17 Sep 2020

Thursday 17 September 2020

The Advanced Physics class spent part of Terms 2 and 3 designing, modelling and constructing rockets. This involved 3D printing the parts and modelling how their rocket would behave using software.

Advanced Physics 2

 

Due to a number of factors (COVID-19, too much wind and a dodgy sensor), the launch date was continuously pushed back. However, high pressure finally settled over Aotearoa, providing perfect conditions for launch.

 

The Year 13 team launched first, with their rocket reaching a respectable 84m but the parachute failed to deploy, leading to their rocket quickly becoming a missile. Rebekah Massey (Year 12, Marion Bruce), Ashley Yang (Year 12, Marion Bruce) and Alvin Zhu (Year 12, Averill) launched next, with their rocket reaching a good altitude but an unplanned collision with some concrete resulted in a loss of all data.

Felix Duan (Year 12, Marsden) and Daniel Jang (Year 12, Parnell) launched next – their rocket left the pad successfully but then quickly did a 90° turn, reaching a paltry 30m. Finally, Mandela McKree Jansen (Year 12, Parnell) and Matthew Monaghan (Year 12, Major) launched – their rocket was a full success, reaching speeds of 144km/hour and a height of 120m. The parachute successfully deployed and the rocket gently landed on the track after 34 seconds. This provided a fitting birthday present for Mandela.

Ethan Kyle (Year 12, Major) and Anoop Saini (Year 13, Parnell) have started working on creating an earthquake table, which will be used to test different structures. They plan for the table to vibrate in two dimensions, controlled by an Arduino unit. Users will be able to change the frequency and amplitude of vibration, modelling different earthquakes.

On another note, Nathaniel Masfen-Yan (Year 13, Greenbank) and Oliver Vannoort (Year 13, Marsden) are creating a sign in/sign out system that they hope to program to use in the houses. This will allow students to quickly and accurately sign in and out, using their finger print. The project is approaching the final stages.

Omar Gardner, Teacher of Physics