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Teachers:
Why should you use RockSim in your classroom?

RockSim offers the educator a wonderful tool to teach about rocketry. Here are some of the many benefits:

1. Allows the student to simulate hundreds of rocket flights very quickly -- this saves lots of money! Just think of the time saved too. You don't have to spend hundreds of dollar buying motors and hours-and-hours of time building different configurations, launching, recovering, and repacking rockets.

2. Safety. When you go out to fly rockets, knowing how they'll behave is an important aspect of safety. Precautions can be made. By running the simulations, the students learn what aspects contribute to safety.

3. The scientific value is awesome. RockSim is packed with useful features and generates mountains of data. Analyzing this data is a fantastic way to teach the scientific method.

4. Using RockSim is fun! It has features like a video game, so the students may not realize how much they are learning at the same time.

5. RockSim is the same tool that is used by real rocketry professionals - like NASA, military contractors, and universities. So you can feel confident in the results you get back from the program.

6. The software allows students to explore their creativity. They can design vastly different looking models, while learning engineering skills, assembly steps, and physics.

Here are just some of the many topics you can explore with RockSim:

1. Aerodynamics and drag reduction

2. Forces of flight: Lift, Drag, Thrust, and Gravity

3. Projectile motion

4. Rocket propulsion as used for space travel

5. Atmospheric studies: how does temperature and pressure affect performance?

6. Planetary differences: how does the same rocket perform on different planets in our solar system.

7. Dynamics and harmonic motion with damping

8. Engineering - how parts fit together

9. Newton's Laws of motion

10. Artistic expression

11. Explaining distance, velocity, and acceleration.

12. Material properties, like density and volume

13. The importance of weight and balance (CG position) when designing rockets

14. Explaining that Work = force X Distance

15. Explaining the concepts of Kinetic and Potential Energy

16. Showing free-fall, and terminal velocity

17. The importance of units and unit conversion

18. Following directions

19. Exporting data and using spreadsheet programs to perform data reduction and manipulation

20. To show why multi-stage and cluster motor rockets are used

21. Concept of stored chemical energy (in the rocket propellant) and how it is converted to mechanical energy

22. Concept of efficiency - getting the most performance from the least exertion of energy. Can be explained by the different types of propellant formulations

23. Showing the concept of momentum and how it affects the optimum mass of the rocket

24. Finding the optimal launch angle for breezy conditions

25. Optimal launch angle for distance (ballistic curves), and how it varies with the thrust curve of the motor

26. Show how the distribution of mass affects the dynamic stability of the rocket

27. Demonstrating the concept of "Numeric Precision" -- the more iterations performed, the better the accuracy.

28. Show how different shaped components affects the static stability of the rocket

29. Compare the thrust curves of different motors. This can show how different geometries (hole size, location, dimensions) affect the thrust produced by the rocket.

30. Concept of "Impulse:" which is a thrust force multiplied by the time duration that thrust is created. The higher the impulse, the more power the motor has.

As you can see, RockSim is a versatile tool. You'll save hundreds of dollars because it can do so much. Place your order today for the site license.

For articles on RockSim check out the Peak of Flight index. This is a list, by topic, of all of the great articles the Peak of Flight put out over the years.

Actual Customer Comment:
"Thanks for the notification, Robby. Apogee has earned my business by its unwavering support for the hobby with its educational resources and its phenomenal customer service.  How many companies that I deal with actually read my feedback about the products I want them to carry and then follow-up with me to confirm that they fully understand my request?  One - Apogee.  Amazing.  As the kids say today, Apogee "rocks!" -- B.R. Wood

This page last updated on: 7/22/11 1px Site Map 1px Contact Us 1px Website Issues?