Cierra Lowell
Ray Chang
Amber Garrett
Danielle Case
BOTTLE ROCKET LAB REPORT - 85 POINTS TOTAL
Requirements: 2L bottle, 40 psi, and 700 mL of water
Design: It is up to you on how to design your rocket. Any tape/glue or paper products are valid.
No pre-made kits.
Before launch:
● Mass of our empty rocket: 0.378 kg
○ Add water
● Mass of our rocket with 700 mL of water: 1.08 kg
(2 pts) PURPOSE:
To explore Newton’s Three Laws of Motions and how they apply to an object at free-fall, as well
as how they apply as they propel an object into the air. (i.e. action reaction, gravity, air
resistance)
(3 pts) INTRODUCTION: (What research have you done and information did you need to have
before launching your rocket?)
[Link]
Before launching our rocket, we needed to know Newton’s Three Laws to create the best rocket
in regards to air resistance, aerodynamics, and the gravity acting on the rocket. While designing
our rocket, we knew the top needed to have more weight, so the bottom of the rocket wouldn’t
drag it down and air resistance wouldn’t destabilize the angle of attack. As we researched, we
discovered that in order to have a more aerodynamic rocket, you have to decrease the amount
of drag. The cone is the first point of contact that meets the air during flight, so with a narrow
point, it breaks the air barrier as the air rolls to the side. The body of the rocket must be smooth
as well, so the stable air flow wouldn’t be further crooked by a bumpy surface. Most importantly,
we took into account that the most stable airflow is further outside the rocket, so we designed
longer fins to catch that airflow. Another important factor was the Center of Gravity and Center
of Pressure. They dictate how wind has an effect on its flightpath. As a rule of thumb, the two
should be the rocket’s diameter apart from each other, and near the center of the rocket, with
the center of gravity in front of the center of pressure. To do this, we moved the center of gravity
forward with ballast in the cone and the center of pressure backwards with larger fins. We were
worried about a lack of force propelling the rocket upward, however, since the weight can drag
the rocket down faster with the force of gravity - but it’s a risk worth taking, given its benefits.
(1 pts) HYPOTHESIS:
Our rocket will go 10 meters high.
Cierra Lowell
Ray Chang
Amber Garrett
Danielle Case
(5 pts) MATERIALS: (Include a picture of your rocket with what materials it is made out of.)
● Plastic 2L Dr. Pepper bottle
● Stock paper (for the cone and fins)
● Duct tape (wrapped around everything)
● Sand (in the cone for weight)
(3 pts) DATA AND ANALYSIS:
Going Up:
Dynamics
(3 pts) 1. Draw a FBD of your rocket on the way up.
(3 pts) 2. Write a net force equation.
FNet= FApp - FGrav-Fair = ma
(2 pts) 3. Assuming air resistance is 0 N and your applied thrust force is 151.3 N, calculate
the net force of your rocket. Hint: Use your average mass [(empty rocket + rocket with
water)/2].
(1.08+.378)/2 = 0.73kg (average mass)
Fgrav= 0.73 * 9.81= 7.16 N
FNet = 151.3 N - 7.16 N = 144.14 N
(0.378 +
(2 pts) 4. Then calculate your upward acceleration for your rocket.
Acceleration = FNet ÷ mass, 1.08kg = weight of rocket w/ water
Cierra Lowell
Ray Chang
Amber Garrett
Danielle Case
7.16/1.08
A = 6.62 m/s/s
(4 pts) 5. Describe the motion of your rocket in terms of Newton’s 1st and 3rd laws.
In the terms of Newton’s 1st Law, the law of inertia, the rocket will stay at rest unless acted upon
an unbalanced force. Once the bottle is filled and there is enough pressure to shoot the rocket
into the air, the rocket stays in the same direction with the same speed until an unbalanced
force acts upon it. Air resistance and the force of gravity are unbalanced forces that act upon
the rocket, and since they occur immediately, the speed begins dropping. However, since the
forces remain unbalanced, the rocket will still continue upwards, since the applied force is still
greater. Before its fall, there’s a lull where the applied force is the same as the gravity going
against it, and our rocket flew sideways at the same height, since it was launched at an angle.
