For our experiment we took some paper and wrapped it tightly around a dowel and held it tight through the means of masking tape. We then took a small ball of aluminum foil and pounded it into a cap inside the makeshift paper housing. With that completed, we added the fuel which was a finely ground mixture of 65% Potassium Nitrate and 35% sugar. We pounded it even more into the tube and capped it off again with another piece of aluminum foil, finally closing it with more tape. Then, we simply drilled a bit to add the fuse and took it out into the field for take off! Some of them really flew!
Our rocket was one of the many that did not survive takeoff. Instead it sat in the launcher, hissed and produced smoke like the last batch of rocket motors. After that it then proceeded to catch on fire and burn out, sadly Mr. Smiley Rocket Man could not be rescued in time. He will be missed.
When the fuse was lit, it added energy to the packed potassium nitrate and sugar mixture inside the rocket engine. The energy was then used to break apart the different molecules and they reformed into new molecules. The solid mixture became a lot of gas very quickly and all that gas, pressure, and heat escaped through the opening in the bottom cap of the engine.
Our results were not desirable as ours did not even launch. I feel like I personally may have caused this failure though. When we pounded the first cap into the tube, I saw a very small hole in the corner, to counteract this I pounded another aluminum cap onto the first to fill the hole. This caused problems when drilling the opening to put the fuse in, and I feel like this may have caused the cap to come off early and the rocket to fail.
As much of a surprise as it may be, I worked again with my table mates (mostly Isaiah and Joseph), to build our rockets. I felt like we did get distracted at times but for the most part worked well together.
If I could do this again, I would make sure that the cap and everything was ready the first time, so that results would not be any worse than expected. If possible, I would redo how we drilled also because I feel like it may have also been faulty with too large an opening.
Well I learned that I should make sure that everything is good and ready to go the first time through so that repetition is not needed. This is an important lesson for everything really, make sure that your work is well done the first time through so you don't have to come back and re-edit later.