We utilized the water rocket for this class to teach about two things we do in industry on a regular basis, trade studies and optimization. We had three water rockets; one with fins and a nose cone, one with a nose cone and no fins, and one with no fins and no nose cone. With these three different designs we were going to run each of them at 3 different water levels to see which design was optimal at each water level. The trade off for the nose cone was aerodynamics vs. weight and for the fins was stability vs. weight. The students measured the height of the rocket with a protractor gun. Because they didn't know sine and cosine yet we just used the angle as an indication of the height. We were able to get through this lesson in an hour and the data showed some interesting results! Below is the graph we came up with.
It worked out so nicely! You can see that at every water level the rocket with no nose cone or fins went the highest. When you add a nose cone and/or fins any benefit they may add is canceled out and actually hindered by their weight. In addition, you will notice that 1 L seems to be the best option for what we tested. What do you think the optimal water level is?
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