Grade Level |
11th &12th |
Subject Area |
Mechanical Physics |
Duration |
4-5 70 min. periods |
Setting |
Classroom |
Background Knowledge |
It is recommended that students have some experience with Newton's Three Laws of Motion, vector addition, knowledge of significant digits, right-triangle trigonometric rules, and rearranging algebraic equations to solve for a given variable. |
Author |
Bartley Richardson |
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Summary |
This lesson was designed to serve as an extension to a series of lessons on projectile motion. It seeks to provide students with a real-life application of projectile motion, and it also builds on the students’ pre-existing knowledge of vectors and vector addition. The activity is broken into different sections (design, construction, launch, calculations, and investigate) so it can be more easily spread across multiple instruction periods.
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Objectives |
1. Students will be able to utilize engineering design principles in designing and constructing a water rocket.
2. Students will be able to work as a team to arrive at and justify an appropriate rocket design.
3. Students will be able to create an accurate diagram of their measurements.
4. Students will be able to apply right triangle trigonometric rules to calculate the hypotenuse of the triangle and a given interior angle.
5. Students will be able to use vector addition to calculate the launch vector for the rocket.
6. Students will be able to maintain proper significant digits throughout the calculations.
7. Students will be able to list assumptions made in the lab and identify their significance on the final data and conclusions.
8. Students will be able to identify good aspects of their design and list items about their design that could be improved.
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Materials Required |
• Rocket Launch Packet (1 per student)
o Step-by-step instructions
o Worksheets
o Grading rubric
• Two-liter soda bottle, Diet Pepsi works best (1 per group)
• Various construction materials
o Construction paper
o Heavy cardboard
o Popsicle sticks
o Fishing line
o Clear heavy-duty tape
o Duct tape
o Scotch tape
o Scissors
o Any other material the students can use to create their rocket
• Rocket launching device (1 per class minimum, 2 recommended)
o Can be purchased online at http://www.nerdsinc.com/products.aspx?cat=0
• Angle measuring device (1 per group)
o Made using a protractor, string, a weight, and tape
o Attach the protractor to the ruler as shown in the pictures below (Figures 1 and 2)
o Attach the string so that it hangs straight down (when the ruler is level) at 90° (Figure 2)
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