Rocket Ship Research Articles

The kindergarten child measures up

Delighted, the kindergarten child launches another imaginary rocket ship: five … four … three … two … one … zero … SHWHOOOOOOSH! Child and teacher meet in enthusiasm to investigate some ideas in the measurement of height.

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article:Farmer in the Sky, by Robert A. Heinlein, Author of Rocket Ship, Galileo, Red Planet, etc.Our Desert Neighbors, by Edmund C. Jaeger.Pocket Encyclopedia of Atomic Energy, Edited by Frank Gaynor.Some Theory of Sampling, by William Edwards DemingFirst Course in Probability and Statistics, by J. Neyman, The University of California, Berkeley.Highlights of the Ninth Annual Mathematics Institute Mathematics at Work.“Probability and the Weighing of Evidence, by I. J. Good, M.A., Ph.D., Former Lecturer in the Mathematics at the University of Manchester, England.Mathematical Snapshots, by Hugo Steinhaus, Professor of the Calculus of Probability and Mathematical Statistics in the University and Polytechnicum in Wroclaw, Poland.Measurement and Dimensionality, by Aaron BakstMid‐Century. Social Implications of Scientific Progress, by John Ely BurchardConservation of Natural Resources, edited by Guy‐Harold SmithMathematics of Relativity, by G. Y. RainichAn Introduction to the Mechanics of Viscous Flow, by H. P. F. PurdayEncyclopedia on Cathode‐Ray Oscilloscopes and Their Uses, by John F. Rider and Seymour S. Uslan of the John F.TV Installation Techniques, by Samuel L. MarshallSmith's Introductory College Chemistry, by William F. Ehret

Rocket Flight to the Moon

CONDITIONS of life on this earth may turn the thoughts of the escapist to contemplation of other heavenly bodies. For nearness, the moon has much to commend it. The problem of the means of transport still remains. If rocket flight be chosen, J. W. Campbell's recent paper (Philosophical Magazine, January 1941) will be found to give considerable help. Special attention is given to the type of flight in which the observer moves with a massive body from which rockets are fired at intervals in directions suitably controlled to guide the main body. Assuming an initial velocity more than twice that of the present muzzle velocity of artillery shells (2500 ft./sec), a calculation is made of the minimum mass of the moving “rocket ship”. The result is 2 × 10−9 of the earth's mass. If the mass were distributed as a homogeneous sphere of material of density about that of surface rock (3·3), then the radius of the sphere would be about 2·74 miles. Relevant factors, such as the atmospheric resistance and the control of direction, have been neglected. If they were taken into account, the initial mass would be still greater. On these calculations the rocket ship would be more than five miles in diameter, and would be as massie as Mount Everest.