Bottle Rocket B

[Fanglin]

oops, sorry about the size of the image...

[geo101]

Is it possible to have a bottle rocket on which the cone portion of the rocket comes off in flight, but remains attached to the rocket with a string?

[Fanglin]

No, the rocket mustn't change shape inflight.

[Alexcazam]

First time for us to compete in Middle School Science Olympiad and meeting with our coach for the 1st time next week so lots of questions...

Competition parameters say no recovery system, but does that mean a parachute is excluded? I figure that a parachute is essential to this event and saw someone said you can, but hate to get DQed if not.

Anyone know?

On many of the example photos, more than just a single 2 liter bottle are used. Looks like a lot of long tube pieces, where do you buy those? Can I put anything additional on as long as not metal/sharp, etc.

Which type of 2 liter bottle brands do you like to use the most for this event?

Jenn

i use coke bottles

[asthedeer]

First time for us to compete in Middle School Science Olympiad and meeting with our coach for the 1st time next week so lots of questions...

Competition parameters say no recovery system, but does that mean a parachute is excluded? I figure that a parachute is essential to this event and saw someone said you can, but hate to get DQed if not.

Anyone know?

On many of the example photos, more than just a single 2 liter bottle are used. Looks like a lot of long tube pieces, where do you buy those? Can I put anything additional on as long as not metal/sharp, etc.

Which type of 2 liter bottle brands do you like to use the most for this event?

Jenn

i use coke bottles

Technically, @Alexcazam, we *don't* use Coke bottles, because of the weird ridging/shaping of the bottles...we use bottles that are entirely round, which we've found to work better.

@JennFolsom-
No, parachutes are not allowed. However, bottle rockets seem to float fairly well even without parachutes.
Tube pieces...are usually flat thin pieces of plastic rolled up, either into a tube shape or in a cone shape. They balance out the weight of the bottle, help stabilize the rocket, and help it to float. We got our plastic at a printer's shop; it was the plastic for over head projectors.
I'm not sure what you mean by "anything additional"...but I don't think you would need anything in particular.
As I mentioned earlier, we tend to shy away from bottles shaped like this-
http://media3.picsearch.com/is?RdU5Ier4 ... height=255
but instead veer towards bottles shaped like this-
http://media3.picsearch.com/is?j-uulpvJ ... height=240
just because we found them to fly better.

Hope this helps!

[mso]

As per Rule book Survival is defined as an egg leaving no wet spot on paper towel. If egg just cracks but doesn't wet the paper towel, is it considered as survival of egg.

In the last invitational it happened for one of my rocket launch and it was considered under tier 2 scoring because of this, does anyone has similar situation.

[gelinasdynamickid]

I am getting times around 13 seconds. Anyone else want to share?

[SenseiSushi]

I am getting times around 13 seconds. Anyone else want to share?

That seems like a solid score if you're getting it consistently. However at nationals last year I heard one team got two or three minutes which is insane (granted they didn't have eggs last year).

[Jaol]

I am getting times around 13 seconds. Anyone else want to share?

That seems like a solid score if you're getting it consistently. However at nationals last year I heard one team got two or three minutes which is insane (granted they didn't have eggs last year).

seadog wrote:
Hello...Does anyone have the top 6 or 10 scores for Bottle Rocket at Nats?
It was a pity that it was really windy in spurts through the morning. It was hard to tell whether the better times were due to wind or not.


51
46
45.3
45.2
44
42
Err.... Are you sure? These are the real scores.

[SenseiSushi]

I am getting times around 13 seconds. Anyone else want to share?

That seems like a solid score if you're getting it consistently. However at nationals last year I heard one team got two or three minutes which is insane (granted they didn't have eggs last year).

seadog wrote:
Hello...Does anyone have the top 6 or 10 scores for Bottle Rocket at Nats?
It was a pity that it was really windy in spurts through the morning. It was hard to tell whether the better times were due to wind or not.


51
46
45.3
45.2
44
42
Err.... Are you sure? These are the real scores.

I'm fairly certain the high wind speeds had a part to play in the scores. We shot our rockets in the morning and I remember the wind knocking some rockets a few streets over.