Quick Graphs - Velocity


This is a plot of vertical velocity against time with velocity in an upwards direction as positive (velocity is a vector quantity - if you go the other way, it becomes negative, unlike speed which cannot become negative). Like the Height against Time quick graph, it was produced using a 4 x 6 font, running the water rocket simulator in a DOS box.

Again, as the mouse moves over the plot area, the values for its position on each axis are printed on the graph next to each axis using the appropriate units.

Like the height graph, the different stages of the rocket's flight are in different colours. With a launch rod, the yellow portion of the flight gives the rocket a good start, producing around a quarter of the final velocity in a very short time and using very little water in the process. After that, the blue portion - representing the water thrust part, long here because of using a t-nozzle - pushes the velocity up to its maximum. The cyan part of the flight, representing the air part of the thrust, shows a reduction in velocity and the red portion, representing the coasting phase takes the flight through to the apogee, where the vertical component of velocity is equal to zero. Once the rocket has reached its apogee, the velocity becomes negative and the parachute starts its deployment (magenta) with a steady negative (downward) velocity for the duration of the flight with the parachute open (green) until it hits the ground.

The other quick graphs (including the statistics) can be accessed by pressing the initial letter for each page.


Copyright ©2000 Paul Grosse. All Rights Reserved