Unit 5 WebQuest - Internet Project

So, you want to be a rocket scientist?

Introduction | Task | Process | Guidance | Conclusion | Questions

Introduction
Have you ever built and launched a model rocket? If model rockets fascinate you, you may want to consider a career in the aerospace industry, such as aerospace engineering. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) employs aerospace engineers and other people with expertise in aerospace fields. The table below shows some of the NASA centers in the U.S.

     In this project, you will research applications of trigonometry as it applies to a possible career for you.

The Task
Your school is having a mathematics career information day. You plan to enter a display, either a poster or Web page, showing two applications of trigonometry that would relate to a possible career for you. Your display needs to contain the following information:

• a clearly labeled diagram illustrating each of two different trigonometry applications;
• for each application, a sample calculation including appropriate numbers showing how the application is used;
• the name of a career where each application would be used;
• a paper describing and comparing the two careers you chose. Include anything that surprised you about the careers.

You will get some ideas about applications of trigonometry from the Exercises in your textbook in Lessons 13-1 and 14-2.

• Find two applications of trigonometry that would be used in two different careers. Some examples of careers are mathematics, physics, other sciences, architecture, and engineering. For help, try these Web sites.
  www.apogeerockets.com
  www.homerhickam.com
  weather.yahoo.com
  www.usatoday.com/weather/wwind0.htm
  www.usatoday.com/weather/wgeocalc.htm
  watt.enc.org/online/ENC2406/2406.html
  www.infoplease.com and search for trigonometry applications
  www.ams.org/careers
  www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hangar/5421/rocketma.html
• Show a sample diagram, problem, and the calculations needed to solve a problem for each of the two applications you chose. You will see two examples of this in the exercises in Lessons 13-1 and 14-2.
• Find information on the two careers that you are featuring in your project. For help, try these Web sites.
  www.bls.gov/oco/
  www.ams.org/careers
  www.awm-math.org
  www.siam.org/careers/careers.htm
  www.ucfv.bc.ca/math/jobs.htm
  www.coolmath.com/careers.htm
• Be creative. Add some additional data, information, or even pictures to your poster or Web page.

1. What is the approximate cost to complete the training or education needed for each career you are featuring?
2. What will the demand in the future be for each career?
3. What can you expect for a salary for each career?
4. In what parts of the country would each of the two careers be available? Would you need to live in an urban or rural area for each career?
5. Is any additional education or training needed to advance in each of these careers?

• Present your project to your class or at a family night.
• Present the information on a Web page. Have other students critique your project and help you to make improvements to your project.
• Write a paper describing and comparing the two careers you chose. Include anything that surprised you about the careers.
• Interview a person with a career that uses trigonometry. Ask the person for several examples of their use of trigonometry on the job.

Lesson 13–1
Using the Internet, Noemi found that you can use the tangent ratio to calculate the maximum height reached by a model rocket. The diagram below shows the path of the rocket as vertical. You can use a theodolite to measure angle A.

1. Suppose the baseline is 500 feet and angle A is 60°. What is the approximate maximum height reached by the rocket?
2. Write a formula for calculating the maximum height of the rocket h given angle A and the length of the baseline b.
3. Noemi decided to try launching model rockets. On one particular day, her rocket reached a height of 2000 feet. Find three different baseline lengths and measurements for angle A that would result in a calculation of 2000 feet for the rocket's maximum height.

1. Make a scatter plot of the data. Represent the months with numbers, for example, let January = 1, February = 2, and so on. Let the months be on the x-axis and the temperatures be on the y-axis. When you connect the points with a smooth curve, it should look like a sine curve.
2. What is the amplitude a of the graph?
3. Find 2p divided by the number of months in the table. Simplify the answer and leave in terms of p. Let this value be b.
4. Find the mean of the minimum and maximum temperature values. Call this value d.
5. Look at your graph. It appears to be at its lowest point when x = 1. To find the horizontal translation of the sine curve, divide 1, the value of the lowest point, by your value for b. What is this value? Call it c.
6. An equation for the temperature data is y = a sin (bx - c) + d. Substitute the values you found for a, b, c, and d into this formula. Graph the scatter plot from Exercise 1 and this function on the same graphing calculator screen. How well does the equation fit the temperature data?