The Effects of the Size Hole in the Lid on Bottle Rockets By Shannon Fuhr

Purpose The purpose of this project is to find out if the size of the hole in the cap of the bottle rocket affects how high the bottle rocket will go.

Hypothesis If a small hole is put in the cap of a 2 liter bottle rocket and the cap is screwed on, and all necessary measurements are taken, then that bottle rocket will go higher. Since the hole is smaller the water will push the bottle rocket for a longer amount of time, therefore making it go higher.

Materials for experiment Air pump Needle for air pump A protractor and a narrow block of wood for pointer A dry empty surface out side.

Materials for bottle rocket A few empty 2 liter bottles made into bottle rockets Two corks (one large and one small) A drill 1 liter of water Cap from bottle

Vocabulary Aerodynamics- The study of forces and the resulting motion of objects through the air. Force- Strength or energy exerted. Velocity- The quickness of motion. Acceleration- The rate of change of velocity with respect to time.

Trigonometry Vocabulary Trigonometry- A branch of mathematics that deals with the relationships between the sides of angels and triangles. Sine- A ratio of the length of the opposite side to the length of the hypotenuse. Cosine- A ratio of the length of the side adjacent to a given acute angle to the length of the hypotenuse. Tangent- The opposite side divided by the adjacent side.

Procedure 1. Assemble bottle rockets out of materials listed before. 2. Prepare air pump and put needle in cork. 4. Set up protractor with pointer. 5. Slowly apply pressure into the bottle rocket.

Procedure 6. As the bottle rocket launches record the degrees of which it went with the protractor and pointer. 7. Record your data as you go. 8. When you are done, use trigonometry to find how high the bottle rocket flew.

Observations The bottle rocket with the smaller cork seemed to go up about five meters in the air and suddenly veer in a different direction.

Analysis My hypothesis was incorrect. The bottle rocket with the larger cork went higher. The bottle rocket with the smaller cork went farther, but not higher than the bottle rocket with the larger cork.

Conclusion In conclusion, my hypothesis was proven incorrect. The bottle rocket with the larger cap went higher. If I wanted to test how far it could go the bottle rocket with the smaller cork would’ve done much better.

Weaknesses & Improvements I could have had many more trials I should have had a pressure gage on the air pump showing how much pressure I was putting into each bottle rocket. I could have made more than one bottle rocket in stead of fixing up the same bottle rocket over, and over again.

Future Studies If I were to do more on this experiment I would see if the different liquids that I put into the bottle rocket effects the height. I would also test how far each one would go.

The End