How High Will My Rocket Go?

[Water Rocket Expert]

I have made a water rocket out of club soda bottles and it is about 4 liters. The bottles are just about the same diameter as a 1 liter soda bottle and the nozzle is the standard 22mm bottle neck opening. I am pressurizing it to 100-120 psi. How high should it go? Do you think it might go 500 feet. I have no altimeter so I will be relying on video footage to estimate compared to other peoples videos and altitudes. How high should it go? Explain please. I am a water rocket kid (14 years old) with about three year experience but still have no altimeter.


Thanks

[bugwubber]

I have made a water rocket out of club soda bottles and it is about 4 liters. The bottles are just about the same diameter as a 1 liter soda bottle and the nozzle is the standard 22mm bottle neck opening. I am pressurizing it to 100-120 psi. How high should it go? Do you think it might go 500 feet. I have no altimeter so I will be relying on video footage to estimate compared to other peoples videos and altitudes. How high should it go? Explain please. I am a water rocket kid (14 years old) with about three year experience but still have no altimeter.


Thanks

Have you stopped by the simulators page? There's some good programs on there for estimating your rocket's performance.

Bugwubber

[Water Rocket Expert]

Yeah I have but I don't know if there accurate. Do you know how high a rocket like this tends to go. It's about 4 feet tall. Also, can you give me instructions on a parachute system. I was using a foam foot ball in the nose cone but I think that can't even take the impact of 80 mph! Please help

[WRA2]

I have made a water rocket out of club soda bottles and it is about 4 liters. The bottles are just about the same diameter as a 1 liter soda bottle and the nozzle is the standard 22mm bottle neck opening. I am pressurizing it to 100-120 psi. How high should it go? Do you think it might go 500 feet. I have no altimeter so I will be relying on video footage to estimate compared to other peoples videos and altitudes. How high should it go? Explain please. I am a water rocket kid (14 years old) with about three year experience but still have no altimeter.


Thanks

Have you stopped by the simulators page? There's some good programs on there for estimating your rocket's performance.

Bugwubber

http://www.wra2.org/Water_Rocket_Simula ... _Links.php

[Water Rocket Expert]

I would prefer if air command would reply but anyone very knowledgeable is okay. Does anyone know if a 22mm nozzle is too big for a 4 liter rocket. I will probably put 1.4 liters in the rocket.

[WRA2]

I would prefer if air command would reply but anyone very knowledgeable is okay. Does anyone know if a 22mm nozzle is too big for a 4 liter rocket. I will probably put 1.4 liters in the rocket.

For a rocket made from "club soda" bottles, I see no reason why a 22mm nozzle would be a problem. A point to remember is the smaller diameter the overall rocket is, the more it will benefit from a larger nozzle (less drag at the higher speed the bigger nozzle will get the rocket moving).

[U.S. Water Rockets1]

I would prefer if air command would reply but anyone very knowledgeable is okay. Does anyone know if a 22mm nozzle is too big for a 4 liter rocket. I will probably put 1.4 liters in the rocket.

There was an episode of Mythbusters on a few years back that had this little rocket made from an 8 foot polycarbonate fluorescent tube protective cover that set the world altitude record of 1,696 feet using a 22mm nozzle. If you do the math, a tube that size is around 3 liters. So, it should be safe to say that a 22mm nozzle is fine for your rocket. One could make a case based on the available data that 22mm might possibly be on a small size for a rocket of 4 liters volume.