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Teacher Resource Pack: Rocket Science Key Stage 3 and 4

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This pack contains information designed to support teachers whose classes are visiting the RAF Museum and participating in the Rocket Science Activity. It is intended to provide information and suggestions for class lessons before and after the activity. All the photos and diagrams are available for reasonable reproduction to help with teaching.

Contents Page1. Educational Background 22. Activities for the Classroom 9

Pictures1. V2 Rocket (image and diagram) 62. Saturn V Rocket (diagram) 73. Russian Rockets (diagrams) 8

Additional Resources1. Rocket Specifications 11

Additional images from the RAF Museum’s collections can be found online at http://navigator.rafmuseum.org/

Rocket Science

Educational support materials for groups participating in this activity


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Links to the Curriculum

Rocket Science relates to a number of key areas of the National Curriculum. This section of the teacher resource pack discusses the scientific, historical and social factors which provide a background to the activity.

Forces of Flight

There are a number of forces which must be considered when designing a rocket.

Gravity – This a force which attracts different masses together. The strength of gravity is determined by the mass of the objects. The greater the mass of an object the greater the gravitational attraction of the object. The strength of the Earth’s gravitational field (when measured at its surface) is 9.81m/s2.

Thrust – This is a reaction force which propels an object forward in one direction. It can be calculated using Newton’s Laws of Motion.

Air Resistance – This force is also referred to as drag. It is a frictional forcewhich opposes the movement of an object through air. Air Resistance can be reduced by streamlining an object so that it has less surface area

Weight – This force is caused by gravity. It is the gravitational force between an object and the Earth. Weight, like gravity is also directly proportional to mass, it is measured in Newtons.

Rocket Science

Educational Background to the Rocket Science Activity


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Newton’s Laws of Motion

Issac Newton developed three laws which describe the relationship between forces acting on an object and the motion of that object. These were first complied in Newton’s Principa Mathmatica in 1687.

First Law – An object in motion will remain in motion at a constant speed and an object at rest will remain at rest until an external force acts upon it.

Second Law – The amount of force that needs to be applied to an object cancalculated multiplying the mass of the object by the acceleration required. (F=ma)

Third Law – Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. This law is why rocket engines push downwards against the launch pad to launch the rocket into space.

Balancing Forces

Newton’s First Law of Motion explains why having balanced and unbalanced forces is so important. When forces are balanced there is no overall resultantforce so an object will remain stationary or travelling at a constant speed because the forces acting on it cancel each other out. When one of these forces is made stronger than the others the object will move in the direction that this force is pushing it. Making one force weaker than the others means that the object will move in the direction that the other forces are pushing.

The resultant force can be calculated by subtracting the value of the smaller force from that of the larger force.

Balanced forces mean there is no change in an object’s motion.

Unbalanced forcescause the object to move in the direction of the resultant force.


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Rockets and Jets

Rockets and jets work on similar principles as they both produce thrust through the continuous output of gases. There are however a number of significant differences between the two.

Rockets do not just carry the fuel they burn but also oxygen, generally in liquid form, as oxygen, which is needed for combustion, is not available in space. Jets do not have this problem as they are designed to operate within the Earth’s atmosphere and can draw in their oxygen from the surrounding air.

The History of Rockets

Rockets were first invented in China where they were called arrows of flying fire and used as weapons. These rockets were similar to modern fireworks yet even with this type of rocket there were still people who dreamed of travelling to the Moon. According to legend this was actually attempted in China during the 16th Century. A man named Wan Hoo attached forty seven rockets to a wicker chair, he then ordered his forty seven assistants to light all the fuses simultaneously. When the smoke cleared Wan Hoo and his chair had disappeared.

Rockets flares were introduced in 1807 and similar flares are still used today as maritime distress signals or even at football matches. Other ideas experimented with during the 19th Century included rocket powered cars, sleds and aircraft. Even a rocket postal service was tried out – this did not work very well, the post caught fire.

It was not until the Second World War that rockets as we know them today started to be used. Just like their early ancestors these rockets were used as weapons. They were designed by Wernher Von Braun, a German scientist, and used to launch attacks on Britain. This type of rocket was called the V2and can be seen in the Battle of Britain Hall at the RAF Museum. The V2 was powered by a combustion reaction between Hydrogen Peroxide and Potassium Permanganate. This reaction generated enough thrust to send the rocket from is launch sites in France all the way to Britain.

Von Braun’s rocket technology was highly sought after and at the end on the Second World War troops from America and the USSR tried to capture as many V2 rockets as possible. They also both tried to apprehend Von Braun and his design team. This would lead to the Space Race.


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The Space Race

Rocket technology became increasingly important during the Cold War as America and Russian entered into the Space Race.

