Maximum horizontal distance competition

[Avnish]

Question!

Suppose I make two rockets.

One with a 1.5l bottle with a nose cone on top
Second with a 1.5l bottle having another same 1.5l bottle on top and then the same nosecone as the previous case

Keeping the dry mass of both the Rockets same and then using the same parameters in both the cases, which of these would travel farthest.
P. S - The pressure chamber is equal in both the Rockets.

Thanks in advance!

[bugwubber]

It's hell busy here. And unfortunately, I won't get much time for testing. 1.5 hours at max. Way too congested here :sigh:

Know what you mean. My weekend was spent replacing the kitchen sink with a much larger one that required extensive modifications to the cabinet. No time for anything else until that was done!

[Avnish]

No cabinets here but I had loads of assignments and reports. That too for every subject. Still a few left

What about the question btw :p

[Water Rocket Expert]

In my opinion, the one that is more stable is going further. Probably the one with the two bottles, but then if the other one is very stable (not over stable, yes that does exist!) it may go further.

[bugwubber]

No cabinets here but I had loads of assignments and reports. That too for every subject. Still a few left

What about the question btw :p

Sorry missed your question.

The longer rocket would be better, and you would be able to reduce the ballast in the nosecone required to keep it stable.

[Water Rocket Expert]

Bugwubber is correct as he restated what I said.

[U.S. Water Rockets1]

The dry mass is not given, so in theory there could be no winner. If you put 150 pounds of ballast in each rocket, then neither one would move at all, so it would be a tie.

This is just a thought experiment to get you to think about all of the variables involved. Making the rocket longer is going to make it more stable and it will fly farther, BUT there may be some situations where the weight makes a difference. Tweaking each size rocket for optimum performance means that each one has a "best" weight that makes that size rocket work to the maximum of the design. For example, the long right with no ballast may not go as far as the short one with 100g in the nose because the long one may be too light.

The lesson here is that you should tune the rocket in all ways to make it perform best, there is no one parameter that will make a rocket the best.

[Water Rocket Expert]

He is asking which one is easiest to make go the furthest. Of course you could try to life a horse but he needs to be practical and know which usually works better.

[Avnish]

Guys

Secured the first position!!
Yayyyyyy!!

Got 127.5 meters at 90psi

Thanks everyone

[Water Rocket Expert]

Whoa, are you serious??? I was expecting more like 50 meters at the most with a 1.5 liter but hey whatever you say!

[bugwubber]

Guys

Secured the first position!!
Yayyyyyy!!

Got 127.5 meters at 90psi

Thanks everyone

Awesome! Congratulations! Would love to see a picture of your rocket if you are able to post it.