Bottle Rocket aka "Its Got Potential"

Launch Attempts

There were 2 parachute deployment systems that were created. The first one was a complicated pendulum system that used a string and an internal weight to detect when the rocket had flipped. Unfortunately the airforce prevented the cap from falling off therefore the rocket crashed and the system got destroyed. The second system was a more simple and clever design. It relied on the fact that the rocket would be approximately stationary at the top and that there would be no force acting on the nose cone. This meant the internal balloon and external rubber band pulling on the side flap would overcome the outside air force and push the nose cone off which would push the parachute out. The side flap was connected to a hair pin flap so that prior to launch, the nose cone would be held in place, but immediately at the beginning of the launch, the hair pin flap would get pushed down and the only thing stopping the nose cone from popping off was the air force during flight. Unfortunately, we put the parachute below the balloon which prevented it from deploying properly so this version also crashed. If we switched the order so the parachute was sitting on top of the balloon, it would have worked. Another reason that the parachute may have not fully deployed was that it was stuck due to static electricity/friction since it was such a large piece of a garbage bag. Changing the material may have led to better results. Unfortunately we were not allowed to test prior to our test launches so it was just us using our best judgement. In grade 11, I did not think that the material choice mattered so much but looking back now, it clearly does.

Final Product Pictures

Here are pictures of the final product.