THE FINAL BLOG...

Here's our last video :)

DATA TABLE:

       

Date	Trial #	Elements	Other Factors	Flight Time	Flight Path	Aftermath
2.28.11	------	One 2L Pepsi bottle	Amount of water: ¼ of the way up Weather: sunny No stakes	~ 5 seconds	Went up and arched to the left.	The bottle was fine, but smoke was come out of the top.
3.1.11	1	2L bottle, hot glued on complex cardboard fins, and a duct taped on triangle cardboard “cone”	Amount of water: about 1/5 of the way up. Weather: sunny Stakes used	~ 4 seconds	Went straight up and spiraled with a wobble to the ground.	One of the fins broke off with the glue stuck on it, but everything else was okay.
3.1.11	2	2L bottle, 2 hot glued on complex fins, 1 duct taped complex fin	Amount of water: about 1/5 of the way up Weather: sunny Stakes used	~ 4 seconds	Went up and spiraled with the bottle on its side down to the ground.	We lost another hot-glued fin, but the rest of the elements were fine.
3.3.11	1	2L bottle, 3 duct taped simple right triangle fins, bottle extension, cloth parachute attached by cloth strings, laminated paper cone	Amount of water: 1/5 full Weather: cloudy Stakes used	~ 3 seconds	Shot up, arched, and fell to the ground with a deployed parachute.	Everything was intact, except maybe a little bends in the fins here and there.
3.3.11	2	Same as above	Amount of water: 1/5 full Weather: cloudy Stakes used	10.7 seconds	Flew over 60 feet in the air, arched a little bit, and dove straight down into the pavement.	The top of the bottle was dented (fixable) and the cone was crushed, but the fins and parachute were still in great condition.
3.7.11	1	2L bottle, 3 duct taped simple fins, bottle extension, cloth parachute, bigger laminated cone, Play-Doh weight in the front of the of the cone	Amount of water: 1/6 full Weather: raining, windy No stakes	~ 7 seconds	Flew up into the air and plummeted to the ground with no parachute deployment.	The cone was crushed and the fins were a little wet, but the parachute was fine.
3.7.11	2	Same as above, except plastic grocery bag chute with fish line string to attach	Amount of water: 1/6 full Weather: drizzling, windy No stakes	5.2 seconds	It flew up and backwards and arched all the way to the roof with no parachute deployment.	The rocket was on the roof, but when we got it down the fins were soaked, the cone was gone, and the parachute was ruined. The body was in great condition however.
3.9.11	------	2L bottle, duct-taped covered fins, bottle extension, lighter fruit grocery bag chute, fish line strings, and larger laminated cone	Amount of water:  1/6 full Weather: drizzling, windy We used soapy water	7.6 seconds	It flew up really fast and high. The rocket then arched and headed right for the big tree and landed right in it with an almost parachute deployment.	The rocket ended up stuck on the tree indefinitely, but we were able to salvage the nose cone.

DISCUSSION:
We think that overall our rocket worked pretty well. It wasn't very consistent, but it worked and launched satisfactory every time. We think that in terms of functionality the extended bottle and simpler cardboard fins worked really well for stabilizing the rocket flight. The nose cone really helped in the aerodynamics of the flight and after we enlarged the cone it came off easily and allowed the parachute to come out. The parachute we made didn't really work in either of its forms. We think that it was because of the thin string, which would get entangled with each other and not allow the parachute to fully deploy. The only parachute able the deployed was our cloth one, but it didn't help the flight time at all. We think that if the light plastic chute was able to deploy it would've worked and came safely down instead of stuck in a tree because this chute was the lightest and would have the easiest time catching the wind.

The only things that worked as planned was the simple right triangle cardboard fins, laminated paper nose cone, and using duct tape. The cardboard fins definitely  stabilized the flight because after we put them on the rocket stopped spiraling on its side in flight. the laminated paper cone, although we had to keep making new ones, always popped off when we used them and made the rocket fly really high. Lastly, the duct never failed us. When we first started we used the hot glue gun and found that the glue doesn't help at all and it just comes off. However, when we used the duct tape everything stayed and nothing broke off.

Changes for the future would be to get thicker string and probably find a way to fold the parachute so it deploys better. Other changes might be to launch in the middle of the field and far away from the buildings and trees so it won't get stuck next time. Other than that I think our rocket did quite well :).