Rocket launcher. Drawing, description

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Rocket launcher. Children's Science Lab

Children's Science Lab

The control panel button sinks under the operator's finger. Searchlights flash, illuminating the runway. The start signal flashes nervously. The boarding ladder rolls back. There is a loud bang ... and the rocket, sliding along the guides, rushes into another flight.

... If you boil a few grams of water in a segment of a metal tube, in which one hole is sealed and the second is plugged with a cork, then the vapor pressure created inside the tube will knock out the cork. Steam and water residues will rush out through the opened hole, forming a reactive force that pushes the tube in the opposite direction to the cork ejection (Fig. 1). This physical phenomenon was taken as the basis for a rocket launcher model designed by the guys at the republican station of young technicians in Bashkiria. Similar models are now in schools in Ufa, where they are used as visual aids in physics lessons on the topic "Transformation of energy", in astronomy lessons.

rocket launcher
Ris.1

The rocket body (Fig. 2) was turned on a lathe from an aluminum bar with a diameter of about 30 mm. Previously, a hole with a diameter of 18 mm was drilled in it and the walls of the inner channel were bored so that the outlet - the nozzle - had a taper. Outside, the rocket body was cleaned with fine sandpaper and polished with paste.

rocket launcher
Ris.2

Three stabilizers are cut from 2 mm thick aluminum sheet and soldered to the rocket body with solder containing 0% tin and 70% zinc.

The plug that clogs the rocket nozzle is rubber. Its configuration and dimensions are shown in Figure 3. A bolt 1 is passed through the plug 2, enclosed in a vinyl chloride tube 3. An electric fuse is mounted at the end of the bolt facing inside the rocket. This is a boiler, which is two metal washers - electrodes 4, isolated from each other by an annular gasket 5 made of a material that does not soak in water - plexiglass or ebonite, textolite. The upper (according to the figure) electrode has contact with the bolt, which is the current conductor of the electric boiler. The bottom electrode is insulated from the bolt with a PVC tube. Wire 6 is soldered to it, passed through a cork near the bolt. This is the second conductor. Between the electrodes, the current flows through the water poured into the rocket and heats it up to the boiling point.

rocket launcher
Ris.3

The cork is mounted on a round launch pad, cut out of tin, with a radius slightly larger than the distance from the rocket axis to the outer edges of the stabilizer. The platform is soldered to supporting trusses made of tin.

Tin barriers 10-15 mm high and guides are soldered from above to the launch pad along its circumference, which determine the direction of the rocket's flight.

The supporting trusses of the launch pad are reinforced on a wooden base. There are also spotlights illuminating the launch pad, a start-signal light panel, and a mock-up of a landing ramp on wheels.

In the described model, the guides are hinged. This makes it possible to change the take-off angle, and hence the trajectory, altitude and range of the rocket.

The height and range of the rocket flight can be additionally adjusted by changing the length of the upper part of the plug entering the rocket nozzle, which is achieved by putting plastic washers of different thicknesses on the plug. The smaller the plug goes inside the nozzle, the lower the steam pressure will be for the rocket to fly off, the lower its height and flight path will be. By empirically selecting the thickness of this gasket, the take-off height and range of the rocket can easily be limited by the size of the room.

Catching a rocket is hard. And this should not be done, since it gets very hot at startup. Therefore, if the model is shown indoors, a piece of canvas must be stretched at the place where the rocket fell, on which it will fall.

The control panel is an elongated box. A step-down transformer, a relay, due to which the start-signal display flashes, and a light bulb for lighting simple automation of the control panel, are mounted in the box. The control panel diagram is shown in Figure 4.

Fig.4 (click to enlarge)

When you press the toggle switch mounted on the top wall of the box, the control panel

connects to AC power. Voltage is applied simultaneously to the fuse of the rocket and to the primary winding of the transformer Tr. The searchlights immediately light up, the L1 lamp of the control panel illumination, the L2 lamp starts flashing, illuminating the inscription "Start" on the glass of the start signal.

The primary winding of the transformer must be designed for a mains voltage of 127-220 V, and the secondary - for the voltage of light bulbs that are used for spotlights, automation lighting and a start signal (3,5-12 V).

The flashing of the start signal lamp is achieved using a string-type thermal relay. The current from the secondary winding of the transformer goes through closed contacts 2, a thin nickel wire 3 and a light bulb L2. The inscription "Start" is illuminated at this time. The current passing through this circuit heats the nickel wire 3, and it lengthens. At this time, spring 5 pulls the wire down through ring 4 and breaks contact pair 2. The circuit opens, the start signal lamp goes out. Now the wire, cooling down, is reduced, and the lower contact returns to its original position. The cycle is repeated.

The blinking frequency of the inscription "Start" depends on the filament current of the L2 bulb, the tension of the nickel wire and its resistance. Capacitor C, connected in parallel with contact pair 2, quenches the spark, protecting the contacts from burning. The capacitance of this capacitor is 0,1-0,5 microfarads.

The external design and decorative elements of the model can be arbitrary - it all depends on the imagination and skill of young designers. It is only important that all the details are carefully and elegantly executed and operate flawlessly. Then the model will always enjoy the same success.

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