During this week, Sophie and I solely focused on the building of our rocket. Both of us wanted to finish it relatively soon to give us more time to work on other chemistry projects we want to do. By the end of this week, we ended up finishing the actual body of our mini rocket. Next week we plan on making the machine to help us make the rocket motors, along as making the actual motors. Below is the process of what we did for the rocket each day for the past week.
Day 1:
Today we worked on finalizing the design we wanted to follow through with for our rocket. We ended up deciding on a tapered style rocket. This means that the bottom portion of the rocket is cut along at an angle to the middle as well as the top half being cut at an angle to make the tip. We also decided on how we would share the work to make it equal amounts. Sophie and I figured that we would both switch off on what we're doing so that both of us can be parts of the entire process, but still both work on it equally.
Day 2:
Today we started cutting out the pieces for the sides of our rockets. We started off by making the measurements for size of each side of the rocket. They started out as just tall rectangles because we still needed to figure out the measurements. We then used a ruler to measure where the tip of the rocket should be as well as measuring where we want to end the tapered part of it. The portion where we stopped the taper ended up being at 7 inches out of the 12 inches the entire rocket is.
Day 3:
Today we started cutting the design out of the four pieces for the first period. We did this by cutting along a ruler from the points we measured for the tips and where to stop tapering. After they were all cut out, we started the gluing process for the edges. We started by gluing the corners together, then gradually kept gluing up until the spot where we stopped tapering. By the end of class, we only had enough time to glue the bottom half.
Day 4:
Today we continued the gluing of our rocket. We started with putting all the points of the four sides together, then gluing adding a drop of glue to them. After that, we ran super glue down each side of the rocket to make sure all the sides stay together. When we finished with that, we went outside to sand down the edges. Sophie and I both wanted our rocket have rounded edges since we thought it looked cooler that way. We both decided to wear those medical masks you use when you have cough to help keep pieces of sawdust out from our sinuses. Both of us kept switching who was sanding so both of us could work equal amounts. When we finished sanding, Andrew helped Sophie and I add a basket to the inside of the rocket. We used four staples to create a net like structure in it. The reason we did this is because when we launch the rocket with the motor in it, the motor will fly up through the body, which will cause the rocket to catch on fire. We had to use staples to create the basket because we tapered the rocket body, which means we can't slide and stick a small square of balsa wood to stop the rocket since the bottom starts skinny, then becomes wider.
Day 5:
Today we finished up sanding down the rocket's edges. We then started drafting ideas for the fins of the rocket. We both agreed that we wanted to make it look more cartoon like since the tapered look is really popular in cartoons. Once we agreed on the design, we started outlining the fins in the balsa wood. We then started cutting out the fins. About halfway through, Sophie took some of the fins outside and started sanding them down a little so they all matched in size. I continued cutting the other fins out. When we finished cutting and sanding all the fins, we started gluing them to the rocket. By the end of the period, we had finished out rocket.
Throughout this past week it's been really interesting to learn how to actually build a rocket. I've grown up launching mini motorized rockets with my family and friends, but have never learned how to actually build one. I've always been curious from these experiences about how someone could make one. I thought it was really fun to learn the process. I also really liked that we could all go at our own pace and make our rockets different from everyone else. It gave Sophie and I the chance to really make everything as accurate as we wanted to and allowed us to take as much time as we need.
I am excited to start learning about how the rockets actually work and some of the science about them because last week Andrew told us that he would teach us some of the science behind the rockets we made. It's always been something I've been curious about since I've always had fun with my family launching little rockets. I'm also really looking forward to learning about and making the motors for the rockets. Before Andrew fully explained the project, I had thought the motors were going to actually be extremely technical, but found out they're are actually just tin foil and rocket fuel powder.
Below are the pictures Sophie and I took of the process we did to build and finish the full body of our rocket.
Day 1:
Today we worked on finalizing the design we wanted to follow through with for our rocket. We ended up deciding on a tapered style rocket. This means that the bottom portion of the rocket is cut along at an angle to the middle as well as the top half being cut at an angle to make the tip. We also decided on how we would share the work to make it equal amounts. Sophie and I figured that we would both switch off on what we're doing so that both of us can be parts of the entire process, but still both work on it equally.
Day 2:
Today we started cutting out the pieces for the sides of our rockets. We started off by making the measurements for size of each side of the rocket. They started out as just tall rectangles because we still needed to figure out the measurements. We then used a ruler to measure where the tip of the rocket should be as well as measuring where we want to end the tapered part of it. The portion where we stopped the taper ended up being at 7 inches out of the 12 inches the entire rocket is.
Day 3:
Today we started cutting the design out of the four pieces for the first period. We did this by cutting along a ruler from the points we measured for the tips and where to stop tapering. After they were all cut out, we started the gluing process for the edges. We started by gluing the corners together, then gradually kept gluing up until the spot where we stopped tapering. By the end of class, we only had enough time to glue the bottom half.
Day 4:
Today we continued the gluing of our rocket. We started with putting all the points of the four sides together, then gluing adding a drop of glue to them. After that, we ran super glue down each side of the rocket to make sure all the sides stay together. When we finished with that, we went outside to sand down the edges. Sophie and I both wanted our rocket have rounded edges since we thought it looked cooler that way. We both decided to wear those medical masks you use when you have cough to help keep pieces of sawdust out from our sinuses. Both of us kept switching who was sanding so both of us could work equal amounts. When we finished sanding, Andrew helped Sophie and I add a basket to the inside of the rocket. We used four staples to create a net like structure in it. The reason we did this is because when we launch the rocket with the motor in it, the motor will fly up through the body, which will cause the rocket to catch on fire. We had to use staples to create the basket because we tapered the rocket body, which means we can't slide and stick a small square of balsa wood to stop the rocket since the bottom starts skinny, then becomes wider.
Day 5:
Today we finished up sanding down the rocket's edges. We then started drafting ideas for the fins of the rocket. We both agreed that we wanted to make it look more cartoon like since the tapered look is really popular in cartoons. Once we agreed on the design, we started outlining the fins in the balsa wood. We then started cutting out the fins. About halfway through, Sophie took some of the fins outside and started sanding them down a little so they all matched in size. I continued cutting the other fins out. When we finished cutting and sanding all the fins, we started gluing them to the rocket. By the end of the period, we had finished out rocket.
Throughout this past week it's been really interesting to learn how to actually build a rocket. I've grown up launching mini motorized rockets with my family and friends, but have never learned how to actually build one. I've always been curious from these experiences about how someone could make one. I thought it was really fun to learn the process. I also really liked that we could all go at our own pace and make our rockets different from everyone else. It gave Sophie and I the chance to really make everything as accurate as we wanted to and allowed us to take as much time as we need.
I am excited to start learning about how the rockets actually work and some of the science about them because last week Andrew told us that he would teach us some of the science behind the rockets we made. It's always been something I've been curious about since I've always had fun with my family launching little rockets. I'm also really looking forward to learning about and making the motors for the rockets. Before Andrew fully explained the project, I had thought the motors were going to actually be extremely technical, but found out they're are actually just tin foil and rocket fuel powder.
Below are the pictures Sophie and I took of the process we did to build and finish the full body of our rocket.