Egg-O-Naut

Mario Palmietto

Rules Overview

1 liter or smaller plastic carbonated beverage bottles.

Openings on the bottles must be 2.2 cm inside diameter

May bring up to two rocketsLabels may or may not be removed. If

removed, must be presented at the safety inspection to confirm it is a carbonated beverage bottle

Rules Overview

The integrity of the pressure vessel must not be compromised, i.e., no hot glue, no sanding, no super glue, no cuts. Acceptable glues are polyurethane based adhesives and tapes

Metal can be used, but may not contact the pressure vessel. No sharp or pointed metal components or rigid spikes allowed on the end

Rules Overview

No commercial rocket partsAll rockets will be launched using the

launcher provided by the supervisorAll fins and other add-ons must be at least

2 cm above the level of the flange on the bottle’s neck

All energy will be from water/air pressure. No other potential kinetic source of energy is permitted

Samples of Launchers

NERDS Inc.

Pitsco

Make your own…

Rules Overview

The supervisor will provide the egg and it will be marked in a way that will insure that teams are using the eggs provided.

Rockets must be built so that the egg is easily removed. Nothing may be adhered to the egg.

Rules Overview

The rocket and each part that is intended to separate must be clearly marked so that it can be identified by the team and judge.

The part of the rocket containing the Egg-o-naut should be brightly colored if it is to detach from the rocket.

Launching

Teams must bring and wear spectacles/goggles for loading, launching and retrieving their rockets and Egg-o-nauts. After inspection of each rocket, teams will receive 1 egg per rocket, add water and load their egg in the rocket.

Once called to launch, teams will have a total of 5 minutes to launch 1 or 2 rockets (only 1 launch per rocket). Teams may launch second rocket before retrieval of first egg-o-naut.

Launching

All rockets will be launched at 60 psi. Once the rocket is pressurized, students may not touch or approach the rocket.

Time aloft will be recorded to the nearest hundredth of a second. Timing starts when launched from the launcher and stops when the Egg-O-Naut or portion of the rocket containing the egg touches the ground, comes to rest on a tree, building or other obstruction, or goes out of sight. 3 timers are preferred.

Scoring

Teams will retrieve their rockets and show the rocket or capsule with the Egg-O-Naut to an event inspector. The Egg-O-Naut capsule or wrapping must be opened in the presence of an event official.

If the Egg-O-Naut or portion of the rocket containing the egg that completely detaches from the pressure vessel will receive a 3 second bonus. Any type of free fall recovery system is allowed.

Rocket parts that do not remained linked while aloft will not be disqualified or penalized.

Scoring

Egg-O-Nauts that can be retrieved and survive will receive a 15 second bonus. Survival is defined as not cracking the egg enough to leave a wet spot on a paper towel. If the Egg-O-Naut cannot be retrieved, it will not receive the 15 second bonus

The rocket score is the time aloft plus the bonus seconds for the Egg-O-Naut capsule separation and bonus seconds for the survival. The rocket with the best time will be the score for the team

Scoring

Construction violations will be scored as followed:Rockets that violate a safety related

construction rule will not be launched and will receive only participation points

Teams having other construction violations will be ranked below other teams

Tiebreakers will be the better score of the other rocket

Recovery Systems

ParachutesSHAPE: Round, Rectangular, Airfoil… which is

best?MATERIAL: Plastic (dry cleaning bags,

tablecloth, drop cloth), Paper, Space Blanket, Cloth???

CONNECTION: More strings or less?DEPOYMENT: Passive or Active?PACKING: How to fold the chute

Consistency is key!

Rocket Key Points

Primary PrinciplesCenter of Pressure

Point that is aerodynamic center. This is the point where the aerodynamic forces acting on the rocket in front of this point is equal to the forces acting behind this point during normal flight. Calculated through wind tunnel or driving with rocket out window of car

Center of GravityThe point at which the rocket balances

Center of Lateral AreaPoint along the rocket where if you attach a pivot and hold

in the wind it would neither point into or away from the wind

Rocket Key Points

CLA, CP & CG RelationshipCLA and CP are nearly the same for short fat rocketsThe CLA and CP are far apart in long skinny rocketsThe CG must be above the CP for stable flightThe CG must be below the CLA to prevent lawn dartsTo increase thrust, increase CPTo increase fin area decrease CPLower fins decreases CPRaise fins increases CP

Rocket Key Points

Raise fins will increase CLAMake longer rocket increases CLAReduce fin cross area increases CLA

Websites

Nationals Science Olympiad http://soinc.org/

NASA http://exploration.grc.nasa.gov/education/rocket/BottleRocket/about.htm

Back glide Construction http://waterrocket.uh-lab.de/backglide.htm

General Resource and Information http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/pagrosse/h2oRocketindex.htm http://www.et.byu.edu/~wheeler/benchtop/

A Construction site http://www.lnhs.org/hayhurst/rockets/