Out to Launch: This IS Rocket SCIENCE!

Overview: Going into this lesson students have learned the mechanics and kinematics concepts from physics. They included force, motion, momentum, rotational mechanics, and conservation of energy. The students will spend time using video analysis software to analyze video clips of real videos of their rocket launch. VideoPoint Software lets you import video movies and then analyze them frame by frame to determine the objects speed, acceleration, energy and other data. Students will also use science probeware. Probeware is software that logs data from a measurement probe. The data is then downloaded to computer for analysis by the probeware software or spreadsheet.

Analysis of launch data
1. Students set up the high def camera pointed at the rocket launch area
2. The probeware is attached to the payload.
3. Students video the launch. A high speed camera will capture more frames (pictures) while the rocket accelerates away.

4. The video is prepared using the video capture software. They learn how to edit the video down to have appropriate number of frames
5. They will use Videopoint, and Probeware data software to measure the rockets speed and acceleration. They calculate the force, energy, and work done on bottle rocket.
6. They will find the height of the rocket and gain of potential energy involved.
7. Students also do statistical analysis of the launch data (height, mass) to find their rockets ranking compared to other groups rockets.

8. Presentations
Each group is responsible for presenting their findings to the entire class, as a conference. The groups will present their data, video and analysis using a computer. The team will critique their own design in the report. They will show the class how they gathered all data and how well their design worked including oversights and possible improvements. The other groups will rate the presentations for ease of understanding and thoroughness.

Evaluation: The teams will be evaluated on the applied physics, the thoroughness of the analysis and the the clarity of the presentation.