National Aeronautics and Educational Product Space Administration Teachers I Grades 2-6 I Office of Education and Human Resources Education Division _o N N cO 0 u_ 0 N t_ I ,.-, CO ,4" U O" 0_ _ Z _ 0 0 tM < u Is LIJ I-. _-.q4" W_ O ul ,,_ W;Z. INWel I I,,-. UJ .... 0,. i,-,{ .... u4 uJ I-,- .. IU_ Z_ .1 i ! I i I j | ] ROCKETS Physical Science Teacher's Guide with Activities National Aeronautics and Space Administration Office of Human Resources and Education Education Division This publication is in the Public Domain and is not protected by copyright. Permission is not required for duplication. EP-291 July 1993 Acknowledgments This publication was developed for the National Aeronautics and Space Administra- tion with the assistance of the many educa- tors of the Aerospace Education Services Program, Oklahoma State University. Writer: Gregory L. Vogt, Ed.D. Teaching From Space Program NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX Editor: Carla R. Rosenberg Teaching From Space Program NASA Headquarters Washington, DC Table of Contents How To Use This Guide ............................... 1 Activities and Demonstration Matrix ............. 2 Brief History of Rockets ................................ 3 Rocket Principles ......................................... 8 Practical Rocketry ...................................... 12 Activities and Demonstrations .................... 19 Glossary ..................................................... 40 NASA Educational Materials And Suggested Readings .......................... 41 NASA Educational Resources ................... 42 Evaluation Card ..................................... Insert ii How To Use This Guide vehiclesockets arein theexistence.oldest formEarlyofrocketsself-containedwere in use more than two thousand years ago. Over a long and exciting history, rockets have evolved from simple tubes filled with black powder into mighty vehicles capable of launching a spacecraft out into the galaxy. Few experiences can compare with the excitement and thrill of watching a rocket-powered vehicle, such as the Space Shuttle, thunder into space. Dreams of rocket flight to distant worlds fire the imagination of both children and adults. With some simple and inexpensive materials, you can mount an exciting and productive physical science unit about rockets for children, even if you don't know much about rockets yourself. The unit also has applications for art, chemistry, history, mathematics, and technology education. The many activities contained in this teaching guide emphasize hands-on involvement. It contains background information about the history of rockets and basic rocket science to make you an "expert." _-The guide begins with background information sections on the history of rocketry, scientific principles, and practical rocketry. The sections on scientific principles and practical rocketry are based on Isaac Newton's Three Laws of Motion. These laws explain why rockets work and how to make them more efficient. The background sections are followed with a series of physical science activities that demonstrate the basic science of rocketry. Each activity is designed to be simple and take advantage of inexpensive materials. Construction diagrams, material and tools lists, and instructions are included. A brief discussion elaborates on the concepts covered in the activities and is followed with teaching notes and discussion questions. Because many of the activities and demonstrations apply to more than one subject area, a matrix chart has been included on this page to assist in identifying opportunities for extended learning experiences. The chart identifies these subject areas by activity and demonstration title. In addition, many of the student activities encourage student problem- solving and cooperative learning. For example, students can use problem-solving to come up with ways to attach fins in the Bottle Rocket activity. Cooperative learning is a necessity in the Altitude Tracking and Balloon Staging activities. Thelengthof timeinvolvedforeachactivity A Note on Measurement anddemonstrationwillvaryaccordingto itsdegree of difficultyandthedevelopmentlevelof the In developing this guide, metric units of students.Generally,demonstrationswilltakejust measurement were employed. In a few exceptions, a fewminutesto complete.Withtheexceptionof notably within the "materials needed" lists, English theAltitudeTrackingactivity,mostactivitiescanbe units have been listed. In the United States, metric- completedin lessthanan hour. sized parts such as screws and wood stock are not Theguideconcludeswitha glossaryofterms, as accessible as their English equivalents. suggestedreadinglist,NASAeducational Therefore, English units have been used to facilitate resources,andan evaluationquestionnairewitha