Ping Pong Parachute B/C

[Unome]

That doesn't stop a team from trying a pressure that is too high during their testing. An exploding bottle can be dangerous, a maximum pressure would not give teams incentive to try any higher.

As an event supervisor, I'm also not going to trust the logs that any teams bring. I know especially at invitationals and regionals, a lot of them are made up (some of them probably the morning of).

There's also going to be statistical variation in the actual pressure that a bottle fails at, and there may even be weakening over multiple cycles. Just because a bottle handles 100 psi once doesn't mean it will continue to.

I thought much the same thing (in a less sophisticated internal monologue ) when I heard about this at SOSI.

So - this (lack of maximum pressure specification) is intentional?

I didn't bring that up since there were a lot of other people bringing up similar stuff, so I'm not certain - to me, it feels like an attempt to really push to make the event work. They were going to reexamine several points in the draft rules, but I haven't had an opportunity to read the rules closely yet.

[SergioEdwards]

I actually did this event as a trial two years ago and we were only allowed to load to 40psi. I found that this gets it up pretty high and we got about 13-15 second launches. I'm hoping to get 30ish second launches this year! good luck everyone!

[DaSun]

When you build a launcher for testing, can you use any type of release mechanism such as two nails holding the lip of the bottle and such?

[CookiePie1]

When you build a launcher for testing, can you use any type of release mechanism such as two nails holding the lip of the bottle and such?

You can and you should. At NJ states the launcher had a mechanism that clamped down the bottle and released it when you pulled on a string. There are no limitations on your testing apparatus, but you should def be able to control what pressure you release at.

[flembo17]

Has anyone figured out a method to measure the height your rocket reaches? I've been playing around with the idea and was wondering if anyone has figured anything out that works well.

[MTV<=>Operator]

Has anyone figured out a method to measure the height your rocket reaches? I've been playing around with the idea and was wondering if anyone has figured anything out that works well.

We don't have a perfectly accurate way right now, but we will be testing in our school gym next to the wall. The wall has tiles that go up to the ceiling and since we know the dimensions of each tile and the space in between, we should be able to tell approximately how high it went with a slow motion video. We haven't started testing yet, so I can't tell you how well this works, but it's an idea for now.

[samy-oak-tree]

I was thinking we would use a string attached to the bottle, which would allow us to measure how high the bottle rocket goes without using a slo mo camera.

[Aristotle]

Would the use of a verical deployment tomy timer for the parachute be a "elastic powered flight assist"?

[samy-oak-tree]

Would the use of a verical deployment tomy timer for the parachute be a "elastic powered flight assist"?

The website describing the VDTT explains it as "A plunger powered by rubberbands..."

So I'd say yes, it's an elastic powered flight assist.

[Airco2020]

Are there plans anywhere to build the launcher? Haven't done this one before and coaches don't have the launcher.