October Sky - Classroom Dispute Over Rocket Experiment
Principal Turner:
In the first place, you are not a member of this classroom.
Homer Hickam Jr: [students chuckle]
Neither are you, Mr. Turner.
Freida Riley:
Why don't you let the boy defend himself?
Turner:
And in the second place, this rocket proves nothing. You've already admitted having lost a number of your rockets. You cannot prove conclusively that another one of them didn't start that fire.
Hickam: [starts drawing diagram of rocket trajectory]
Yes, I can.
Turner:
Are we to conclude, Mr. Hickam, that since leaving school, you've not only become an expert in rocket science, but in the field of trigonometry?
Hickam:
I didn't say that I was a rock-
Turner: [students chuckle again]
Obviously, you learned more in the coal mines than you did in high school.
Riley:
Let the boy talk. Go ahead, Homer.
Hickam: [Explains diagram; writes on blackboard]
Now, that fire was near Welch, just under three miles from our launch pad. And at the time of the fire, the best that we could do was 1.2 miles which is exactly where we found that rocket, Mr. Turner. See, Mr. Turner, that rocket fell for about 14 seconds, which means that it flew to an altitude of 3,000 feet according to the equation "S" equals one-half "A" "T" squared. Where "S" is the altitude, "A" is the gravity constant or 32 and "T" is the time it took for that rocket to come back down. Velocity equals acceleration times time.
Quentin Wilson: [mutters]
Get him, Homer, get him.
Hickam: [students laugh again]
Are you following this, Mr. Turner?
Turner:
All right, we're all duly impressed. But do you mind telling me, if you did not start that fire, who did?
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
October Sky - Discussion on Rocket Launch Conditions
Homer Hickam Jr: [thinks for a moment]
Hey, was there a wind that day?
Quentin Wilson:
Uh, I don't remember.
Homer: [raises his hand to point in the relative direction, then looks and slowly smiles]
Cause if there was, the wind probably came from the west, which means that it would've pushed the rocket...'...right there.
Quentin:
Prodigious!
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.