Rockets: An amazing world

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Rockets An amazing world

• Rockets are the opening of the universe to direct
  exploration by human kind.

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Silvia Patricia Escalera

• Principles of Technology
• January 2006

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Table of Contents

• Introduction

Practical rocketry
History
Modern Uses
Timeline
Positives Negatives
Principles
Conclusion
How Rockets Work
Scientific Method
Index
Nature of Science
Glossary
Problem Solving
Resources
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Introduction
What is a rocket? A rocket in its simplest
form is a chamber enclosing a gas under pressure.
A small opening at one end of the chamber allows
the gas to escape, and in doing so provides a
thrust that propels the rocket in the opposite
direction. When we think of rockets, we rarely
think of balloons however, a good example of
this a rocket is a balloon. The air pushes back
so that the inward and outward pressing forces
balance. When the nozzle is released, air escapes
through it and the balloon is propelled in the
opposite direction. One of the interesting facts
about the historical development of rockets is
that while rockets and rocket-powered devices
have been in use for more than two thousand
years, it has been only in the last three hundred
years that rocket experimenters have had a
scientific basis for understanding how they work.
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History

• The earliest solid rocket fuel was a form of
  gunpowder, and the earliest recorded mention of
  gunpowder comes from comes from China late in
  the third century before Christ .Bamboo tubes
  filled with saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal were
  tossed into ceremonial fires during religious
  festivals in hopes the noise would frighten evil
  spirits. The Chinese began experimenting with the
  gunpowder-filled tubes. At some point, they
  attached bamboo tubes to arrows and launched them
  with bows. Soon they discovered that these
  gunpowder tubes could launch themselves just by
  the power produced from the escaping gas. One of
  the first devices to successfully employ the
  principles essentials to rocket flight was a
  wooden bird. Escaping steam propelled the bird
  suspended on wires. The pigeon used the
  action-reaction principle, which was not stated
  as a scientific law until the 17th century, the
  date reporting the first use of true rockets was
  in 1232.

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Timeline
Apollo Saturn 1B 19658
Congreve Rockets 19th Century
V2 Rocket 1944
Skylab Saturn V 1973
Apollo-Soyuz Saturn 1B 1975
Chinese Fire Arrows 13th Century
Delta, Scout 1960
Atlas 1963
X Rockets 20??
Pegasus 1990
Apollo Saturn V 1968
Invention of Gunpowder 1st Century
Liquid Propellant Rocket 1926
Gemini Titan 1965
Jupiter C launch of Explorer 1 1958
Mercury Redstone 1961
Space Shuttle 1981
Step Rocket 16th Century
Delta Clipper 1995
Titan III 1974
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Principles

• The science of rocketry began with the
  publishing of a book in 1687 by the great English
  scientist Sir Isaac Newton. His book, entitled
  Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica,
  described the physical principles in nature.
  Today, Newtons work usually is just called the
  Principia.
• In the Principia, Newton stated three
  important scientific principles that govern the
  motion of all objects, whether on Earth or in
  space. Knowing these principles, now called
  Newtons Laws of Motion, rocketeers have been
  able to construct the modern giant rockets of the
  20th century such as the Saturn 5 and the Space
  Shuttle. Here now, in simple form, are the
  Newtons Laws of Motion.
• Objects at rest will stay at rest and objects in
  motion will stay in motion in a straight line
  unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.
• Force is equal to mass times acceleration.
• For every action there is always an opposite and
  equal reaction.

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How rockets work

• An unbalanced force must be apply for a rocket to
  lift off from a launch pad or for a craft in
  space to change speed of direction. The amount of
  thrust produced by a rocket engine will be decide
  by the amount at which the mass of the rocket
  fuel burns and the acceleration of the gas
  escaping the rocket. The motion of the rocket is
  equal to and in the opposite direction of the
  thrust, form the engine.

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Scientific Method
STATING THE QUESTION- What is it that you are
trying to find out from your experiment? RESEARCH
TOPIC- Investigate what others have already
learned about your question. Gather information
that will help you perform your experiment. STATE
HYPOTHESIS- An educated guess or prediction of
what you think may happen to your experiment. DO
THE EXPERIMENT- Develop a procedure to prove your
hypothesis. Change one variable to measure the
impact of a single change. Perform the experiment
as much as possible to verify the results this is
call a run or trial. ANALYSE RESULTS- Analyze
the data that you have collected during the
experiment in order to summarize what your
experiment has shown. CONLCUSION- Explain the
meaning of your results. Was your hypothesis
correct. More research must be done? REPORT
RESULTS ON CONCLUSION- Write a report and prepare
a display board so that others can share in your
discoveries.
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Nature of Science

• CONSISTENT- Experimental results and observations
  are the same.
• OBSERVABLE- The evidence for the event can be
  observed by the human senses or by extensions of
  those senses.
• NARUTAL- A natural cause or naturally occurring
  mechanism is used to explain how or why an event
  actually happens.
• PREDICATABLE- Accurate predictions and
  conclusions are based on natural causes not on
  presupposed or assumed information.
• TESTABLE- Controlled experiments can be designed
  to test the natural cause for the event.
• TENTATIVE- Explanations of the cause of the event
  are subject to change as evidence shows the need.
  

