We made our parachute out of a plastic bio hazard bag. We then cut a out a square, folded it in half, then folded it in half again, then folded it into a triangle and then finally folded it into a triangle again. We had to cut off the excess piece to make a octagon. Then we put a piece of tape at each corner and punched out holes. We tied fishing line at each corner and connected them in the middle of the parachute, leaving some slack. We had to attach one more line that connects with the nose cone and the rocket.
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For the fins, we cut out squares of balsa wood that were 3 1/4 inch by 2 1/2 inches. Gabe then sanded the top of the fins down to make them curved. We then super glued the fins to the rocket. We plan to either glue or tape long streamers to the ends of each fin.
Our group is going to make a rocket with a 32cm body made of paper, fins and the piece that stops the motor from shooting up through the rocket will be made of balsa wood, and a nose cone made of a PVC head. We plan on wrapping the body 4 times to make it really strong. The body is 3.5 centimeters in diameter. The fins will be 3 1/4 inch by 2 1/2 inches and we will attach streamers to the bottom so that the rocket is festive. We will be using our final motor that we practiced making, the 20 gram black powder and the 5 gram sugar motor. Based on our data, our rocket should reach 886 feet. Our parachute will be made of plastic cloth material and will be in the shape of a hexagon. Our shock cord will be thin nylon rope.
Take Aways:One thing that I thought was really cool was when Andrew explained to us that our final motor could possibly be the right solution to NASA's Estes rocket. He told us that no one knows the right combination to their black power motor but that people assume that there could be some sugar in it too. I doubt what we made was like that but it was cool to learn that information. Rocket Data
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I went to Disney Land for my birthday this year and had something called Dole Whip. It was a form of pineapple ice cream. I was telling Gabe how cool it was and he explained that he had something similar but he couldn't remember the name so we looked it up and it turned out to be the same thing that I had. That's when we decided to try to make pineapple ice cream. All we really needed was a recipe and an ice cream machine. |
Looking Back:
Our experiment went pretty well actually and didn’t take a lot of time to do. We had to do a little preparation before putting using the ice cream machine. Because we wanted to make it pineapple, Gabe had to cook freshly chopped pineapple with sugar at a medium heat for 30 minutes for us to get a significant flavor. Once cooled it had to be ground into a puree. We then added heavy cream, half and half, and milk along with more sugar to finish off our mix. It had to sit over night so we could begin churning the next day. Once at school, we got out Andrew’s ice cream machine and started to make the pineapple ice cream. We ended up making 1 and a half quarts. It didn’t take as long as I expected really. It only took about 20 minutes to get it to the consistency that we wanted. We were somewhat worried about the freezing process though once the ice cream was made. We let it freeze for one class period which is about 45 minutes to an hour and so we thought that when we came back it would just be this frozen block but actually it was perfectly fine. We tried some and it wasn’t bad at all. It tasted like pineapple. A lot of people saw that we had ice cream so they tried some and loved it. It was all gone within 15 minutes.
Looking Inward:We got desirable results. The mixture turned into the exact consistency we wanted in no time. The only thing that could have been better was the recipe. We felt like we added to much heavy cream to the mixture so it gave a small aftertaste. It wasn't bad but it was noticeable. I think we got these results because we tried to recreate the recipe the best we could which got us a great ice cream flavor. I think I performed well in this experiment and Gabe performed well too. | Looking Beyond:Once the experiment was over, we researched why and how it became the consistency that it was and why it didn’t freeze solid. We found out that ice cream has 5 basic components; ice crystals, fat, sweeteners, air, and other solids. All of this is then used to make an emulsion - the process of combining different substances that in normal circumstances would separate from each other (like oil and vinegar) but instead turn into a smooth mixture. The basic understanding that we got from making the ice cream was, the reason why the ice cream became the smooth texture that it is was because it was slowly being mixed and frozen at the same time. Because it was being slowly frozen while moving, it kept the liquid from becoming fully solid and the ice crystals within the ice cream were frozen at different times which gave it its creamy texture. |
Looking Outward:
I worked with Gabe and Jackie. Gabe and I decided to make the ice cream and then Jackie got on board. We all worked well collaboratively. I helped the group with using the ice cream machine and set up and clean up. Gabe maded the recipe. We all researched together.
Looking Forward:
If we were to make this experiment again we would try using other ingredients as well as different consistencies to see how it would affect the making of the ice cream differently. We would also try using solid ingredients with the ice cream such as fruits, toppings and flavorings. Also we would change the recipe slightly by adding more pineapple and sugar than both the heavy cream and the half & half. We feel like this would've improved the flavor and maybe even the consistency.