Missing equations / figures
We as humans have always been fascinated with the unknown.� We seek to conquer every frontier.� Today, the final frontier is space.� So, many people are very interested in rockets, the vehicle for conquering the final frontier.� Most people have a general idea of how rockets work, but very few have an understanding of the physics behind their flight, which scientists spent many years perfecting.
Rocket propulsion is not like many other kinds of propulsion that are based on the principle of a rotation based engine.� For example, a car engine produces rotational energy to turn the wheels of the car.� And, a airplane engine produces rotational energy to spin a turbine.� But, rocket propulsion is based on Newton�s Third Law, which says that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.� So, rockets work by pushing fuel out the back, which in turn pushes the rocket forward.� The mass of the fuel pushed out the back of the rocket multiplied by the velocity of the fuel is equal to the mass of the rocket multiplied by the velocity of the rocket in the opposite direction.� Although there is always some energy loss in any type of engine, the rocket is propelled forward.
There are many forces that a rocket must overcome, especially during liftoff.� Newton�s second law says that force is equal to mass times acceleration (F=ma).� However, for a rocket the calculations are not that simple because the rocket�s mass is always changing as it burns up fuel.� So, we have to replace a new term with F, leading to
�where is a term for the thrust of the rocket and it is defined by R, the fuel consumption rate, and is the fuel�s exhaust speed relative to the rocket.� Also, we replace m with M and define M as the instantaneous mass of the rocket, including the unexpended fuel.
We also have to incorporate the other forces acting on the rocket, such as gravity and air resistance.� The force of gravity is equal to mg.� The force of air resistance is
�where C is the drag coefficient, is the air density, A is the cross-sectional area of the body perpendicular to the velocity, and v is the velocity.� By themselves, these formulas seem somewhat easy, but a rocket�s flight incorporates many variable forces that make the calculations much more difficult.� We have already examined the rocket�s upward force and how the changing mass makes the force vary.
where mc is the mass of the counterwieght and g is the acceleration due to gravity. This is converted to kinetic energy of the projectile, given by the equation
Bottle rockets are great models to examine Newton’s three laws of motion. The bottle rocket will remain on the ground until an unbalanced force, water, thrusts the rocket upward. This is defined by Newton’s first law of motion: an object at rest stays at rest or an object in motion, stays in motion (in the same direction/at the same speed) unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. It is also known as the law of inertia.
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. Newton’s laws can be used to explain this his laws in the simplest terms can be explained like this:
Many people are amazed with the flight of an object, especially one the size of an airplane, but they do not realize how much physics plays a role in this amazing incident. There are many different ways in which physics aids the flight of an aircraft. In the following few paragraphs some of the many ways will be described so that you, the reader, will realize physics at work in the world of flight.
It's easy to see how the rocket has altered the course of human history. Rockets have been used for a multitude of tasks including both good and less good uses. They've transported millions of people safely to their destinations. But they also have been placed on nuclear warheads so as to menace another country. They've transported Americans to the moon. But they also have propelled grenades into public buses.
Rocketry, the use of rocket power as a propulsion mechanism, has changed the boundaries of man’s domain.Before the advent of efficient rocket power, space flight was seen as an impossibility and exclusively the subject of science fiction stories.The nature of rocket power changed in the early twentieth century when a man named Robert Hutchings Goddard focused his research and his entire life on efficient rocket propulsion.Rocket power had been thought of long before Goddard’s time, but he was the first to have success with it.
The energy transformations and transfers that occur during a trial of the rocket balloon are: Kinetic and Potential energy. Potential energy is the stored energy given to the balloon by the person blowing up the balloon with their breath. This is used at the start of every trial when blowing up the balloon. The potential energy is then transformed into Kinetic energy evident during the motion of travel. In the balloon was air energy, this is air by the balloon blower and is stored inside the balloon, which contains atoms and molecules.
This paper will explain a few of the key concepts behind the physics of skydiving. First we will explore why a skydiver accelerates after he leaps out of the plane before his jump, second we will try and explain the drag forces effecting the skydiver, and lastly we will attempt to explain how terminal velocity works.
Newton’s second law states that when a net force is applied to an object, that object will experience a change in velocity, and will undergo acceleration. That acceleration is proportional to the net force applied, and inversely proportional to the mass of the object. In other words, the heavier an object is, it will require a greater force to move the object the same amount (e.g., distance) as a lighter object. ( https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/airplane/newton2.html)The mathematical equation that expresses Newton’s second law is:
...ceed the limitations of rockets using chemical energy (Mallove, 49). This type of rocket is used by heating the fuel with nuclear reactor to provide thrust another words a propellant mass (Tate, 2013).
Ever since I was little I was amazed at the ability for a machine to fly. I have always wanted to explore ideas of flight and be able to actually fly. I think I may have found my childhood fantasy in the world of aeronautical engineering. The object of my paper is to give me more insight on my future career as an aeronautical engineer. This paper was also to give me ideas of the physics of flight and be to apply those physics of flight to compete in a high school competition.
Lift is an aerodynamic force perpendicular to the air flow. Drag is an aerodynamic force the acts as a parallel to the direction of the wind flows or against the flow of movement of the object. Thrust is the force that moves an object forward or the opposite of the force of drag. Gravity is the force of which keeps objects from floating to oblivion and beyond. The two primary aerodynamics forces are drag and lift. Drag is an aerodynamic force the acts as a parallel to the direction of the wind flows or against the flow of movement of the object. Lift is an aerodynamic force perpendicular to the air flow. As air moves underneath and toward an object, lift can drive an object, lift drives the object upwards and drag is the complete opposite, it acts as a parallel to the direction of the flow of wind and pushes against the wind. The opposite of the drag is the forward force of thrust. The account of weight is created by the force of the gravity pulling any and all objects towards the earth. The fundamentals of aerodynamics are the principles of drag, lift, gravity, thrust, and weight which is created by
An object that is falling through the atmosphere is subjected to two external forces. The first force is the gravitational force, expressed as the weight of the object. The weight equation which is weight (W) = mass (M) x gravitational acceleration (A) which is 9.8 meters per square second on the surface of the earth. The gravitational acceleration decreases with the square of the distance from the center of the earth. If the object were falling in a vacuum, this would be the only force acting on the object. But in the atmosphere, the motion of a falling object is opposed by the air resistance or drag. The drag equation tells us that drag is equal to a coefficient times one half the air density (R) times the velocity (V) squared times a reference area on which the drag coefficient is based.
The UAF Student Rocket Project builds and flies sounding rockets with help from Wollops Flight Facilty.
Projectile motion is the force that acts upon an object that is released or thrown into the air. Once the object is in the air, the object has two significant forces acting upon it at the time of release. These forces are also known as horizontal and vertical forces. These forces determine the flight path and are affected by gravity, air resistance, angle of release, speed of release, height of release and spin