Saturday, June 8, 2013
FTC Water Rocket Explodes
Over the week I have been building a FTC water rocket. It has a 3L capacity and *should* be able to withstand 150 psi. So we pressurized it to 150 psi. But just 2 seconds before my dad pulls that almighty string that launches the rocket, BOOM! Then it was gone... I couldn't Beleave how loud it was. You could hear it echo from the trees around us. Personally I was expecting one of the bulkheads to give way than the pressure chamber it's self. It was awesome!
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Your failure is quite strange. The FTC tubes we use are good for 160PSI with the bare tube with no reinforcing. Have you tested your tube without any tape?
ReplyDeleteAre you taping the rocket with the layers overlapping or not? If you don't overlap the layers, your tape will twist the rocket and compress it making the diameter smaller as the coil tries to stretch lengthwise. It does this even if you overlap the tape but to a lesser extent. That could be stressing your FTC, leading to the failures.