Model Rocket Lab Report

Rachel Anders
AMES
Mr. Hendricks, A2
Dec. 11, 2015

Abstract
The model rocket lab is an experiment to predict the maximum height of a rocket launch
using mathematical models and the properties of kinematics and dynamics. Three rockets and
three different engines were used and their thrust and drag forces determined. The launch itself
was not an ideal situation. Most of the rockets paths were curved, and only the data from two
launches was very reliable. Of that data, the predicted heights were a bit off. The predicted height
for the Red/Yellow rocket with an A8 engine was 63 m but the actual height was only 48 m. The
predicted height for the Red/Black rocket with a C6 engine was 67 m but the actual height was
78 m. The launches could have been skewed for various reasons, including a bent fin on the
rocket and wind conditions during launch day.
Introduction
The purpose of the lab is to predict the height of three different rockets with three
different engines before they were launched. The model rocket effectively demonstrates both
kinematics (the study of motion) and dynamics (the study of forces that cause motion). For
example, the rockets impulse and momentum, as well as the drag force and drag coefficient,
needed to be calculated. Momentum can be defined as mass in motion and is directly related to
impulse, which is a change in momentum. The equation for momentum (p) is
p = mass * velocity
From this equation, the impulse/momentum theorem is derived using Newtons 2nd law:
F = m*a
v
F=m*(
)
t
Ft = mv
Ft = m(vf - vi)
Ft = mvf - mvi
Ft = pf - pi

(if ti = 0 then t = t)

Ft = p
In other words, impulse is equal to the change in momentum, or force * time.
The impulse/momentum theorem was critical for determining how the rocket engines
worked. The drag coefficient, which determines the force of air resistance, also had to be
calculated as a force working against the rockets thrust. Once all the rockets forces were
determined, the maximum height could be found. However, the math is not so simple: the
rockets thrust is constantly changing, so the height could not be found analytically. Therefore, a
numerical iteration was used; the graph of the rockets path was broken up into small time

intervals (0.1) and an approximation of the area under the curve was made. After adding up all
the approximations, a fairly accurate estimate of maximum height is found.
Engine Thrust Analysis
The first step in the model rocket lab is to determine the type of engine the rocket is
using. Rocket engines do not burn at a constant force. More force is exerted at the beginning of a
rocket launch, then a constant force is held, then it peters out at the end. Rocket engines are
categorized by impulse and average force.
Impulse
A = 2.5
B=5
C = 10
D = 20

Average Force
4N
6N
8N

For example, a B-6 engine would have an impulse

of 5 Newton-seconds and an average force of
6 Newtons.

To find the impulse of the rocket and determine what engine it was, a graph of Force vs.
Time was created, and the area under the curve represented the impulse.
The rocket was put on a track with a digital force gauge attached to it. When the rocket
ignited, it would stay in place on the track but push on the force gauge. The force gauge was
connected to the CBL on the calculator (APPS - Datamate). The gauge was zeroed, and the
trigger set to decreasing because the force gauge reads a push force as negative. The time
intervals were set to record the force every 0.1 sec.

To light the rocket, copper wires, alligator clamps, and phosphorous wire were used to
send a spark to the engine. The rocket stayed in place on the track but exerted a push force on the
force gauge. The calculator recorded the force and created a stat-plot graph of the data:

To find the area under the

curve, find the sum of the areas of all
the rectangles on the graph, where
the height is the Force at that given
time and the width is 0.1 (which is
the time interval). To do this another
List in the calculator was made and
defined as (Force List * 0.1). These
values were all summed to find a total impulse of 8.532.
The average force could now be found with the equation Impulse = (Force*Time). Taking
out the couple tenths of a second at the beginning when the engine hadnt yet started, the total
time is 2.6 seconds. Thus:
8.532 = (F * 2.6)
Average Force = 3.28
Impulse = 8.532
After rounding the values up, the rocket engine appears to be a C-4 engine. However, the actual
engine used was a C-6 engine. As it turns out, the reading on the force gauge had been a bit
lower than the actual force used, explaining why the numbers did not match with a C-6 engine.

Here are the actual Force vs. Time graphs of all 3 engines:
Drag Force (Air Resistance)
A major part of the rocket lab is accounting for air resistance. Because the rocket moves
so quickly, air resistance cannot be ignored. Mass doesnt matter when it comes to air resistance,

only the size and shape of the object. Physicists have found the equation for drag force on a fastmoving object as:

Fd= kdv2
To find the rockets drag coefficient, the rocket was put into the wind tunnel. The rocket
was hung from a string connected to a protractor, so the angle could be measured. The wind went
through a honeycomb structure before hitting the rocket; this was to ensure that the airflow was
perfectly straight.

