Rocket Fuels

Purpose To find out which type of rocket fuel flies highest and fastest To find any differences in weight performance

Materials One Assembled Max Trax Rocket w/Altimeter One Launch Pad Various Solid Fuel Rocket Engines Bicycle Pump Compressed Air Chamber w/Stand (for air rocket #2) Plastic Rocket Pump (for air rocket #1) Stop watch Altimeter (from the Max Trax rocket attached to the air rockets with packing tape Packing tape Blue paper tape Science Notebook w/ Pen

Procedure Assemble rockets Get used to launching them Experiment with different types of fuels and attach a altimeter to the rocket to measure distance traveled. Record data Repeat Time rocket hang time Record results Calculate the rocket’s speed. Speed= Distance/Time

Results Rocket #1 Max Trax (built-in Altimeter) Height flown:1021 Ft. Time: 3 seconds Speed:510 ft/s Type: Solid Fuel Air Rocket #1 Tridium Height flown: est. 1000 Ft. (estimate based on hang time and advertisement on box) Time:2 seconds Height flown w/Altimeter: 201 Ft. Speed: 100 ft/s Type: Compressed Air w/ Bicycle Pump

Results Continued Air Rocket #2 Red, White and blue Height: 63 ft Time: 2 seconds Height w/Altimeter: 12 ft Speed: 63 ft/s Type: Bicycle Pump This air rocket used a different kind of compressed air system that uses a weak bicycle pump that utilizes a button release valve system. If you don’t do it quick it gets weaker. Finding the altitude of this rocket was difficult mainly because the Altimeter was too heavy for the light plastic rocket and the propulsion system wasn't enough to propel it high enough. The results show that this type of propulsion system is inferior to the high pressure air release system used by the tridium air rocket and the solid fuel rocket but is still a effective rocket.

Discussion The results show that the Max Trax was superior in speed but not unmatched in altitude. The results show that the compressed air rocket can fly as high as the Max Trax but not as fast.