I am new at electronics and am looking at testing the temperature of air as our rocket goes up and back down. I was told to use an Arduino as the interface and to wire in my different sensors. Question I have is what Arduino to use and how the sensors get programed so I can get read outs. If someone has knowledge of how I could sett this up so my students would be able to follow and achieve the goal of reading temperature and possibly humidity I would be grateful.
Hoping someone knows
Kelly
There are quite a few questions needed to help you make selections.
first, you said sensors (plural) are you going to use multiple sensors ? if so, what are you trying to monitor ?
as for temperature, what temperatures ? many of the sensors people use are in the range of creature comfort, not less than 32°F and not much more than 100°F
second, how many readings ? and how fast ? do you want to monitor the atmospheric temperature from ground level to about 15,000 feet in the period of 5 seconds ?
Also, since most sensors use heat exchange to work, they depend on the thick air at the surface of this planet. at altitude, the air is much less dense, so there are fewer air molecules with which to use to measure temperature.
In my humble opinion, the first thing is to define the parameters.
second, do you have a weight penalty ? if you do, then you also want the lightest possible device. getting rid of every extra chip that is not needed could make a unit that is 1/10th the weight of a different unit.
Thanks
I would like to take atmospheric temperature readings from the time of lift off until apogee which is about 8 secs and around 5000ft. We would need samples taken frequently as the rocket on the way up but as far as for on the way down it is drifting and could be slow as the decent is aided with chute. IS there a device that can take multiple readings as it would work on the way up, and also on the way down.
I thought about other sensors but guess getting the temperature to work will be a victory and allowed into the competition.
Weight is not an issue but size comes into play. We need the electronic device to fit into a 3" tube.
Kelly
You'll need to figure out a temperature range still. However, most of the arduinos I believe fit in under 3" but that doesn't include space for connectors. However, if you look at the Arduinos Micro, Mini, Pro Mini and Nano, they all will give you more space to work with. Since it is a rocket, you'll want robust connections, do you'll want to solder them. Whatever you get, get one without the headers for your final product, but all you need is a standard Arduino Uno to begin with.
Don't forget the strain relief, vibration will break soldered wires.
Hi, have you tried searching the forum using the search window in the top right hand corner, try model rocket see what comes back.
Tom.... 
any of the nano or mini would work, with batteries to get your small foot-print.
temperature from sea level to 5,000 feet is not too different.
I would suggest you contact one of the thermistor companies and speak to a tech there with the application.
since the Arduino has 10bit resolution, there might be additional circuitry needed to get good readings.
you really need fast response. getting the readings is not an issue if that is the only sensor or a couple of them.
having a full scale response of 15 seconds would be way too slow.
others might offer a way to get the fastest data throughput as your window to time is so short. maybe direct reading of the ADC ?
possibly add barometric sensor ? give an idea of the changing pressures to get an idea of the altitude.
pressure sensor BMP085 os OK - and fast enough
For temp measurement you will need a droplet NTC (RH16.. has a 6sec timeconstant in still air)
All humiditysensons are slow, 'any will do'
I recommend APC220 radio with an 1/4 wave antenna. Ground station : same radio with Yagi antenna.
Bevare acceleration when mounting components and cables