The first step is to calculate the force of the wind, Fd. A free-body diagram shows the forces
acting upon the rocket in the wind tunnel, after separating the tension force into its vertical and
horizontal components.

Using Newtons 2nd Law, two equations are found that relate the horizontal and vertical forces.
Tsin = Fd
Tcos = mg
After substitution, the equation becomes:
T=(

mg
)
cos

mg

Fd= ( cos ) * sin

Fd =

mgtan
The mass of the rocket was measured to be 61 grams (.061 kg). The angle of the string in the
wind tunnel was measured at = 30.
Fd= (.061 * 9.8) * tan30
Fd= 0.345 N
Now that the drag force is found, and knowing that the winds velocity in the tunnel is 32
m/s, the rockets drag coefficient is simply a matter of solving an equation:

Fd = kd* v2
kd = Fd / v2
0.345
3 22
kd of Red/Yellow rocket = 3.4 x 10-4

kd =

Finding the other two rockets drag coefficients proved to be more difficult. Because
neither the white nor the Red/Black rocket would fit in the wind tunnel, their drag coefficients
had to be estimated. From the wind tunnel, the drag coefficient of a ping pong ball (which is
about as wide as the bigger rockets) was found to be 5 x 10-4. So the drag coefficients of the other
two rockets were simply estimated to be somewhere in between 3.4 x 10-4 and 5 x 10-4, say 4 x
10-4. This estimation would prove to be a possible error in our final results.
Numerical Model
Now that the engines impulse and momentum are determined and the rockets drag
coefficients found, the maximum height could be predicted. Because the thrust force of the
rocket is constantly changing, its difficult to find the maximum height analytically.

Therefore, a numerical iteration was used, where the

graph of the rocket launch is broken into tiny time intervals
(in our case, 0.1 sec) and the area under the curve is found.

An Excel spreadsheet was made with a series of

equations that would do determine the rockets maximum
height. Understanding the spreadsheet is a matter of
understanding the physics behind the math. First, a free-body diagram was made to find the net
force acting on the rocket:

F = Fthrust - Fdrag - mg

The thrust force for every 0.1 second was provided to us as a

table of values by the rocket engines manufacturer. The average thrust
force was calculated from (Thr1 + Thr2 / 2). The force of gravity is
simply the (mass of rocket * 9.8) and the Drag Force is (kd * v2 ) where
kd is the drag coefficient and v2 is the initial velocity.
For the first 0.1 seconds, for example, the average net force for
the Red/Yellow Rocket with a C6 Engine (.074 g) and a kd of 3 x 10-4
was 2.27 Newtons:
F = 3N - (0.0003 * 02) - (0.074 * 9.8)
F = 2.27 N

From this we can find the average net impulse and final velocity:
Impulse = Ft
Impulse = 2.27 * 0.1
Impulse = 0.227 N sec
Then, find the average velocity from the initial and final velocities and solve for final
height using distance equations. For the first 0.1 seconds, the rocket traveled .153 m high.
Impulse = mvf - mvi
D = rt
0.227 = (.074)vf - (.074)(0)
D = 1.53 m/s * 0.1 s
vf = 3.07 m/s
Height = .153 m
vaverage= 1.53 m/s
Doing the same process of equations for every time interval of the launch, we eventually
found the maximum height. For this example, we found a maximum height of 262 meters.
It was very important that we took air resistance into account as we solved the equations.
When you assume there is no air resistance and change the drag coefficient to 0, the maximum
height becomes wildly inaccurate: the spreadsheet told us a maximum height of over 900 meters.
Because the rocket travels so fast, air resistance becomes a critical part.
As long as the time interval was kept short enough, the approximation for final height
was good enough. An important condition we didnt take into account, however, is that the mass
of the rocket is continuously changing as it ascends and burns fuel. Accounting for the change in
mass would require a lot more math though, and our approximation for final height is still fairly
accurate.
Then an Excel spreadsheet was used to find the maximum heights of the three different
rockets with three different engines. The column Final Height shows the predicted height for
that time. For example, here is the spreadsheet of the Red/Yellow rocket with an A8 Engine:
Mass: 0.054 kg

Drag Coefficient: 0.0003

Average
Thrust

Drag Force
(using vi)

Average
Net Force

Average
Net Impulse

Initial
Velocity

Final
Average
Velocity
Velocity
(vi+FtDt/m
)
(last row's vf)
(vi + vf)/2

Initial
Height

Final
Height

Final
Time

(Thr1+Thr2)/2

(Fd = kd*v2)

(Thravg- mg - Fd)

( F*Dt )

