Hello again, mes amis. Before I select a scientific topic to share with you, I must clarify something–no, no, to say that would be disingenuous, as what I have been instructed to do by my handlers, as it were, is to muddy the waters as to who I am, to confuse you as to whether I exist at all. I am to tell you that, as far as you know, I live only in the fertile imagination of my ghost writer. Perhaps I am merely manifested in the ravings of the host of this blog, Mr. Deakins, or, conceivably, he has obtained my diary or logbook by some illicit means and has transcribed his impression of my persona upon these pages and is at this very moment attempting to confound the contents of your cranium. Perhaps I am exactly who I have said that I was.
Are you sufficiently bewildered? D’accord. I have generated plausible deniability adequate to permit me to proceed unhindered by my horrific handlers.
Now, navigate to this link http://www.astronet.ru/db/xware/msg/apod/2001-03-16 to see one of the earliest liquid-fueled rockets, a contraption designed and built by the famous Robert Goddard. You may click on the photo at that site to see a larger image, if you so desire. What do you immediately notice about the construction of this rocket? I’m sure there could be many answers. It’s quite strange, isn’t it? But observe that this rocket has no fins of any kind.
If you are old enough, you may remember a type of firework known as a bottle rocket. No, it was not made from a bottle; rather, it was launched from a glass soda bottle. A bottle rocket consists of a gunpowder-type solid-fuel rocket engine approximately two inches long and, perhaps, a third of an inch across. A fuse protrudes from the bottom of the engine, and a small explosive charge, or report, may be included at the top of the engine. Running along the side of the engine and extending for about one foot is a thin, lightweight wooden rod. It is this rod that is placed into the bottle. There are no fins on this rocket, either.
Why do some rockets have fins, and others do not? Why do you seldom see fins on the rockets launched by NASA and the military? If you are expecting me to give you the answer, I am afraid you will have to “cool your jets.” as they say. For now, I just want you to think about it.
Until next time.
