Physics Ladder · High school · Grade 11

Rocket Boys Math and Physics

The math and physics a high schooler needs to work with rockets, as the Rocket Boys of Coalwood did after Sputnik: Newton's laws and thrust, the rocket equation, coasting to apogee, drag and stability, measuring height with a theodolite and the tangent, and orbits.

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21 topics in 5 units. Builds on Physics 1: Motion, Forces and Energy. Not sure this is the right course? Find your rung.

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Unit 1 Tools of the Trade

3 topics

Units, significant figures, graphs and the statistics of many launches: how to record a flight so the numbers mean something.

  1. Units and Significant Figures
  2. Graphing Flight Data
  3. Statistics of Repeated Launches

Unit 2 Pushing Off

5 topics

Newton's laws, thrust, impulse, the rocket equation and nozzles, all as ideas and numbers, never as building plans.

  1. Newton's Three Laws and Thrust
  2. Thrust-to-Weight and Liftoff
  3. Impulse, Momentum and Thrust Curves
  4. Mass Flow and the Rocket Equation
  5. Nozzles in Concept

Unit 3 Up and Down

7 topics

Calculus of motion, powered flight, coasting to the top, energy, drag, stability and range.

  1. Calculus of Motion
  2. Powered Flight to Burnout
  3. Free Fall and Coasting to Apogee
  4. Energy From Burnout to Apogee
  5. Drag: A First Look, Then a Numerical Step
  6. Stability: Center of Mass and Center of Pressure
  7. Projectile Range and Launch Angle

Unit 4 How High Did It Go?

3 topics

Measuring height from the ground with angles: the tangent, the size of the error, and two observers.

  1. Altitude by the Tangent
  2. How Good Is the Estimate?
  3. Triangulating From Two Observers

Unit 5 Beyond the Sky

3 topics

Why Sputnik didn't fall, how fast you must go to leave Earth, and the ellipses of Kepler.

  1. Why Sputnik Didn't Fall
  2. Escape Velocity
  3. Ellipses and Kepler's Laws
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