rocketgeek101
Well-Known Member
I'm calling this a rocket motor for lack of a better term (though I'm sure one of you will come up with one...)
I have the opportunity to design my own physics experiment at a University. I have this idea to do it on comparing different sizes of rocket nozzles and how it affects the thrust. Since this has to be able to be preformed indoors, for the "rocket motor" I'm hoping on just using compressed air as the "fuel". My idea is to build a cylindrical airtight chamber that is attached to some sort of pump or air compressor. And have various conical nozzles with different opening sizes that can be interchanged. I would attach this chamber to a force sensor and use that to measure the thrust produced when air is pushed through the nozzle (see diagram).
I'm wondering if this would work? I built a prototype (pictured below) and connecting it to a hand pump and pumping as hard as I could, I could only produce enough thrust to inch a lightweight DVD case across the floor, which I'm worried may not be enough to produce any usable data or see any difference between nozzles.
I'd also be interested in seeing any resources about rocket nozzles and how they affect the thrust.
Sorry if this is coming off kind of newbie-ish. I've been building and flying rockets for years now, but this is the first time I've tried to understand what some of the math behind it is.
Sent from my iPad using Rocketry Forum
I have the opportunity to design my own physics experiment at a University. I have this idea to do it on comparing different sizes of rocket nozzles and how it affects the thrust. Since this has to be able to be preformed indoors, for the "rocket motor" I'm hoping on just using compressed air as the "fuel". My idea is to build a cylindrical airtight chamber that is attached to some sort of pump or air compressor. And have various conical nozzles with different opening sizes that can be interchanged. I would attach this chamber to a force sensor and use that to measure the thrust produced when air is pushed through the nozzle (see diagram).
I'm wondering if this would work? I built a prototype (pictured below) and connecting it to a hand pump and pumping as hard as I could, I could only produce enough thrust to inch a lightweight DVD case across the floor, which I'm worried may not be enough to produce any usable data or see any difference between nozzles.
I'd also be interested in seeing any resources about rocket nozzles and how they affect the thrust.
Sorry if this is coming off kind of newbie-ish. I've been building and flying rockets for years now, but this is the first time I've tried to understand what some of the math behind it is.
Sent from my iPad using Rocketry Forum