Looking Back: What Happened?
I was in a group with Handy and Nick. We decided we didn't want to make a black powder motor and we didn't really want to make a regular sugar motor. We were originally going to make a crimson powder motor but another group made one and it didn't work that well. We decided our best option was to look up different kinds of sugar motors. We found a post about rocket candy motors and we thought it was pretty cool. We measured out the potassium nitrate, sorbitol and iron oxide, combined it then melted it down. We were able to make two motors per batch with some left over.
Looking Beyond: What Do You Think Has Happened? What's The Science?
We had only ever made a regular sugar motor before so we weren't too sure what would happen when we melted it down. When we first tested the extra bit we had left we were all amazed at how cool it was. As soon as we saw how well it performed we knew we were choosing that for our fuel.
Looking Inward: Humans Doing Science - Lab Practice
I believe we got desirable results. We had a couple motors perform better than others at times but we weren't really sure why. We had one motor that was a complete let down and we figured out it was because moisture had gotten into it. Overall though I believe we had a good test experience with rocket candy.
Looking Outward: Collaboration and Impact
When we made our very first rocket candy motor Nick wasn't there. We actually had another classmate with us, we originally were going to use rocket candy as a test just to see how it would perform. We didn't think we would end up choosing it as our fuel so when Nick came back it was a surprise to him. For the first few motors we had JP and Bradon help us out but soon we were able to make the fuel on our own. I mainly measured the powders and stirred them while they melting.
Looking Forward: What Next?
I am really wanting to play with rocket candy a little more. The fuel is very interesting and it can give you really good payoff depending on how you core it and how big the tube is. My group has already started talking about trying to find longer tubes so we can make a motor with a higher thrust capacity.
Take Aways
The thing I am taking away from this project is the knowledge about rocket candy, how it functions and how it's made. Rocket is a really good fuel if you know how to get it to it's full potential.
I was in a group with Handy and Nick. We decided we didn't want to make a black powder motor and we didn't really want to make a regular sugar motor. We were originally going to make a crimson powder motor but another group made one and it didn't work that well. We decided our best option was to look up different kinds of sugar motors. We found a post about rocket candy motors and we thought it was pretty cool. We measured out the potassium nitrate, sorbitol and iron oxide, combined it then melted it down. We were able to make two motors per batch with some left over.
Looking Beyond: What Do You Think Has Happened? What's The Science?
We had only ever made a regular sugar motor before so we weren't too sure what would happen when we melted it down. When we first tested the extra bit we had left we were all amazed at how cool it was. As soon as we saw how well it performed we knew we were choosing that for our fuel.
Looking Inward: Humans Doing Science - Lab Practice
I believe we got desirable results. We had a couple motors perform better than others at times but we weren't really sure why. We had one motor that was a complete let down and we figured out it was because moisture had gotten into it. Overall though I believe we had a good test experience with rocket candy.
Looking Outward: Collaboration and Impact
When we made our very first rocket candy motor Nick wasn't there. We actually had another classmate with us, we originally were going to use rocket candy as a test just to see how it would perform. We didn't think we would end up choosing it as our fuel so when Nick came back it was a surprise to him. For the first few motors we had JP and Bradon help us out but soon we were able to make the fuel on our own. I mainly measured the powders and stirred them while they melting.
Looking Forward: What Next?
I am really wanting to play with rocket candy a little more. The fuel is very interesting and it can give you really good payoff depending on how you core it and how big the tube is. My group has already started talking about trying to find longer tubes so we can make a motor with a higher thrust capacity.
Take Aways
The thing I am taking away from this project is the knowledge about rocket candy, how it functions and how it's made. Rocket is a really good fuel if you know how to get it to it's full potential.