Welcome to
Rocket Science,
It's Not "Rocket Science"!
University of Dundee Physics Outreach Project
Launching a rocket game
Moon Landing
game
Re-entry
game
What is Rocket Science?
You may have seen rockets before in your favourite films or games but have you ever wondered how they actually work?
It seems really complicated, doesn't it? But don't worry, that's why we're here!
We will take you through a rocket's journey from launching from Earth to flying in space!
We will explain the physics at two important stages in the rocket's journey, BEFORE the rocket launches from Earth and AFTER the rocket has launched.
On our website, you will find lots of interesting information, interactive games and some cool experiments for you to do at home!
Come along for the ride!
DIFFERENT STAGES OF A ROCKET'S JOURNEY
Before Launch:
NEWTON'S 3 LAWS OF MOTION
Objects at rest will stay at rest and objects in constant motion in a straight line will stay in constant motion in a straight line, unless acted on by an unbalanced force.
NEWTON'S FIRST LAW
Objects at rest will stay at rest and objects in constant motion in a straight line will stay in constant motion in a straight line, unless acted on by an unbalanced force.
Newton's first Law describes the forces acting on a rocket.
When the rocket is waiting to launch, the forces are balanced. This means that the forces acting on the rocket are equal in size. The force pushing down on the rocket due to gravity (the weight) is equal to the force pushing up on the rocket from the ground.
When it is time for LIFT OFF, the engines are switched on and this creates a very large force pushing upwards! The force pushing up due to the engines is larger than the force pushing down from gravity. This causes the forces to be unbalanced because they aren't the same size anymore! Since the force due to the engines is the largest and this force is pushing UP, the rocket starts to move UP and we have LIFT OFF!!!
The force is equal to the mass times the acceleration
NEWTON'S SECOND LAW
Newton's second law tells us about how the force and the mass affect the acceleration of the rocket.
If we have a rocket with a very large mass, the force that we need to give the rocket a certain acceleration will have to be bigger than the force needed to give a rocket with a smaller mass the same acceleration.
For example, this would be like if you were to push a ping pong ball and a bowling ball with the same force, the ping pong ball would accelerate more than the bowling ball. This is because the ping pong ball has a much smaller mass than the bowling ball.
f = m x a
NEWTON'S THIRD LAW
Newton's third law can also help us understand how a rocket launches.
As we have discussed in Newton's first law, a rocket sitting on the launchpad is at rest, since the forces acting on it are balanced.
When the rocket's engines are switched on, gas is pushed downwards from the rocket.
Newton's third law tells us that every action has an equal yet opposite reaction. So the action of the rocket pushing fuel downwards on the ground produces an equal reaction force but in the opposite direction. This means that the fuel exerts a force pushing upwards on the rocket. We call this force thrust.
When the thrust (the force pushing up from the rocket fuel) is greater than the force of gravity (the force that pulls the rocket downwards), the forces become unbalanced and the rocket begins to accelerate up into the sky! [4]
For every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction
After the Rocket Launch
Take a look at how rockets escape Earth's gravity and how they fly into outer space!
ORBITS
Now that the rocket has been launched, the speed at which it's launched can determine how far it'll go. In some cases, rockets are sent on orbital missions but what is an orbit?
An orbit is the path that an object takes in space when it goes around a star, a planet, or a moon.
Rockets aren't the only things that travel in orbits. Moons, planets and man-made satellites are all examples of objects that travel in orbits.
There are different types of orbits like elliptical orbits (oval shaped), but a lot of the moons and planets in our solar system actually orbit in almost circular paths.
ESCAPE VELOCITIES
Gravity is all around us. Every single object on Earth is pulled down because of the force of gravity. That's why things fall after they're thrown upwards.
So if a rocket is sent further into space, it must travel at a very special speed so that it can escape gravity's pull and fly away into the universe!
To find out more on escape velocities, click here
RE-ENTRY
When a rocket re-enters Earth’s atmosphere, the temperature in the air increases to the point, where the air molecules turn into plasma (air, filled with electrically charged particles). Engineers take this into account when designing the outer structure of the rocket and use heat shields to stop the intense heat from damaging the rocket.
The speed at which the rocket travels when entering the atmosphere is also very important!
To find out exactly what happens during re-entry, click here
Mission Badge Project
When NASA astronauts are getting ready for a new space mission, they design Mission Badges! Mission Badges are really important as they bring the teams together! Every mission to the International Space Station has their own mission patch. Usually, badges will include the names of the people going on the mission and will show some sort of image of what the mission is for. These patches are then worn by the astronauts on their space suits!
Your mission: Try to design your own patch as if you were an astronaut going on a mission! Use the template provided, and don’t forget to add lots of colours as well as your name(s)!
Here are some examples of real mission badges worn by NASA astronauts:
