Construct a rocket from a discarded PET (Polthylene Teraphetlate) drink bottle.

The first 200 words of this essay...

Physics Major Practical

Aim:

* Identify Conceptual ideas in physics, and enhance these skills by building a Water Propelled rocket.

* Master Newton's law of conservation of momentum, and hence analyze this rocket using the principles given.

* Identify correct variables, which have a significant impact on the rockets performance.

We aim to construct this rocket from a discarded PET (Polthylene Teraphetlate) drink bottle.

Background Information:

The bottles are one of those rare miracles of serendipity: although designed for something else altogether, they are nearly perfect for making water rockets. They're designed to hold liquids at high pressures, they're very lightweight, and they have a conveniently located ring molded around the neck that's handy for holding the bottle down while pressurizing it. About the only thing that could make them better is to have the fins and nose cone molded in for you.

The rockets made from these bottles are surprisingly powerful. A standard 2-liter pop bottle 1/3 full of water, pumped to 80 psi and then released, will eject all its water in less than one-tenth of a second, and at that point ("burnout") will be only about 2 meters