2.50

0.00

1.97

0.20

0.00

3.65

1.82

0.00

0.18

0.1

7.00

0.00

6.47

0.65

3.65

15.63

9.64

0.18

1.15

0.2

6.00

0.07

5.40

0.54

15.63

25.62

20.62

1.15

3.21

0.3

2.75

0.20

2.02

0.20

25.62

29.37

27.49

3.21

5.96

0.4

2.35

0.26

1.56

0.16

29.37

32.26

30.81

5.96

9.04

0.5

(last row's hf) (hi+vavg*Dt)

2.20

0.31

1.36

0.14

32.26

34.78

33.52

9.04

12.39

0.6

1.10

0.36

0.21

0.02

34.78

35.16

34.97

12.39

15.89

0.7

0.00

0.37

-0.90

-0.09

35.16

33.50

34.33

15.89

19.32

0.8

0.00

0.34

-0.87

-0.09

33.50

31.89

32.69

19.32

22.59

0.9

0.00

0.31

-0.83

-0.08

31.89

30.35

31.12

22.59

25.70

0.00

0.28

-0.81

-0.08

30.35

28.86

29.60

25.70

28.66

1.1

0.00

0.25

-0.78

-0.08

28.86

27.41

28.13

28.66

31.48

1.2

0.00

0.23

-0.75

-0.08

27.41

26.02

26.71

31.48

34.15

1.3

0.00

0.20

-0.73

-0.07

26.02

24.66

25.34

34.15

36.68

1.4

0.00

0.18

-0.71

-0.07

24.66

23.34

24.00

36.68

39.08

1.5

0.00

0.16

-0.69

-0.07

23.34

22.06

22.70

39.08

41.35

1.6

0.00

0.15

-0.68

-0.07

22.06

20.81

21.43

41.35

43.49

1.7

0.00

0.13

-0.66

-0.07

20.81

19.59

20.20

43.49

45.51

1.8

0.00

0.12

-0.64

-0.06

19.59

18.39

18.99

45.51

47.41

1.9

0.00

0.10

-0.63

-0.06

18.39

17.23

17.81

47.41

49.19

0.00

0.09

-0.62

-0.06

17.23

16.08

16.65

49.19

50.86

2.1

0.00

0.08

-0.61

-0.06

16.08

14.96

15.52

50.86

52.41

2.2

0.00

0.07

-0.60

-0.06

14.96

13.85

14.41

52.41

53.85

2.3

0.00

0.06

-0.59

-0.06

13.85

12.77

13.31

53.85

55.18

2.4

0.00

0.05

-0.58

-0.06

12.77

11.70

12.23

55.18

56.41

2.5

0.00

0.04

-0.57

-0.06

11.70

10.64

11.17

56.41

57.52

2.6

0.00

0.03

-0.56

-0.06

10.64

9.60

10.12

57.52

58.54

2.7

0.00

0.03

-0.56

-0.06

9.60

8.57

9.08

58.54

59.44

2.8

0.00

0.02

-0.55

-0.06

8.57

7.55

8.06

59.44

60.25

2.9

0.00

0.02

-0.55

-0.05

7.55

6.53

7.04

60.25

60.95

0.00

0.01

-0.54

-0.05

6.53

5.53

6.03

60.95

61.56

3.1

0.00

0.01

-0.54

-0.05

5.53

4.53

5.03

61.56

62.06

3.2

0.00

0.01

-0.54

-0.05

4.53

3.54

4.04

62.06

62.46

3.3

0.00

0.00

-0.53

-0.05

3.54

2.56

3.05

62.46

62.77

3.4

0.00

0.00

-0.53

-0.05

2.56

1.57

2.06

62.77

62.98

3.5

0.00

0.00

-0.53

-0.05

1.57

0.59

1.08

62.98

63.08

3.6

0.00

0.00

-0.53

-0.05

0.59

-0.39

0.10

63.08

63.09

3.7

0.00

0.00

-0.53

-0.05

-0.39

-1.37

-0.88

63.09

63.01

3.8

0.00

0.00

-0.53

-0.05

-1.37

-2.35

-1.86

63.01

62.82

3.9

0.00

0.00

-0.53

-0.05

-2.35

-3.33

-2.84

62.82

62.53

0.00

0.00

-0.53

-0.05

-3.33

-4.32

-3.83

62.53

62.15

4.1

0.00

0.01

-0.53

-0.05

-4.32

-5.31

-4.82

62.15

61.67

4.2

0.00

0.01

-0.54

-0.05

-5.31

-6.31

-5.81

61.67

61.09

4.3

0.00

0.01

-0.54

-0.05

-6.31

-7.31

-6.81

61.09

60.41

4.4

0.00

0.02

-0.55

-0.05

-7.31

-8.32

-7.81

60.41

59.63

4.5

0.00

0.02

-0.55

-0.05

-8.32

-9.34

-8.83

59.63

58.74

4.6

0.00

0.03

-0.56

-0.06

-9.34

-10.37

-9.85

58.74

57.76

4.7

Notice that after the rocket reaches maximum height (63.09 meters), the rest of the table
is inaccurate. That is because as the rocket descends, the force of air resistance is now an upward