In Newton’s 3rd Law, it is stated that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
The action that will occur in our launch are the enclosed air particles will push the rocket/plastic
wall out and upwards, with the reaction of the plastic bottle pushing the enclosed air particles
inwards. Once the cork is released, all the air particles push back towards the water, which
launches out at high speeds. That “action” of the water going out the rocket causes a “reaction”
of the rocket moving the opposite direction - up.
Going Down:
Kinematics
(1 pts) 1. Measure the time it takes your rocket to get from the top to the ground.
Time = 4 sec.
(Whole flight was 6.5 sec)
(4 pts) 2. Draw a diagram of your rocket at the top of its trajectory. Label vf, v0, and y.
Cierra Lowell
Ray Chang
Amber Garrett
Danielle Case
(4 pts) 3. Use this information and your knowledge of the BIG THREE kinematic equations to
calculate the initial velocity and vertical distance for your rocket.
Initial velocity = 0 m/s (as the rocket was on the ground and not in motion)
Vertical distance = 122.5 m
D = vi * t + ½ * a * t2
D = 0 * 5s + ½ * 9.8m/s2 * 25s2
D = 122.5 m
(4 pts) 4. Graph your rocket’s motion. Distance vs. Time graph. (Use one of the kinematic
equations to calculate where your rocket would be at different times, remember not to go past
your maximum height)
(4 pts) 5. Use the distance vs. time graph to calculate and create a velocity vs. time and an
acceleration vs. time graph as well for your rocket’s motion.
Cierra Lowell
Ray Chang
Amber Garrett
Danielle Case
Dynamics
(3 pts) 6. Draw the FBD of your rocket on the way down.
(3 pts) 7. Write a net force equation.
FNet = F grav-F air
(2 pts) 8. Assuming no air resistance, calculate the net force of your rocket.
FNet = F grav = (m)(g) ---- (0.378kg)(9.8) = 3.7 N
9. Gather the “going down” net force and the empty rocket mass for each group’s
Rocket.
(4 pts) 10. Graph the mass vs. net force for all of the groups.
Cierra Lowell
Ray Chang
Amber Garrett
Danielle Case
(2 pts) 11. What is the slope of the graph?
The slope is inconsistent at about 1 (net force/mass)
(2 pts) 12. Does this make sense? Explain.
Cierra Lowell
Ray Chang
Amber Garrett
Danielle Case
No, because the velocity in this graph would demonstrate speed, and this is very inaccurate for
the groups that our shown. However, there is a trent in the graph. The greater the mass, the
more Net force, which does make sense. In order for an object to accelerate, if it has more
mass, more net force is required in order to move it.
Going Up Rethink
(5 pts) 13. Get the heights from all of the groups in your class period and make a bar graph of
each group’s height data.
(6 pts) 14. Discuss the results of the graph in terms of kinematics: time and initial velocity
Depending on the group, the time was dependent upon how rapidly the rocket would accelerate.
Most groups didn’t have a high initial velocity, so their rocket wasn’t able to go that high, and
resulted in a short amount of time in the air.
(6 pts) 15. Discuss the results of the group graph you made previously in terms of dynamics:
mass, force and acceleration.
The higher the acceleration, the more force was required to propel the rocket into the air. The
larger the rocket, the more force required to get it off the ground. In terms of acceleration, the
more net force acting on an object, the greater the acceleration will be.
(10 pts) CONCLUSION:
Discuss future changes you would make to your rocket and why? Directly relate your choices
with the variables related to kinematics and dynamics.
Our group was pleased with our results, but we would like to change the length of our
rocket. If possible, we would like to make our rocket longer, with more sturdy/light wings. By
decreasing the mass of the wings would create a more aerodynamic rocket. When the air rolls
Cierra Lowell
Ray Chang
Amber Garrett
Danielle Case
off the side of the rocket, if it hits the wings and the wings fall off, then the rocket will be
directioned differently and won’t get as high. Dynamically, our rocket had enough weight in the
cone to even with the body of the rocket. In any case, more weight would’ve thrown the balance
off, and would be difficult to get if off the ground. Overall, we were pleased with our rocket
design. During our lab, a source of error could be over-extending the time limit, as that was the
only way to determine how high our rocket went. If the time was wrong, then the height would
be wrong.