Neato Project

gamemasterAS · Post by **gamemasterAS** » Thu May 31, 2007 4:21 pm

Well for Science we have to make a rocket that is made out of a bottle with a standard top and they are gonna use air pressure and water to launch them. I want mine to actually go far so I was wondering what could I do to make it go far, my only idea is a 2 litter with foam fins on it.

Kurt_ · Post by **Kurt_** » Thu May 31, 2007 4:36 pm

Make it more aerodynamic.

Most people add a cone to the top (or bottom of the bottle) and some fins to the bottom. Do some research on the best fins to use, and the optimal angle for a rocket's top.

siegeshot · Post by **siegeshot** » Thu May 31, 2007 7:13 pm

It'll need a little weight too, cuz it'll want to spin (hence the fins) But not too much weight either. Doing that is fun though! But I want to do a good ole fassioned egg drop again some time. Mwahaha. Wow junior high was weird......

I think one of the weirdest thing I did besides the egg drop in 7th grade, was in 9th grade me and a partner built a bridge, and had to see how much pressure it could withstand, only using these chopstick things, glue and an x-acto knife. Ours ranked really close to the top.

Weird stuff!

gamemasterAS · Post by **gamemasterAS** » Thu May 31, 2007 8:14 pm

siegeshot wrote:It'll need a little weight too, cuz it'll want to spin (hence the fins) But not too much weight either. Doing that is fun though! But I want to do a good ole fassioned egg drop again some time. Mwahaha. Wow junior high was weird......

I think one of the weirdest thing I did besides the egg drop in 7th grade, was in 9th grade me and a partner built a bridge, and had to see how much pressure it could withstand, only using these chopstick things, glue and an x-acto knife. Ours ranked really close to the top. Weird stuff!

I am in the smarter class where that kind of stuff is all we do. We made these bridges out of like straws, paper, rubber bands, tape etc. We ended up putting almost 500 pennies on it ( ran out ), we ended up putting binders on it, the school all time record, the old was was a few hundred pennies. The last one I made before that one broke at 100 or so, so I felt specials that this one worked so well.

Post by **Triton** » Thu May 31, 2007 8:39 pm

lol in a similar vein in my 5th grade science class we made these little airplane thingies that ran on fishing line (Popsicle sticks straws staples tape paper we wanted and propeller driven by rubber bands, very neat) first we made simple one motor ones out of 2 Popsicle sticks together with the prop peice at one end and the clip peice for the back of the rubber band at the other with 2 straw halves stapled between and hole punched with a straw going through the holes to hang from the fishing line strung between chairs. pretty simple, then we got to do whatever we wanted to make em faster, more rubber bands more propellers different designs etc and my groups was the fastest almost on accident lol, it was basically what we build first but doubled to two propellers 2 whole straws punched in the middle with only one stick on each side cause there werent extras but this made it really light, it was the fastest one by far, it hit the other chair so hard it started cracking the Popsicle sticks and moving the chair lol

the good ole days eh

Metallica Man X · Post by **Metallica Man X** » Thu May 31, 2007 9:33 pm

Awwww man....I remember doing that when I was in school....Somehow, mine managed to do some damage!

...yeah....I gave it a pointed nose, and swing wings!!!
The swing system was fairly complicated, and the wings were really flimsy (to save weight). But oooh was it cool to see those things pop out, and watch the rocket glide a long ways, into somebodies house...being destroyed on impact (the delicate wings and wing popper-outer)

I'm pretty sure the total glide distance was at least 1000 ft! Well...that might be a big much, but rest assured, it traved a LONG distance before crashing!

Ooh, that was some fun stuff.

After the success of that rocket...I spent the remaindar of the day coming up with various warhead options

Post by **Triton** » Thu May 31, 2007 9:54 pm

most fun thing we ever did in a class was definatly building trebuchets, i still have mine, 7 foot tall mass of steel that with a little fixin could throw a 2 liter bottle probably better than 500 feet

siegeshot · Post by **siegeshot** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 9:32 am

I've heard about people building trebuchets but I've never actually seen one in person. Of course this is going to remind me of the famous story of the guy that launched his fiance in a catapult, and then of course she left him when she missed the net thingy. :O

This thread makes me want to build a little mini-bridge hehe.

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 11:57 am

I did these back in cub scouts, so let the masta' school you peeps.

Cut the top off another bottle (right where it starts to curve) and glue it on the top of your rocket/bottom of the other bottle. Make sure its water tight, and put some water in for the nose weight. For fins, I made mine space shuttle-like.
Are you guys going to hold the bottles on the launcher, or be lame and just put them on and watch them go 10 feet? If you hold it, hold on to the base as tight as you can, and don't let go. Let the pressure just build so high that it rips out of your grasp. It hurts, but I've found its the most effective way to launch. Make sure its at about a 45 degree angle, too.

Sir Games-A-Lot · Post by **Sir Games-A-Lot** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 1:10 pm

This reminds me of that episode of mythbusters where they used a water cooler bottle instead of a 2l soda bottle and the camera guy actually lost sight of it when they launched it. Of course using water cooler bottles is not a very good idea since they shortly discovered that they actually aren't very strong and burst open violently if you put to even a little to much air in them.

NiN^_^NiN · Post by **NiN^_^NiN** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 6:23 pm

1/3 water 2/3 air is the best ratio for power (just checked the mythbusters video)

gamemasterAS · Post by **gamemasterAS** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 7:56 pm

NiN^_^NiN wrote:1/3 water 2/3 air is the best ratio for power (just checked the mythbusters video)

thanks, by the way does anyone have any ideas for the fins ?

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 10:26 pm

gamemasterAS wrote:
NiN^_^NiN wrote:1/3 water 2/3 air is the best ratio for power (just checked the mythbusters video)
thanks, by the way does anyone have any ideas for the fins ?

I used cardboard (thick stuff, not cereal box) waterproofed with packaging tape.

bipolar kid 3000 · Post by **bipolar kid 3000** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 11:37 pm

a little ways bak in sckool in tech ed I made this little thing where when you take an am radio andtune it tune it to the nothing / squeely station and you talk into it itcomes out the am radio

I finishishined befor everyone in the class, started late, never mesed up, had never had experience and in 6th grat to

do you think I'd do okay relocating a snes cart slot?