CHAPTER 10 Miss Riley

1. CHAPTER 10 Miss Riley

2. Pages 163- 165 • Pages 163- 165. • On the first page of the chapter, the McDowell County Newspaper does a story on the Rocket Boys of Coalwood. It explains the launch of the rocket and where it happened. • Also, the first day of school starts, and so does football suspension. Usually, the football team’s first game would be coming up, but not this season. Instead of football, the school has much more focus on academics. • Also, Sonny’s relationship with Valentine grows.

3. Pages 166- 168 • Page 166- 168. • These pages start with Sonny’s attraction to his friend Dorothy. He and Dorothy start hanging out with each other more often (going to each others houses, doing homework together, etc.). • On pg. 167, Sonny manages to graduate the tenth grade with a B minus after a boost of good test scores at the end of the year. When the eleventh grade started, he was able to manage good math/geometry scores because it helped him design his rockets. • Then, on pg. 168, Sonny gains attention from Dorothy because she thinks he is really smart.

4. Pages 169-171 • In page 169, Mr. Hartsfield uses deductive reasoning on Roy Lee when he was “ogling the girl next to him”. Sonny loved to let his mind go the endless reaches of space, where lines crossed to create points with no dimensions at all and parallel lines intersected in infinity. • In page 170, Sonny thought that plane geometry was a message from God. He went to see Revered Lanier about it, but he told him that all of God’s words and messages were in the Bible, the “Good Book”. Then he went to see Reverend Richard about it. • Reverend Richard told him that if he wanted to build a rocket, then pray to God. “Oh, if that’s what you want, pray on it and God will provide.” The Reverend also told Sonny not to take the glory for making the rocket.

5. Pages 172-174 • On Saturday, Sonny took the heating element to see if his plans for and electrical-ignition system would work. O’Dell also took the heavy duty battery from his dad’s garbage truck and took it to Sonny’s house for a test. The tests worked. “O’Dell and Roy Lee, looking for a way to improve Cape communications, targeted the mule barn.” • O’Dell thought that the telephones that were in the mule barn should be used for BMCA, but instead of asking them if they could use them, they decided to take the telephones without asking. The following day, Sonny got a call from Tag Farmer, the town constable. He told Sonny to go to Mr. Van Dyke’s office. He also told him what had happened. • Tag Farmer was still a young man and proved to be a good constable. Tag told the boys that what they had done was considered a felony and that they could go to jail.

6. Pages 175-177 • Tag Farmer suggested that the case not go to court in Welch. Mr. Van Dyke agreed to talk about it, so the boys were sent outside to wait on their final verdict. As they were sitting, Roy Lee glared at O’Dell as he told Sonny what had happened. They broke the padlock to get into the mule farm, and as they were walking in, the floor collapsed and they fell into the basement. They spent the night there until Tag found them. • Roy Lee told O’Dell and Sonny that he hated them both. The men came out and told them what the fine was. “If you want telephone equipment, you can have the lot for $25 plus $2 for the busted padlock plus another $10 for your failure to notify the company of your plan to enter the barn.” They had to pay off the $37 in one year. • Sonny’s favorite subject in the 11th grade was Chemistry because of his teacher, Miss Riley. She was strict, but had a sense of humor. With the little she had, she demonstrated to the class rapid oxidation.

7. 178-180 • Miss Riley show the class a demonstration of rapid oxidation with potassium chlorite and sugar. She asked Quentin to tell the difference rapid and slow oxidation. Sonny asked her if he could use the mixture for rocket fuel, but she said no. • Miss Riley told Sonny not to blow himself up. Sonny feels that he can talk to Miss Riley like a friend. Almost as if she were his equal. Quentin told Sonny that he could make the Potassium chlorate. • Sonny agreed to make the Potassium chlorate. At home, he started to experiment with the different chemicals that he had. When Sonny threw in a mixture of chemicals into the heater, the chimney “erupted like a small volcano.” His mom and Mrs. Sharitz came running down to see what had happened.

8. Pages 181-184 • Sonny’s mom told him not to blow himself up again. His dad saw him making the mixture when he asked him was he was doing. Sonny told him that he was making propellant. His dad responded with a “Attaboy.” Sonny was shocked to hear him say that to him. When the BMCA were at the cape, the propellant burned up and it smelled like candy. O’Dell gave it the name “Rocket Candy”. • Sonny suggested that he could wet the propellant. Quentin told him it would be a bad idea, but told him he could do it. A new member joined BMCA. His name was Billy. • When they launched Aux X, if barely flew and the moistened rocket candy was oozing from it. Aux XI that had the dry Rocket candy flew a bit, but exploded. They were considering of melting the Rocket Candy for the Propellant. • NASA launched the pioneer 1 to the moon. “It was America’s first attempt to reach the moon and we were excited about it.” The pioneer 1 did fly, but it turned back around and burned up. Most people saw this as a failure, but Sonny saw it as inspiration. He decided to melt the saltpeter and sugar.

9. Sonny and Quentin taught themselves trigonometry. In the fall of 1958, High schools in the US started a Sputnik-inspired curriculum In the fall of 1957, Sputnik was launched. Sonny started the 11th grade. The first day back to school started in 1958.

10. Reverend Lanier told him that all the words from God were in the Bible. Sonny laid in bed, thinking that plane geometry was a message from God. He went to Reverend Lanier to talk about the “message from God”. Sonny went to Dorothy’s house to study. Sonny took the heating element from the toaster to see if his plans for the electrical-ignition system would work.

11. Mr. Van Dyke told them that what they’d done was considered a felony and that they could go to jail. O’Dell “borrowed” the battery from his dad’s garbage truck. The following Saturday, Sonny got a call from the town constable, Tag Farmer. He told him to go to Mr. Van Dyke’s office. O’Dell and Roy Lee went to the mule barn and took a telephone without asking on a Friday near midnight. Sonny went to his office and found O’Dell and Roy Lee sitting in the office, looking “dirty and miserable.”

12. Mr. Van Dyke told them that they would have to repay for the telephones and the padlock that Roy Lee and O’Dell broke. Sonny asked Miss Riley if he could use the mixture of potassium chlorate and sugar for the rocket fuel. O’Dell told Sonny what had happened. Miss Riley, Sonny’s chemistry teacher, demonstrated rapid oxidation. The mixture she used gave the BCMA an idea to use that as rocket fuel. Miss Riley told Sonny that the mixture was unstable to use for the rocket fuel.

13. Quentin told Sonny that it would be easy to make the mixture at home, so Sonny started to experiment with the chemicals he had at home. Sonny’s mom and Mrs. Sharitz heard the explosions and saw what he was doing. He showed them what he was trying to accomplish. That Saturday, the BMCA launched another rocket, but did not make it public. Sonny tried to imitate the experiment that Miss Riley showed to the class that day, but the first time, his fire was pink and not green. While Sonny was doing more experiments, his dad caught him making the rocket fuel. Sonny was startled when his father said “Atta boy” to him.

14. They launched again the following weekend. A new member joined BMCA. His name was Billy. NASA launched the Pioneer 1, but in less than ¼ of the way, it lost it’s momentum and turned around back into earth’s atmosphere, burning up along the way. Everyone saw this as a failure, but not to the coal miners’ sons. Everyone wanted to try to melt the Rocket Candy, but Sonny thought it would blow his face off, but after seeing the pioneer 1 launch, he was inspired to melt them. Auk IX launched, but fell to the ground. They also came up with the name “Rocket Candy!” for the propellant because the burnt ignition smelled like candy. AukX launched, but there was “liquid like caramel” oozing from it. Auk IX, which had the rocket candy, exploded.