Water rockets have used many times to test and explore the fundamental principles of physics. To understand what determines how far a water rocket may fly or how a rocket may even lift off, it is important to delve into the deeper detail; the forces acting in play. Newtons Laws govern the central principles regarding the physical forces which may act on a particular object in space. There are three laws which were developed by Sir Isaac Newton in 1686, when he published his book Principia Mathematica Philosophiae Naturalis (NASA, 2015).
Newton’s Law One states that ‘Every object persists in its state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line unless it is compelled to change to state by forces impressed on it’ (National …show more content…
For a constant mass, force equals mass times acceleration’ (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2015). Force in this rule refers to a push or pull force on an object which results in movement of the object. A force is caused by an interaction between two objects in space. Force is measured in newtons, abbreviated by the simple symbol N. To understand the force of 1N it is looked at in the formula: 1 Newton= 1kg x 1ms-2 of acceleration. Force is a vector which is a directional arrow; meaning that force is only applied in conjunction with direction. An object is considered to have a net force acting on it if there is an unbalanced force, e.g. 20N force right and a 50N force left would result in a 30N force left.
Newton’s Law Three states ‘For every action, there is an equal and opposite re-action’ (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2015). This explains the concept of interactions between objects. Whenever objects A and B interact with each other, they exert forces upon each other (The Physics Classroom, …show more content…
In this equation mass refers to the mass of the bottle (including water) and force refers to the drag force exerted by the expelling of water. As there is constant removal water the mass will be decreasing which affects the acceleration. If looked at mathematically, if the drag force is constant and is constantly divided by the mass which is declining the acceleration will escalate. Acceleration will continue until the water is finished and there is no mass or drag force.
NEWTONS LAW THREE APPPLIED TO WATER ROCKETS
Newtons Law Three claims that for every action in one direction there is a reaction in the opposite direction. The first action is the removal of water from the bottle in the downward direction; the drag force. The reaction which took place was the thrust which created an upward movement, in the opposite direction. Below is a diagram which demonstrates this explanation. Fuel is the water in this scenario. Newton’s Third Law Rocket Engine Thrust (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2015)
ANALYSIS OF GRAPHS
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