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You're Launching a Rocket

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You're Launching a Rocket Adventures in Aerospace: Lesson 2 Volunteer’s Guide Key to Curriculum Formatting: ► Volunteer Directions ■ Volunteer Notes ♦ Volunteer-led Classroom Experiments Lesson 2: YOU’RE PLANNING TO LAUNCH A ROCKET! ► Begin the presentation by telling the class that this is “Lesson 2: You’re Planning to Launch a Rocket!” If this is your second visit, reintroduce yourself and the program. Briefly review key concepts from the first lesson, “You’re Piloting a Plane!” If this is your first visit, here is a suggested personal introduction: “Hello, my name is _____________, and I am a _________________ (position title) at Aerojet Rocketdyne. I will be visiting your class once over the next few months to speak to you about space exploration and space travel. We will learn about the basics of aerodynamics, rocket propulsion, and spaceflight to the space station, the moon, and future missions to Mars!” ► Answer any questions left over from the previous visit. MATERIALS NEEDED • DVD/Presentation • Projector screen/TV • Balloons Page 1 of 13 Adventures in Aerospace: Lesson 2 Volunteer’s Guide • Matches/lighter • Small strip of paper • Rolling chair or something a student can easily sit on and be pushed • Candle • Plate or candle holder • Paper (or plastic) bag or paper cup • Handouts • Index cards ► See lesson to assess total equipment needs. LESSON OUTLINE (NOTE: total time of video is about 1 minute) Introduction Lesson Concepts Vocabulary Balloon and Rocket Comparison Newton’s Laws of Motion • First Law • Second Law • Third Law Comparing and Contrasting Liquid and Solid Propellants Cooling What we use Rockets For Applying What We Have Learned Experiment INTRODUCTION Rocket launches have mesmerized audiences, often entire nations, for centuries. What kind of power does it take to propel spacecraft out of the atmosphere and into the vacuum of space? This unit introduces you to rocket propulsion systems. Newton’s Laws will provide a basis for discussions of rocket engines, motors, propulsions, fuels, launch vehicles and future rocket engine concepts. LESSON CONCEPTS • Newton’s laws of motion • Rocket propulsions systems • Force and acceleration Page 2 of 13 Adventures in Aerospace: Lesson 2 Volunteer’s Guide VOCABULARY Acceleration: Change in an object’s velocity Air breathing engines: An engine that requires air for operation Cryogenic fuels: Liquefied gas at very low temperature, such as liquid oxygen or hydrogen Hypergolic liquids: Ignite and burn on contact. No ignition system required Liquid rocket engines: An engine that utilizes liquid propellants Solid rocket motors: Rocket motors that burn solid propellant Monopropellant liquid rocket engine: A rocket engine that utilizes a catalyst bed to “burn” the liquid fuel Multi-stage rocket: A rocket consisting of two or more propulsion units (stages), stacked vertically to form the rocket structure, that fire in succession Payload: All the cargo, including scientific equipment, carried into space by a rocket powered vehicle Oxidizer: A substance that provides the "air" to burn rocket fuel; can be a liquid or a solid material Vector: A concept characterized by a magnitude and a direction BALLOON AND ROCKET COMPARISON ► Tell the class that today's session deals with rocket propulsion. Tell them you've brought some very simple rockets with you. Take a couple of balloons out of your supply bag, blow them up, and release them into the crowd. Explain to the class that the balloon is technically a rocket because the balloon contains all of the propellant, in this case compressed air, needed to propel the balloon (rocket). Introduce the following key rocket propulsion concept: Page 3 of 13 Adventures in Aerospace: Lesson 2 Volunteer’s Guide Rockets operate in the vacuum of space and must therefore carry not only the rocket engine fuel, but also the "air" (oxidizer) needed to burn the fuel in the rocket engine or motor. NEWTON'S LAWS OF MOTION Sir Isaac Newton had three laws of motion that apply also to rocket flight. • Objects won’t move unless there is some kind of push or pull (force). • A push will make an object speed up until the push is no longer affecting it. • The push of an object will have an equal force against it. First Law of Motion Objects won’t move unless there is some kind of push or pull (force). An object at rest will stay at rest until an external force acts upon the object (a roller skate will remain motionless until an external force acts upon it) and a moving object will travel at a constant speed in a straight line until acted upon by an external force. (A moving roller skate