A Very Blustery Day Mystery Cache

This cache has been archived.

lz33: The geocache owner has not responded to issues regarding this geocache, so the listing has fallen into archival status.

Please note that if geocaches are archived by a reviewer or HQ for lack of maintenance, they are not eligible for un archival.

If the owner hasn't done so already, please pick up this game piece and any remaining bits as soon as possible.

This, and the surrounding area is now acceptable for new placements that are inline with the current guidelines.

Thank you,
LZ33
Community Volunteer Reviewer - Georgia

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Hidden : 3/17/2012
Difficulty:
4 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size: regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:

Cache is NOT at the listed coordinates. There is no need to travel to this location to solve the puzzle.

Last year, Masonator and I started launching rockets at various athletic fields around town. We started with small ones that went about 300 ft, but as boys will often do we quickly decided that bigger and higher would be better. As you will see, it didn't turn out so well.

It was a beautiful day to launch a rocket. Masonator and I cleared out a perimeter for the launch in the middle of the soccer field at the posted coordinates.

AbbyCat had her big protractor because she wanted to measure the altitude of the flight. She set up shop with mom exactly 150 feet away from the launch site. I of course was geeking out with my laptop and anemometer so I could monitor the wind before the launch.

Countdown proceeded optimistically even though wind was sort of all over the place. As soon as the anemometer indicated a calm 30 second window, we decided to go for it.

5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Liftoff!

Our 1.34 lb rocket went screaming into the air until it hit a maximum angle of 82.8 degrees on AbbyCat's protractor. After it hit its peak, it free fell for what seemed like forever but it was actually only 4 seconds before the huge parachute opened up.

That's when things got sort of unfortunate. The wind starting kicking up in full force and we sadly watched our beautiful rocket drift away to the north-east. The kids started balling and I was pretty bummed too until I realized we might have all the information we needed to find the rocket.

I went back to the laptop and looked at the wind data that it had captured. It showed that a 28.936 mph wind was blowing at an angle of 50.329 degrees for two minutes after the rockets parachute opened. Then the wind shifted again and blew 19.733 mph at an angle of 124.054 degrees for another two minutes.

For the sake of simplicity, I made the following assumptions about the flight of the rocket:
  • No wind impacted the ascent of the rocket or its free fall
  • The parachute's drag immediately nullified gravity's acceleration and reduced the velocity of the rocket by a factor of 12.
  • The wind direction and speed was constant for the measured durations.
  • The elevation of the launch point was the same as the elevation of the landing point.
  • Please assume for your calculations that the acceleration of gravity is 32.174 ft/sec2
Based on our data and assumptions, we calculated a potential crash site location and were able to find the remains of the rocket after a couple of hours. The fins had been knocked off, so we opened it up, stuffed some goodies in it, and decided to turn it into a geocache at its final resting place. Hopefully you can follow the clues and find the cache also. The FTF prize is a buffalo nickel that is almost 100 years old.

The cache has been placed at the location with the permission of the property owner. Please look around before choosing your final approach to the cache. The property owner gave very specific parking instructions, so please park at the location that is +.044 N +.080 W of your calculated crash location. He has also requested that the cache be restricted to daylight searches only.

You can check your answers for this puzzle on Geochecker.com.

Additional Hints (No hints available.)

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