan, New York. (Adultlevel reference)

Parsons, A. (1992), What's Inside? Spacecraft,Dorling Kindersley,m Inc., New York.

Ordway, F. & Leibermann, R. (1992), Blueprint ForSpace, Science Fiction To Science Fact,Smithsonian Instutition Press, Washington DC.

Quackenbush, R. (1978), The Boy Who Dreamed ofRockets: How Robert Goddard Became The Fatherof the Space Age, Parents Magazine Press,

New York.Ride, S. & Okie, S. (1986), To Space & Back, Lee &

Shepard Books, New York.Shayler, D. (1994), Inside/Outside Space, Random

House, New York.Shorto, R. (1992), How To Fly The Space Shuttle,

John Muir Publications, Santa Fe, NM.Vogt, G. (1987), An Album of Modern Spaceships,

Franklin Watts, Inc., New York.Vogt, G. (1989), Space Ships, Franklin Watts, Inc.,

New York.Winter, F. (1990), Rockets into Space, Harvard

University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Adultlevel reference)

Commercial Software

Physics of Model RocketryFlight: Aerodynamics of Model RocketsIn Search of Space - Introduction to Model RocketryThe above programs are available for Apple II, Mac,

and IBM from Estes Industries, 1295 H. Street,Penrose, Colorado 81240

Electronic Resources

The following listing of Internet addresses will provideusers with links to educational materials throughout theWorld Wide Web (WWW) related to rocketry.

NASA ResourcesNASA SpaceLinkhttp://spacelink.nasa.gov

NASA Home Pagehttp://www.nasa.gov/

Space Shuttle Informationhttp://spaceflight.nasa.gov

118Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

NASA RESOURCES FOR EDUCATORS

The Central Operation of Resources forEducators (CORE) was established for thenational and international distribution ofNASA-produced educational materials inmultimedia format. Educators can obtain acatalog and an order form by one of thefollowing methods:

Mail:CORELorain County Joint Vocational School15181 Route 58 SouthOberlin, OH 44074-9799Phone: 440-775-1400Fax: 440-775-1460E-mail: [email protected]://core.nasa.gov

Educator Resource Center Network (ERCN)To make additional information available tothe education community, NASA has createdthe NASA Educator Resource Center (ERC)network. Educators may preview, copy, orreceive NASA materials at these sites.Phone calls are welcome if you are unable tovisit the ERC that serves your geographicarea. A list of the centers and the regionsthey serve includes the following:

AK, Northern CA, HI, ID, MT, NV, OR, UT,WA, WYNASA Educator Resource CenterNASA Ames Research CenterMail Stop 253-2Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000Phone: 650-604-3574http://amesnews.arc.nasa.gov/erc/erchome.html

IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WINASA Educator Resource CenterNASA Glenn Research CenterMail Stop 8-1

21000 Brookpark Road

Cleveland, OH 44135Phone: 216-433-2017http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/PAO/html/edteachr.htm

CT, DE, DC, ME, MD, MA, NH, NJ, NY, PA,RI, VTNASA Educator Resource LaboratoryNASA Goddard Space Flight CenterMail Code 130.3Greenbelt, MD 20771-0001Phone: 301-286-8570http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/vc/erc.htm

CO, KS, NE, NM, ND, OK, SD, TXSpace Center HoustonNASA Educator Resource Center forNASA Johnson Space Center1601 NASA Road OneHouston, TX 77058Phone: 281-244-2129http://www.spacecenter.org/educator_resource.html

FL, GA, PR, VINASA Educator Resource CenterNASA Kennedy Space CenterMail Code ERCKennedy Space Center, FL 32899Phone: 321-867-4090http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/educate/edu.htm

KY, NC, SC, VA, WVVirginia Air & Space CenterNASA Educator Resource Center forNASA Langley Research Center600 Settlers Landing RoadHampton, VA 23669-4033Phone: 757-727-0900 x757http://www.vasc.org/erc/

119Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

AL, AR, IA, LA, MO, TNU.S. Space and Rocket CenterNASA Educator Resource Center forNASA Marshall Space Flight CenterOne Tranquility BaseHuntsville, AL 35807Phone: 256-544-5812http://erc.msfc.nasa.gov

MSNASA Educator Resource CenterNASA Stennis Space CenterMail Stop 1200Stennis Space Center, MS 39529-6000Phone: 228-688-3338http://education.ssc.nasa.gov/erc/erc.htm

CANASA Educator Resource Center forNASA Jet Propulsion LaboratoryVillage at Indian Hill1460 East Holt Avenue, Suite 20Pomona, CA 91767Phone: 909-397-4420http://learn.jpl.nasa.gov/resources/resources_index.html

AZ and Southern CANASA Educator Resource CenterNASA Dryden Flight Research CenterP.O. Box 273 M/S 4839Edwards, CA 93523-0273Phone: 661-276-5009http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/trc/ERC/

Eastern Shores of VA and MDNASA Educator Resource Center forGSFC/Wallops Flight FacilityVisitor Center Building J-17Wallops Island, VA 23337Phone: 757-824-2298http://www.wff.nasa.gov/~WVC/ERC.htm