Russian rocket designer Sergey Korolyov used lots of thrust all in one go in order to get his rockets to achieve the acceleration needed for them to go into space. This technology was very simple to engineer and proved to be quite effective as the Russians were able to launch the first satellite, Sputnik and the first man, Yuri Gagarin into space. They were also the first to land a series of unmanned probes (Luna 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 13, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 23 & 24) on the Moon. The Russian space programme went into decline after Korolyov died in 1966, although the Luna programme did not end until 1976.

The Americans were using much more complex technology as Von Braun, who had defected to America at the end of the Second World War, was using a development of the technology behind the V2. Von Braun was using thrust at several stages during launch and flight, which allowed his rockets to accelerate for longer. The engineering difficulties that this method caused stopped the Americans being able to achieve a first in space until 1969 when they landed on the Moon.

No-one knows if it was the decline of the Russian space programme with the loss of Korolyov or Von Braun’s superior technology that got the Americans this first.

Von Braun’s Saturn V rocket which carried the Apollo 11 astronauts to the Moon is the basis of the technology that is used in the Space Shuttle today.

The Space Shuttle

The Space Shuttle uses thrust in three stages. The first stage is the white, solid fuel booster rockets, which once their fuel is used up are dropped back down to earth using parachutes, making them recyclable. The second stage is the red liquid fuel tank which contains Hydrogen and Oxygen.

Hydrogen is used because it is highly explosive and creates a lot of energy when burnt. Oxygen is needed because there is less in the upper atmosphere than on ground level and there is none in space so combustion reactions cannot happen without extra oxygen. The third stage is attached to the shuttle itself and is used throughout the mission to manoeuvre the shuttle. This is particularly important during re-entry.

The shuttle has to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere at exactly 400 because if the angle is any shallower the shuttle will bounce off the atmosphere like a stone skimming across a pond. If the angle is steeper than 400 the shuttle’s heat shield will not be able to protect it from the frictional heat generated as it passes through the upper levels of atmosphere.


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V2 rocket being prepared for launch circa 1944. Ground crew can be seen working on the nose.

Diagram of a V2 rocket.


7Diagram of Saturn V rocket.


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Diagram of Russian rockets. Yuri Gagarin was launched into space using the Vostok rocket, the Voskhod and Soyuz rockets were used to launch the Luna probes and Sputnik was launched using the Sputnik Launcher.


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Links to the Curriculum

Rocket Science relates to a number of key areas of the National Curriculum. This teacher resource pack is intended to provide some suggestions for classroom activities for a variety of subjects.

Science Activities

Activity: Which of the rockets made by your class flew the furthest? Discuss why you think this happened. Look at how you could improve your rocket, what would you change and why?

Activity: Discuss whether you think that the rocket launching was a fair test or not? Remember that the rockets were released from the launcher with the same amount of force.

Research: Your rockets were made out of paper, card and plastic. Find out what materials real rockets are made of. Why do you think these materials are used? Work out what properties these materials have that makes them suitable for rocket design. Plan an experiment to test the properties of a variety of different materials to find out which would be the most suitable to build a rocket from.

Research: Look at potential fuel sources for rockets. What properties do they need to have? e.g. they need to be easily combustible, like wood but why is wood not suitable?

Activity: Look at the chemical reactions in rocket fuel combustion. Try to balance the equations correctly.

Rocket Science

Activities for the classroom


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Maths Activities

Activity: Use Newton’s Laws of motion to calculate the amount of thrust needed to launch the V2 rocket to reach its maximum speed of 5760kph, accelerating at 1600m/s. The V2 is 14m long, has a diameter of 1.65m and weighs 12,500kg. Try similar calculations for Saturn V and Vostok rockets. Their specifications can be found in the additional resources section of this pack.

English Activities

Letter Writing: Write a letter to the person who led your activity or to the Education Team at the RAF Museum, to tell them how you felt about your tripand what you learnt.

Creative Writing: Write an entry in an astronaut’s diary. Think about what it might feel like to travel into space and what things you might experience. Remember that your opinions will vary depending on the time period you astronaut is from.

Art Activities

Activity: Design your own rocket logo. Look at the designs which are used today. How will you make your logo distinctive?

History Activities

Research: Find out about the different political systems that Korolyov and Von Braun operated in. How do you think this affected their space programmes?

Activity: Discuss whether you think that the Space Race played an important part in the Cold War. Why do you think this? Can you find any Primary of Secondary sources to support your argument?


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Rocket Mass Length Speed Acceleration Fuel Thrust StagesV2 12,500kg 14m 5760k/h 1600m/s Ethanol,

water and liquid oxygen

710kN One

Saturn V 3,038,500kg 110.6m 27000k/h 3.7m/s Kerosene, liquid oxygenand liquid hydrogen

40.02MN Three

Vostok 151,475kg 28m 27000k/h 155m/s Kerosene and liquid oxygen

2.04MN Two

Rocket Science

Additional Resources

ROCKET SPECIFICATIONS

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