instead of a downward force. The Excel equations dont account for that though, so the tables
values are only accurate until they reach maximum height.
A potential source of inaccuracy could be the fact that the drag coefficient had only one
significant figure. The drag coefficient for the Red/Yellow rocket was measured at 0.0003, which
means its actual value could be anywhere between 0.00025 and 0.00035. Error bars for the
rockets height can be calculated when these two values of the drag coefficient are put in the
spreadsheet. Therefore, the Red/Yellow rockets maximum height is between 60.58 and 65.91
meters.
This is the table of the other rockets and engines maximum heights, with the error bars.
Provided that the rockets launch straight up, the approximations should be accurate.
A8 Engine (15g)

B6 Engine (18g)

C6 Engine (24g)

Red/black (78g)

24m (24-25m)

67m (66-69m)

180m (176-194m)

Big White (71g)

28m (27-28m)

75m (73-77m)

196m (186-207m)

Red/Yellow (39g)

63m (61-66m)

133m (124-143m)

280m (258-309m)

Flight Results
Finally, the predictions and mathematical models found could be used in the actual
experiment. The rocket was brought out to a soccer field, and three students with protractors
stood 50 meters away from the launching area. These students would record the angle of the
rocket from eye level. Because rockets rarely launch exactly straight, three people from three
different parts of the soccer field were needed for reliable measurements, depending on which
way the rocket curved.

Person 2
Person 1

50 m

50 m

Launch Pad

Person 3
50 m

Five rocket launches took place, and the angles were recorded. Three of the five rocket
launches were very curved and produced unreliable data, so only two were used as valid data.
Rocket

Engine

Person 1

Person 2

Person 3

Average

Red/Yellow

A8

40

44

45

43

Red/Black

B6

47

50

74

57

White (curved)

C6

White (curved)

C6

Red/Yellow (curved)

C6

From this data, a triangle could be drawn relating the angle, the distance, and the maximum
height of the
rocket.

Using trigonometry, the height (h) can be found. However, the total maximum height of the
rocket is 1.5 meters higher than (h) to account for the height of the person measuring the angle.
Thus:
Red/Yellow rocket (A8):
Red/Black rocket (B6):
tan43 = h/50
h = 50*tan43
h = 46.626m
max height = h + 1.5m
max height = 48 m

tan57 = h/50
h = 50*tan57
h = 76.993m
max height = h + 1.5m
max height = 78m

Conclusion
Though the math involved was solid, the rocket launch did not go according to plan. The
Red/Yellow rocket with an A8 engine only reached a maximum height of 48 meters compared to
the predicted height of 61-66 meters. Meanwhile, the Red/Black rocket with a B6 engine reached
78 meters compared to the predicted height of 67 meters. The logistics of the rocket launch can
explain the error. The rockets did not launch exactly straight up, even on the trials that we
counted. The mathematical model only works for rockets that launch straight up. Furthermore,
the fin on the Red/Yellow rocket was bent, which caused the maximum height of the rocket to be
less than expected. The Red/Black rocket was 11 meters over the predicted height. This could be

an error in estimating the Red/Black drag coefficient. The Red/Black rocket did not fit in the
wind tunnel, so the drag coefficient was estimated to be somewhere between the Red/Yellow and
a ping pong ball. The estimation of the drag coefficient could have been less than what it actually
was, causing the prediction (67 m) to be less than the actual height (78 m). Human error also
exists in measuring the protractors angles during the launch. A combination of several of these
small errors is probably the reason that the predicted heights were off the actual heights.
Reflection
The model rocket lab has been a culmination of everything my class has learned about
physics so far. If someone were to give me these problems in August, I would have been lost. I
can now say I truly understand simple physics after this project. Though our math was correct,
the execution could have gone better. For example, we could have used more than one significant
figure for the drag coefficient. Also, during the rocket launch, we could have simply launched
one rocket with one engine multiple times and then averaged that data for more accurate results.
Still, going through the such a complex experiment was a rewarding and interesting process.
Communicating our findings in a comprehensive report made me feel professional. I feel like I
have a better understanding and appreciation of physics and the forces of motion.