A cone for a nose on a rocket sucks because it doesn't transition smoothly to the sides. And like I said, a sharp point is bad if airflow is approaching at an angle. That's why the NACA airfoil has a rounded front-- a wing has to be at an angle to airflow in order to generate lift.
Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2007 March 7 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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One critical concept involving pointy-fronts on non-supersonic aircraft: if the nose is pointy, and if it hits the air at an angle, then there will be flow-separation on one side and sideways-directed frictional forces which lead to tumbling. Or if a wing has a sharp leading edge, and it hits the air with a positive attack-angle, then there will be major flow-separation above the wing, and major turbulent friction. It's called a "stall." Sharp leading edges cause the air-flow to peel loose from the object's sides. To avoid this situation, eliminate the sharp front parts and make them smoothly rounded. Pointy parts are only good for supersonic objects, and for objects having guide-fins which prevent it from tilting with respect to oncoming air. --Wjbeaty 03:30, 8 March 2007 (UTC)
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