Regional Educator Resource Centers offermore educators access to NASA educationalmaterials. NASA has formed partnershipswith universities, museums, and other educa-tion institutions to serve as regional ERCs inmany states. A complete list of regionalERCs is available through CORE, or elec-tronically via NASA Spacelink at http://spacelink.nasa.gov/ercn

NASA’s Education Home Page serves asthe education portal for information regardingeducational programs and services offered byNASA for the American education commu-nity. This high-level directory of informationprovides specific details and points of contactfor all of NASA’s educational efforts, FieldCenter offices, and points of presence withineach state. Visit this resource athttp://education.nasa.gov

NASA Spacelink is one of NASA’s electronicresources specifically developed for theeducation community. Spacelink serves asan electronic library for NASA’s educationaland scientific resources, with hundreds ofsubject areas arranged in a manner familiarto educators. Using Spacelink Search, edu-cators and students can easily find informa-tion among NASA’s thousands of Internetresources. Special events, missions, andintriguing NASA Web sites are featured inSpacelink’s “Hot Topics” and “Cool Picks”areas. Spacelink may be accessed athttp://spacelink.nasa.gov

NASA Spacelink is the official home of elec-tronic versions of NASA’s educational prod-ucts. A complete listing of NASA educationalproducts can be found athttp://spacelink.nasa.gov/products

NASA Television (NTV) features SpaceStation and Shuttle mission coverage, live

120Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

special events, interactive educational liveshows, electronic field trips, aviation andspace news, and historical NASA footage.Programming has a 3-hour block—Video(News) File, NASA Gallery, and EducationFile—beginning at noon Eastern and re-peated four more times throughout the day.Live feeds preempt regularly scheduledprogramming.

Check the Internet for programs listings athttp://www.nasa.gov/ntvFor more information on NTV, contactNASA TVCode P-2NASA HeadquartersWashington, DC 20546-0001Phone: 202-358-3572

NTV Weekday Programming Schedules(Eastern Times)Video File NASA Gallery Education File

How to Access Information on NASA’sEducation Program, Materials, and Ser-vices (EP-2002-07-345-HQ) This brochureserves as a guide to accessing a variety ofNASA materials and services for educators.Copies are available through the ERC net-work or electronically via NASA Spacelink.

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121Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

NOTES

122Rockets: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology EG-2003-01-108-HQ

NOTES

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cator’s G

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merica’s goals in E

ducational Excellence, it is N

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ission to developsupplem

entary instructional materials and curricula in science, m

athematics, geography,

and technology. NA

SA

seeks to involve the educational comm

unity in the development

and improvem

ent of these materials. Your evaluation and suggestions are vital to

continually improving N

AS

Aeducational m

aterials.

Otherw

ise, please return the reply card by mail. T

hank you.

1.W

ith what grades did you use the guide?

Num

ber of teachers/faculty:

K–4

5–89–12

Com

munity C

ollege

College/U

niversity U

ndergraduateG

raduate

Num

ber of students:

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niversity U

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Num

ber of others:

Adm

inistrators/Staff

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Professional G

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General P

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2.a. W

hat is your home 5- or 9-digit Z

IPcode? __ __ __ __ __ —

__ __ __ __

b. What is your school’s 5- or 9-digit Z

IPcode? __ __ __ __ __ —

__ __ __ __

3.T

his is a valuable educator’s guide.

❏S

trongly Agree

❏A

gree❏

Neutral

❏D

isagree❏

Strongly D

isagree

4.I expect to apply w

hat I learned from this educator’s guide.

❏S

trongly Agree

❏A

gree❏

Neutral

❏D

isagree❏

Strongly D

isagree

5.W

hat kind of recomm

endation would you m

ake to someone w

ho asks about this

educator’s guide?

❏ E

xcellent❏

Good

❏A

verage❏

Poor

❏V

ery Poor

6.H

ow did you use this educator’s guide?

❏B

ackground Information

❏C

ritical Thinking Tasks

❏D

emonstrate N

AS

AM

aterials❏

Dem

onstration

❏G

roup Discussions

❏H

ands-On A

ctivities

❏Integration Into E

xisting Curricula

❏Interdisciplinary A

ctivity

❏Lecture

❏S

cience and Mathem

atics

❏Team

Activities

❏S

tandards Integration

❏O

ther: Please specify:

7.W

here did you learn about this educator’s guide?

❏N

AS

AE

ducator Resource C

enter

❏C

entral Operation of R

esources for Educators (C

OR

E)

❏Institution/S

chool System

❏F

ellow E

ducator

❏W

orkshop/Conference

❏O

ther: Please specify:

8.W

hat features of this educator’s guide did you find particularly helpful?

9.H

ow can w

e make this educator’s guide m

ore effective for you?

10.A

dditional comm

ents:

Today’s Date:

Please take a m

om

ent to

respo

nd

to th

e statemen

ts and

qu

estion

s belo

w.

You

can su

bm

it you

r respo

nse th

rou

gh

the In

ternet o

r by m

ail. Sen

d yo

ur

reply to

the fo

llow

ing

Intern

et add

ress:

http://ehb2.gsfc.nasa.gov/edcats/educator_guide

You

will th

en b

e asked to

enter yo

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ata at the ap

pro

priate p

rom

pt.

EG

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