The Toy Rocket Scam's Flaws

Detective W scooped a piece of orange fish tofu on his bowl. "All right, I will admit, without prior knowledge, knowing that commercial was a scam will be really difficult."

All of the eyes were on Detective W. You pulled your phone out, and began recording what he said.

"First obvious thing: you noticed how SlickMik picked up the rocket when it stopped moving at "supersonic" speed?"

You nodded. "He clenched it with his entire hand."

"Good. But, the thing is, when anything goes at supersonic speed, air friction takes over, and it begins to heat up! It may not be burning hot on the rocket surface, but it should feel uncomfortable!"

Detective W then went on a tirade of heat equations, air pressures, and temperature and pressure ratio. You just had a blank look on your face as the scientific explanations flew over your head. Detective W ended with, "... With the previous assumptions—room temperature, sea level pressure, and that the rocket can be approximated as a cylinder— the temperature of the rocket should rise up by 17%! And that's the absolute temperature!"

He then went on to the second flaw in the rocket-the diverging nozzles. "The diverging nozzles, under subsonic speed, actually decreases the speed of the flowing fluid!" he explained. "Regular air pressure can't even raise the speed through that nozzle! You need to use a converging nozzle!"

You slowly nodded. "Oh... that's how it is. You want me to email him and complain about it, Boss?"

Detective W shook his head. "No. The customers will instantly find out. Besides, isn't this a toy for kids? Let them have their own fun."

The rest of the night was spent by playing cards. Detective W had unfortunate hands in UNO for every round. In the final round, Detective W's fingers held a fat stack of 32 cards.

"I hate... every single one of you!" Detective W joked. "How am I going to win now?"

Fireworks of myriad colors painted the clear night sky. Detective W checked his watch. Ten more minutes until midnight.

"You guys have any New Year's resolutions?" he asked while shuffling the deck.

"Yeah. To do well in college and start my company," Ha-joon declared while puffing his chest.

Ha-Eun fiddled with her fingers. "Yeah... to finish my astronomy degree and start to find jobs."

You shrugged. "To be smarter this year. I got to learn a lot more things so I can be more helpful. "

Detective W handed out seven cards to everyone. "Those are all wonderful goals. For me, it's for another successful year at Detective W's Agency. Thank you, guys, for helping me this year. You guys are the best."

Ha-Eun looked at her phone. "Thirty seconds 'till midnight! Everyone, get ready!"

Everyone tensed up.

"3... 2... 1..." Ha-Eun counted down.

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!" you all shouted.

------------The New Year's Scam, END------------