will stop when it runs into the wall or when the friction of floor and air cause it to slow down and stop.) Rocket Launch Page 4 of 13 Adventures in Aerospace: Lesson 2 Volunteer’s Guide Like Newton’s first law of motion, a rocket must be pushed to have movement. To exit our atmosphere and the gravitational pull of the Earth, it must be moving at 7 miles per second (about 25,000 miles per hour). ► Show students the video which is a launch from the Apollo mission. Second Law of Motion A push will make an object speed up until the push is no longer affecting it. The defining mathematical expression is F=ma where F is the force applied, m is the mass of the object, and a is the object’s acceleration. F and a are vector quantities, which have both magnitude and direction. Third Law of Motion Every action produces an equal and opposite reaction. (The air escaping from the balloon pushes Page 5 of 13 Adventures in Aerospace: Lesson 2 Volunteer’s Guide the balloon in the opposite direction. Falling off a roller skate makes the skate go in one direction and the skater in another!) ♦ Newton’s Laws Experiment Experiment Concepts • Newton’s Laws of Motion Experiment Materials • A roller-skate, skate board or rolling chair Experiment Instructions 1. Introduce Isaac Newton's three laws of motion, developed more than 300 years ago (1687). Use the rolling item to illustrate. 2. 1st Law of Motion: Place the rolling item (skate board) in an open space and ask students if the item will move by itself. How about if we push it in a specific direction, what will happen? 3. 2nd Law of Motion: Put more mass on the rolling item. Ask the students to predict the difference in this situation from the one before (aiming for ‘it’s harder to push’). If using a rolling chair, ask a student volunteer to push the chair without the extra mass, then to push it again at the same speed with the extra mass. This shows that you need more force to move a larger mass at the same speed. This means that rockets (for heavy things like space shuttles) need A LOT of force. 4. 3rd Law of Motion: Have two volunteer students come up. One sits in a rolling chair (or something that can move a little when pushed). Ask students to predict the force needed to push a student a certain way while sitting on a chair. Have the student who is standing up push the other student in the indicated direction. Then have the student in the chair push themselves in the indicated direction using the other student, but the standing student isn’t’ allowed to push. Ask students to identify which way they had to push to accomplish this. This shows that forces acted on an object will create forces in the opposite direction. This was also shown with the balloon experiment. By pushing air downwards, the balloon was able to fly. ► Use the following information to explain to the students how Newton's laws relate to launching a rocket. Experiment Explanation First Law of Motion A rocket on a launch pad is an object at rest. The rocket engine thrust is the force that will accelerate it into the atmosphere and on into space. Second Law of Motion The thrust of the rocket engine(s) and or motors provides the force (F) needed to accelerate (a) the massive rocket (m) off the launch pad. F=ma. Page 6 of 13 Adventures in Aerospace: Lesson 2 Volunteer’s Guide Note: The thrust of the rocket engines must exceed the weight of the rocket or the rocket will not lift off the launch pad! Third Law of Motion When the rocket propellant ignites, gases are formed that rush out of the nozzles at the back of the rocket. The gases go in one direction and the rocket goes in the opposite direction (away from the earth.) In summary, an unbalanced force must be exerted for a rocket to lift off from a launch pad or for a craft in space to change speed or direction (first law). The amount of thrust (force) produced by a rocket engine will be determined by the mass of rocket fuel that is burned and how fast the gas escapes the rocket (second law). The reaction, or motion, of the rocket is equal to and in the opposite direction of the action, or thrust, from the engine (third law). ► Perform the following experiment to illustrate Newton's 3rd law. ♦ Newton’s Third Law Experiment Experiment Concepts • Propellants • Newton’s third law of motion Experiment Materials • 1 large, empty plastic bottle • 1 cork (must fit snugly into the bottle opening) • Vinegar • Water • Baking Soda • 2X2 inch square of thin cloth or paper towel Experiment Instructions 1. Wrap baking soda in a napkin. 2. Insert the napkin in a bottle. 3. Add vinegar. 4. Cork loosely and shake mixture. 5. Lay bottle quickly on its side on several round pencils or wooden dowels.
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