Using Model Rockets to Think Like an Engineer!

https://www1.grc.nasa.gov/beginners-guide-to-aeronautics/model-rocket-engine-performance/#model-rocket-performance 

Visit the above link, read the article, and play around with the model rocket simulations. How are the model rockets different from each other, and how does that change the amount of thrust they produce? Some rockets produce similar amounts of thrust, but when they produce that thrust is very different (immediately vs over a longer period of time). Why might this be the case? This lab is a demonstration of one of the key facts of engineering: that even small tweaks change performance greatly. Goddard struggled with this throughout his process of developing his liuid fuel rocket, and if you become an engineer one day, you will as well!

For students who want a bit more of a challenge:
In our rocket math lesson, we defined specific impulse as  I = ∫F dt. The squiggly symbol is an integral, which simply represents the area under a graph, in this case, area under a graph with time on the x axis, and force on the y axis. Using this definition, estimate the area under each of the model rocket curves, and try to figure out which model rocket has the largest specific impulse (and thus the rocket that can be said to be most efficient).