Welcome to camp day 3! Its exciting starting to work on the competition rockets today! Today we understood the physics of a full sized competition rocket and continued building.
Part 1
The students started by learning all the important components of making a TARC rocket. Which are:
- Nose Cone
- Shock Cord
- Parachute
- Tape Ring
- Shroud Lines
- Shock Cord Mount
- Body Tube
- Engine Mount
- Engine Hook
- Fin
- Launch Lug
Feel free to test yourself on these. The students then learned the differences between the forces of a plane and a rocket. Bear in mind, even though this was briefly covered by Mr. Shah, Sinja did an in-depth lesson on physics including motion, Cg, Cp, Stability. Additionally, students did practice problems on the physics lesson.
What are airfoils?
An airfoil is a structure on a wing or blade, designed to generate lift through air or water. By creating a pressure difference between the top and the bottom of the foil, it results in lift.
By using the concept of the air foil, we are able to explain how planes fly. By using this link, the students were able to create the most efficient airfoil to by using the drag coefficients. Speaking of that, we learned which shapes create the most drag, and which create the least.
Newtons Laws of Motion:
- The law of inertia: An object at rest will remain at rest unless acted upon by an external force.
- Force Equations: The net force on an object equals the mass of the object multiplied by its acceleration.
- Action and reaction: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
These concepts were so essential, our physics lead chose to make practice questions to help strengthen the material.
Center of Pressure vs. Center of Mass
- Center of mass is the balance point of the object.
- Center of pressure is the point where surface area is equal.
- CP is always behind CG (center of gravity).
Breaktime!
Everyone played freeze tag which is tag with a twist. Instead of being converted to a tagger, you become frozen in place.
Part 2
The last part of the day consisted of making a motor mount. With centering rings surrounding a body tube and a cap to hold the motors. With the help of the coaches, each student were able to:
- Cut carboard tubes.
- Epoxy the retainer.
- Epoxy the centering rings.
- Align the centering rings perfectly.
They also designed their own fins on Onshape with the help of Ishaan.
