Rocket Design: Aerodynamics, Trajectories

Young scientists design a rocket to launch using Newton's Laws of Motion in order to discover for themselves the forces of motion. 

What are the basics for building a rocket out of a two-liter bottle? The procedures outline the basics to create an air- and water-powered bottle rocket. Prior to launching the rockets, teams perform safety checks to ensure their designs...

When going for distance, does it make a difference at what angle you launch the rocket? Teams of three launch foam rockets, varying the launch angle and determining how far they flew. After conducting the series of flights three times,...

How can you launch an object that isn't propelled by air? The resource provides directions to build a launcher to launch rockets made of two-liter bottles. The launcher, built mainly from materials found at the local hardware...

Using a teacher-built wind tunnel constructed from a paper concrete tube form, a fan, and a balance, individuals determine the amount of drag their rocket design will experience in flight. Pupils make modifications to increase the...

Using PVC pipe and aquarium tubing, build an altitude tracker. Pupils then use the altitude tracker, along with a tangent table, to calculate the altitude of a launched rocket using the included data collection sheet.

Physics fanatics will shriek over this monster-themed construction application! They design an invention with the intention of competing one of 50 missions and test it out with real physics applications. 

Start to finish, the first satellite was an 84-day project. Follow the process in a video lesson presentation from the SciShow Space series. The narrator explains the decision-making process and structure of the satellite as well as the...

Have a blast learning how rockets defy gravity! Show your physics scholars the calculations scientists use to relate the mass of the rocket and its fuel to the force required to fight Earth's gravitational pull. No rocket? No problem!...

Can you predict how the components of projectile's velocity and acceleration change during their trajectory? This practice includes questions for students to test their problem solving skills with angled launch projectile vectors.