obtaining required materials. mailer. Activities and Demonstrations by Subject Area and Relationship to Newton's Laws of Motion Hero Engines 0 21 Rocket Pinwheel 23 Rocket Car 24 Water Rocket 0025 Bottle Rocket _ _ 27 Newton Car 0 29 Antacid Tablet Race O 31 Paper Rockets 0 32 Pencil "Rocket" 0 33 Balloon Staging • 35 Altitude Tracking 0 36 Brief History of humanoday's rocketsingenuity.are NASA'sremarkableSpacecollectionsShuttle, offor example, is one of the most complex flying Rockets machines ever invented. It stands upright on a launch pad, lifts off as a rocket, orbits Earth as a spacecraft, and returns to Earth as a gliding airplane. The Space Shuttle is a true spaceship. In a few years it will be joined by other spaceships. The European Space Agency is building the Hermes and Japan is building the HOPE. Still later may come aerospace planes that will take off from runways as airplanes, fly into space, and return as airplanes. The rockets and spaceships of today and the spaceships of the future have their roots in the science and technology of the past. They are natural outgrowths of literally thousands of years of experimentation and research on rockets and rocket propulsion. One of the first devices to successfully employ the principles essential to rocket flight was "" a wooden bird. In the writings of Aulus Gellius, Archytas who lived in the city of Tarentum, i,_ _.,_._/__ anowRoman,a partthereof southernis a storyItaly.of a SomewhereGreek named (l._// J_' around the year 400 B.C., Archytas mystified and amused the citizens of E.,,t'_ . Tarentum by flying a pigeon made of wood. It appears that the bird was suspended on wires and propelled along by escaping steam. The pigeon used the action-reaction principle that was not to be stated as a scientific law until the 17th century. About three hundred years after the pigeon, another Greek, Hero of Alexandria, invented a similar rocket-like device called an aeolipile. It, too, used steam as a propulsive gas. Hero mounted a sphere on top of a water kettle. A fire below the kettle turned the water into steam, and the gas traveled through pipes to the sphere. Two L-shaped tubes on opposite sides of the sphere allowed the gas to escape, and in doing so gave a thrust to the sphere that caused it to rotate. Just when the first true rockets appeared is unclear. Stories of early rocket like devices appear sporadically through the historical records of various cultures. Perhaps the first true rockets were accidents. In the first century A.D., the Chinese were reported to have had a simple form of gunpowder made from saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal dust. It was used mostly for fireworks in religious and other Hero Engine festive celebrations. Bamboo tubes were filled with themixtureandtossedintofiresto create Following the battle of Kai-Keng, the explosionsduringreligiousfestivals.It isentirely Mongols produced rockets of their own and may possiblethatsomeof thosetubesfailedto explode have been responsible for the spread of rockets to andinsteadskitteredoutofthefires,propelledby Europe. All through the 13th to the 15th centuries thegasesandsparksproducedbytheburning there were reports of many rocket experiments. In gunpowder. England, a monk named Roger Bacon worked on Itis certainthattheChinesebeganto improved forms of gunpowder that greatly increased experimentwiththegunpowder-filledtubes.At the range of rockets. In France, Jean Froissart somepoint,bambootubeswereattachedto arrows found that more accurate flights could be achieved andlaunchedwithbows. Soonitwasdiscovered by launching rockets through tubes. Froissart's idea thatthesegunpowdertubescouldlaunch was the forerunner of the modern bazooka. Joanes themselvesjustbythepowerproducedfromthe de Fontana of Italy designed a surface-running rocket-powered torpedo for setting enemy ships on fire. L> By the 16th century rockets fell into a time of Chinese Fire-Arrows escaping gas. The true rocket was born. The first date we know true rockets were used was the year 1232. At this time, the Chinese and the Mongols were at war with each other. Surface-Running Torpedo During the battle of Kai-Keng, the Chinese repelled disuse as weapons of war, though they were still the Mongol invaders by a barrage of "arrows of used for fireworks displays, and a German fireworks flying fire." These fire-arrows were a simple form of maker, Johann Schmidlap, invented the "step a solid-propellant rocket. A tube, capped at one rocket," a multi-staged vehicle for lifting fireworks to end, was filled with gunpowder. The other end was higher altitudes. A large sky rocket (first stage) left open and the tube was attached to a long stick. carried a smaller sky rocket (second stage). When When the powder was ignited, the rapid burning of the