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Problem Solving
STATE THE PROBLEM CLEARLY- Know what the problem
is COLLECT INFORMATION- Do research about the
problem and gather as mush information as
possible. DEVELOP POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS- Brainstorm
any ideas of what you think the final outcome may
be. Problems sometimes may have may different
solutions. SELECT THE BEST SOLUTION- Evaluate the
possible solutions you have, look at advantages
and disadvantages. Eliminate bad solutions and
keep the most reliable. IMPLEMENT THE SOLUTION-
Make a model of the possible solution. Test your
solution with a stimulus, where almost everything
is assimilated as in real life. EVALUATE THE
SOLUTION- Consumer may report what is bad about
your product so you must work on it every time to
have a better final product.
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Practical Rocketry
The first rockets ever built (the fire-arrows of
the Chinese), were not reliable. Today, rockets
are much more reliable. They fly on precise
courses and are capable of going fast enough to
escape the gravitational pull of Earth. Modern
rockets are also more efficient today because we
have an understanding of the scientific
principles behind rocketry. Most rockets today
operate with either solid or liquid propellants.
The word propellant does not mean simply fuel, as
you might think it means both fuel and oxidizer.
A solid-propellant rocket has the simplest form
of engine. It has a nozzle, a case, insulation,
propellant, and an igniter.
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Modern Uses
The people in the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) use the rockets to send
people to the moon to get information that might
be useful to us, the people on earth. Also to go
to other planets such as mars to get samples of
the planet to see if there was life on it or if
there is still life on the planets.
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Positives Negatives

• Positives
• Solid-fuel rockets have important advantages
  Simplicity, low cost, and safety.
• They are the machines that are helping humans to
  discover new things from other planets, and the
  universe itself.

• Negatives
• They also have disadvantages The thrust cannot
  be controlled and once ignited, the engine cannot
  be stopped or restarted. When you need to be able
  to control the engine you should use a liquid
  propellant.
• A lot of people get killed when the launches fail

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Conclusion
Rockets are amazing because they are huge
machines that are helping people to see how the
world looks from the moon. Even though they are a
little bit dangerous, some day people are going
to be able to go to other planets such as mars
and then farther. I would like to be able to see
a rocket from really close, that way I would
admire every single centimeter that they are made
of. In other words I LOVE ROCKETS
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Index
Slide 3- Table of Contents.
Slide 13- Positives Negatives Slide 4-
Introduction. Slide 5- History.
Slide 14- Conclusion Slide 5- Timeline.
Slide 15-
Index Slide 6- Principles of Rocketry.
Slide 16- Glossary Slide 7- How
Rockets Work. Slide
17- Resources Slide 8- Scientific Method. Slide
9- Nature of Science. Slide 10- Problem
Solving Slide 11- Practical Rocketry Slide 12-
Modern Uses
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Glossary

• Nozzle- A projecting part with an opening, as at
  the end of a hose, for regulating and directing a
  flow of fluid.
• Propellant- a) Something, such as an explosive
  charge or a rocket fuel, that propels or provides
  thrust.
• b) A compressed inert gas, such as a
  fluorocarbon, that acts as a vehicle for
  discharging the contents of an aerosol container.
  
• Scientific Method- The principles and empirical
  processes of discovery and demonstration
  considered characteristic of or necessary for
  scientific investigation, generally involving the
  observation of phenomena, the formulation of a
  hypothesis concerning the phenomena,
  experimentation to demonstrate the truth or
  falseness of the hypothesis, and a conclusion
  that validates or modifies the hypothesis.
• Thrust- The power of a rocket engine is called
  thrust

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Resources

• Rockets by Deborah A. Shearer Gregory L. Vogt,
  Ed.D.
• Publisher Teaching From Space Program, NASA
  Headquarters .
• Location Washington D.C. No date available.
• http//library.thinkquest.org/03oct/00181/rocket-h
  mtl