Science Fair project... research material

[WillyK]

To all,

My youngest (Grade 6 student) is incorporating rocketry in his Grade 6 Science Fair project (ahh... Dad's influence has finally won over!!!).

He's going to determine IF it matters what a rocket's fin shapes are; and maybe IF the number of fins matters. Which one flies the highest.

Dad's trying to keep his fingers out of it, so I'm encouraging him to read / research what he can on his own as to what influences "how high does a rocket go".

This will allow him to accurately define what his variables are; what should be controlled, and what should be left variable in his experiments.

Looking for recommendations for a Grade 6 reading level (books, web links, etc.) that would touch on these points that I can direct him to.

Again, thanks for all inputs.

... Bill

(still... ModRoc guy)

 

[user 13]

My son did the same project a few years ago. He used 3 FatBoys. Stock fins, oval fins, triangular fins. The weight was balanced for all 3. All three were launched on an A8, B6, and C6. The altitude was recorded with the Estes angular gauge.

Rocksim was used to sim the flights. The computer models were compared to the real data.

Apogee had some good info on their web site.

Have fun with it, good luck.