Wednesday 23rd June 2010 saw a team of four Scouts (plus honourary Scoutette) compete with 21 other teams in the National Physical Laboratory's annual Water Rocket competition at Teddington. The competition was much fiercer this year, with many more teams landing their rockets in the high-scoring zone. The scoring, based on a combination of both accuracy and flight time, saw us lying in 8th place after Round 1. This became 5th place after Round 2 and finally, after a change of tactics and a "let's just go for it" approach, saw us with a podium finish in 3RD PLACE after Round 3. Only two points (or two seconds of flight time) separated the top three teams, and our final score was actually higher than last year (when we came 2nd). Interestingly, despite the near-perfect weather conditions, the rockets which used parachutes (none of the top 3 did) didn't do as well this year, although one was last seen drifting slowly out of sight in the direction of Heathrow.
So congratulations to the team and the marvellous teamwork, and onwards to higher and longer launches next year!
For the more technically-minded, here are the launch parameters
Round 1: 45deg angle, 42psi pressure, 500ml +/- 5ml water. Flight time = 4.5 sec
Round 2: 45deg angle, 42psi pressure, 500ml +/- 5ml water. Flight time = 4.9 sec
Round 3: 60deg angle, 50psi pressure, 500ml +/- 5ml water. Flight time = 6.1 sec
Each round saw our rocket land in the high-score zone (65m +/- 5m)
More photos are available on the website; use the following link and log in using the website username and password.
http://picasaweb.google.com/17th.reigate/WaterRocketsJune2010?locked=true#
