So I'm having some trouble planning out how to tackle this problem:
A toy rocket is powered by pressurized water that is discharged from the nozzle at the beginning of the flight.
a. Plot the elevation as a function of time
b. Compute and plot the velocity and acceleration of the rocket as functions of time
c. Write a MATLAB code that will automatically determine the thruster time, the maximum altitude, the maximum velocity, and the maximum acceleration
d. The tip of the rocket transports a 2.7 gram ping-pong ball. Determine the maximum support force for the ball.
I am given data: time (in seconds) and elevation (in meters). My first problem lies in the fact that I have a TON of data. 61 pages worth of data. 2 columns and 3280 rows of data. I know I'll need to preallocate this somehow to make it run efficiently. What help/tips do you have to help me get started and to help me make it run most efficiently?
EDIT: I have m=zeros(3280,2) as my preallocation. I am considering putting the data into a file and trying to pull it, to save space.
UPDATE 1:
rTimeData=fopen('rocket_time_data.txt','r');
formatSpec = '%f';
A = fscanf(rTimeData,formatSpec);
fclose(rTimeData);
rElevData=fopen('rocket_elev_data.txt','r');
formatSpec = '%f';
B=fscanf(rElevData,formatSpec);
fclose(rElevData);
vel=sqrt(0^2+2*(9.81)*(B-0));
acc=vel/B;
My acceleration seems to not be right. Should it be a 3280x3280? (Part A plots fine, by the way.)
