Crash-n-Burn
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- Aug 14, 2014
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Our local elementary school is looking for presenters for Science Day. Given the circumstance in the community that I am a known rocketman, naturally I was targeted to present. I gladly accepted.
I found some nice material from Estes, NAR, NASA and others. The Beginners and Education section of this forum is quite valuable for finding material. I have 45 minutes to present content of my choice to 5th grade students. I have to run the presentation twice - once to each class of 22 children.
The school has a poor option for a demonstration flight because of facility remodeling. I would, however, like to have some kind of interactive experience. My local club is about an hour away, and given that the presentation is during traditional work hours and limited to indoor activities I am hesitant to involve them. So that sets the problem statement as an indoor, one-man interactive experience lasting 45 minutes that is age-appropriate.
I am gravitating to Newton's Third Law. I can present on the basics of how a rocket works in terms of thrust v. drag and gravity. I would like to leave the kids with the concept that rockets motors do not work by pushing off on the ground or air surrounding the rocket. Then I can set up a string track for three balloons with different nozzle sizes to demonstrate how nozzle size affects pressurization within the balloon (motor) and contributes to thrust.
I'll also bring along a sampling of large rockets for eye candy.
Thoughts? Ideas? Alternatives? Watch-outs? Honestly my biggest concern is running into some belligerent little brat carrying on about how Kyrie Irving says the earth is flat.
I found some nice material from Estes, NAR, NASA and others. The Beginners and Education section of this forum is quite valuable for finding material. I have 45 minutes to present content of my choice to 5th grade students. I have to run the presentation twice - once to each class of 22 children.
The school has a poor option for a demonstration flight because of facility remodeling. I would, however, like to have some kind of interactive experience. My local club is about an hour away, and given that the presentation is during traditional work hours and limited to indoor activities I am hesitant to involve them. So that sets the problem statement as an indoor, one-man interactive experience lasting 45 minutes that is age-appropriate.
I am gravitating to Newton's Third Law. I can present on the basics of how a rocket works in terms of thrust v. drag and gravity. I would like to leave the kids with the concept that rockets motors do not work by pushing off on the ground or air surrounding the rocket. Then I can set up a string track for three balloons with different nozzle sizes to demonstrate how nozzle size affects pressurization within the balloon (motor) and contributes to thrust.
I'll also bring along a sampling of large rockets for eye candy.
Thoughts? Ideas? Alternatives? Watch-outs? Honestly my biggest concern is running into some belligerent little brat carrying on about how Kyrie Irving says the earth is flat.