PHS students blast off for physics class

A group of Plains High School science students aimed high for a good grade in their physics class last week.

Thirteen seniors and one sophomore built model rockets and fired them into the sky throughout the week to learn how to calculate the average velocity, drag and thrust, said Brooks Sanford, the science teacher, who uses fun activities to illustrate classroom lessons. "The kids enjoyed the project and it certainly helps reinforce learning in the classroom," said Sanford. "This is the third year I have done this project with students and it is a tradition started at Plains High School by former physics teacher Carl Benson," said Sanford.

For the launches, Sanford rigged a protractor atop a five-foot tall wooden dowel rod to measure the angle, height and speed of the rockets. It took the class a week to make their rockets. Though they come in a kit, the students could tweak them by reducing the cross section area to reduce the mass and cut down the drag, said Sanford.

"Students learn how to calculate apogee (height) of a rocket flight using trigonometry. Students learn how to calculate average velocity, drag and thrust as well. They also learn about practical applications of these principles in industry and exploration," he said, adding that they learn how the rocket engines work and how they achieve acceleration by studying Newton's laws of motion.

The average apogee of last week's rockets was 347 feet and the average speed was 86 feet per second or 58.6 mph, according to Sanford's calculations. Senior Rubea Privett had the bragging rights for the highest apogee at 690 feet and the fastest rocket at 102 mph. Sanford also built a rocket, which went a bit below average, but he attributed that to being longer and heavier than the other rockets. Most of the kids launched their own rockets. Sophia Leggat, a senior, launched some of the other students' rockets, as well as her own.

"Overall, the students did a wonderful job of building and launching their rockets. All rockets launched and 80 percent of them were recovered, so we can launch them again," said Sanford. He noted that several students are interested in the space program and engineering. His chemistry students began an adhesive chemistry unit and will be dabbling with the creation of alternative fuels and fuel additives for combustion engines. In his environmental science class, the students are presently on a "School Impact Project," where they are researching ways the school can reduce their environmental impact. His biology kids are once again getting a batch of fish eggs from the Jocko River Trout Hatchery at Arlee at the end of the month, and Earth Science students will soon start building erosion models and solar system models before Christmas.