Part III & IV: Report

I. Materials

• Four 2-L soda bottles (rocket chamber and ballast)
• Newspaper (inside of ballast/nose of rocket)
• Printer Paper (inside of ballast/nose of rocket)
• Styrofoam and balsa wood (fins)
• Blue and flaming duct tape 
• Garbage bags (parachute)
• 2 hard-boiled eggs
• Wooden Ruler
• Marker
• Scissors 
• X-acto knife 
• Red paint spray

II. Procedures

• Procedure for rocket I:

1. Gather the materials.
2. Cut the bottom portion of one of the 2-L liter bottles to create the ballast.
3. Roll up newspaper balls and place them into the top half of the ballast as weight holders.
4. Push the bottom portion (cut piece) into the ballast on top of the newspaper balls.
5. Use small pieces of duct tape to secure the bottom portion in the ballast.
6. Connect the ballast with another 2-L soda bottle (chamber) and use small pieces of duct tape to secure the bottles.
7. Use a marker and draw 4 triangles (fin patterns) on the Styrofoam trays.
8. Cut the markings on the Styrofoam.
9. Place the 4 fins on the chamber (bottom half) of the rocket.
10. Then use the newspaper and printer paper to form the nose cone.
11. Fasten nose cone on the ballast with duct tape.
12. Launch the rocket.

• Procedure for rocket II:

1. Gather the materials.
2. Cut the bottom portion of one of the 2-L liter bottles to create the ballast.
3. Roll up newspaper balls and place them into the top half of the ballast as weight holders.
4. Push the bottom portion (cut piece) into the ballast on top of the newspaper balls.
5. Use small pieces of duct tape to secure the bottom portion in the ballast.
6. Connect the ballast with another 2-L soda bottle (chamber) and use small pieces of duct tape to secure the bottles.
7. Use a marker and draw 4 triangles (fin patterns) on the balsa wood.
8. Cut the markings on the wood.
9. Place the 4 fins on the chamber (bottom half) of the rocket.
10. Then use the newspaper and printer paper to form the nose cone.
11. Fasten nose cone on the ballast with duct tape.
12. Launch the rocket.

III. Results

• On launch day, both our rockets performed well in deploying the parachute for the eggonaut and reaching a decent height of 50 feet or higher. For rocket I, there were minor equipment malfunctions with the parachute, fins, and usage of cracked eggs. Nevertheless, the parachute of our first rocket deployed and the rocket reached around 60 feet. For rocket II, the launch was more successful with a smoother deployment of the parachute and a greater height. Despite beginning with a cracked egg, the rocket reached around 70 feet and the eggonaut safely landed on the ground. 

IV. Conclusions

• For the improvement of our rockets, we would have used a thicker and more balanced nose cone, preferably Easter eggs, which would have enabled our rocket to shoot further into the air and in a straight trajectory. Since the nose cone of rocket I was made of a light material (paper) and was not centered properly, it veered off to one side during its launch. For rocket I, we should have distributed the weight more evenly in order for it to go higher and straighter and used thicker material for the fins so that it shoots more steadily.