Basic Rocketry and Aerodynamics

The art of making matchbox rockets is more complicated than it seems. Utilizing the principle of action-reaction and the basic nature of gases, we can hopefully launch a rocket a couple of feet. Unfortunately, it requires painstaking hours of trial and error to ensure that most of the gases escape out of the tin foil tube's end. Sometimes, it takes a couple of tries to make the rocket work. Overall, to be honest, it wasn't really enjoyable because it involves playing with matches, which I am not particularly a fan of. However, it was necessary to understand the design of rockets before we delved in further on this particularly expansive topic.

My most successful design was made earlier during the experment in which I wrapped tightly the foil around the match with a little hole at the bottom to ensure the most pressure possible for the gases out of the "rocket." I learned this technique by watching a video teaching a different method on the matchbox rocket that I derived my design from. Unfortunately, this design worked only once and the rest floundered in success. Hopefully, I can be able to withdraw my fear of matches and be more successful in this interesting but kind of boring experiment. However, I viewed a better way to this project in a video that Ms. Malonek could have used and would have ensured a greater success rate.

The aerodynamics involved in rocketry is quite similar to airplanes. In order to maintain stability while in the atmosphere, rockets must use stabilizers. These fins on the side serve that function. As the rocket travels upwards or in a parabolic motion, it spins to provide stability. Many missiles and rockets utilize that for accuracy. Also, rockets must employ a general aerodynamic shape to ensure decreased air resistance for fuel efficiency.

In our rocket experiment this morning, Henry Lee attempted to use fins on the sides of the rocket to ensure aerodynamics. However, his design failed as it also floundered and burned up like the other rockets. It did inspire me though to pursue the design until it failed miserably like the rest. However, I believe that if I had pursued my tight cylindrical design with his fins, it would have worked like a charm. Perhaps we can try this experiment again sometimes but with better implementation as I saw in that video I  checked out. 

4 Russian Buildings

The Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Building is a large apartment building located in Moscow, Russia. The smaller apartment buildings on both sides of the skyscraper were designed in 1938 and completed in 1940 by Chief Architect Dmitry Chechylin. The main tower in the middle was designed in September 1947 and completed sometime in 1952 by the same architect. The design of the main building in the center is centered on a hexagonal design that contains 32 floors in the middle and 18 floors along the structures along the sides of the central main building. The 2 small apartment buildings that form a W shape of the embankment building contain 9 floors each. The building itself is one of Seven “sisters” or Stalinist skyscrapers that were designed and built during the Stalinist era to celebrate the glory and strength that Stalin brought to the Soviet Union.

The St. Isaac Cathedral was requested by Tsar Alexander I to replace the earlier Rinaldi Seque structure. Montferrand, a French architect, designed the cathedral in line with the continuing Europeanization of Russia. It took 40 years from 1818 to 1858 to complete the cathedral. In 1893, the cathedral was turned into an anti-religious museum, destroying its purpose. The cathedral contained empire style and was the first to use technique. A Greek cross groundplan was used as a base for the cathedral with the building's dome and surrounding structures. The walls of the cathedral are grey and pink. The dome of the building rises 101.5 meters high and is covered in pure gold. Within the dome are 12 sculptures created by Joseph Hermann. The bronze door of the cathedral, along with its sculptures, was designed by an Italian architect. A sculpted dove representing the Holy Spirit is located below the peak of the dome. Overall, it has an effective and beautiful design that clearly delineates its religious purpose.

My Sonnet

As I am lost in the rivers of thought
Nothing satisfies my thirst for something new to dwell on,
Thinking should be a past time, it ought,
But yet, no one else will enjoy this simple pleasure, whoever anon.

Another favorite past time I want to enjoy is taking a walk in the woods,
Which woods they are, I don't really know,
But nevertheless, wherever I go, I know it will be full of moods
and will it make you depressed, no!

As soon as I can enjoy these activities,
I know that I can see myself finally seeing life in a positive light
And see it for what it really is, a forest of yet untouched abilities
that will propel far me in life towards and ever soaring height.

However, my life seems so complicated now,
with college worries closing in on my peace, my want for enjoyment in life it will beshadow.