H2O ROCKETS

Ok, I took fluid dynamics in 1997 and I thought it would be cool to write a program to anylize the motion of a water rocket. I've never seen a water rocket go up but I've heard about them so I have no experience in this area. I also decided to try using CO2 jetts for pressure. Anyway, I built a rocket to the specs my program showed would give the maximum height. However, I did not think about low speed stability at take off. This prooved to be a problem. My launch guide is only about 1 meter tall.

Initial nozzle size was 5 mm (.197"). The rocket took off very slowly and veered off to horizantal before picking up speed and burning into the ground.

I'm suprized how well the silicon rubber glue held the fins on. I drilled out my nozzle to 10mm (.394") and got a little better results. However, now the puncture hole in the CO2 jett is too small and the pressure does not build up fast enough.

The way it works is this: The CO2 jett is punctured inside the filled bottle by dropping the bottle in the launch guide. The tube inside the bottle that hold the CO2 jett forces the jett up into a sharp point that punctures the seal.

Here a typical (old style) launch

This is the old rocket. It kind of tended to, well, it didn't really want to go straight.

See an actual launch video here! H2OROCK1.AVI (848k)

This is my first poor little rocket.

Here is my second rocket. Notice the radical fin angle (hee hee, boy that sucker's gonna spin). Just freshly tested (4/25/97). Check it out.

See my CO2 details.

Here's my quickie hack job on a broken rocket bottle to make a sleeve with fins to fit over another bottle. It fits over another bottle just fine and should stay on without any tape or anything. We'll see if it works later . . .

There have been visitors, including you! (Since 4/2/1997)

OK, this is completely unrelated:

I have a WebCam up sometimes (on a modem). Sometimes it points out the window, sometimes in my apartment, sometimes where the cat sleeps...who knows. Check this IP to see if is up. The IP will change because I'm using a modem, but this is the last IP the WebCam was up at:

Sorry Web CAM is down right now.

HTTP://216.165.155.93:8080

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