Pop Rockets
Students design and build paper rockets around film canisters, which serve as engines. An antacid tablet and water are put into each canister, reacting to form carbon dioxide gas, and acting as the pop rocket's propellant. With the lid snapped on, the continuous creation of gas causes pressure to build up until the lid pops off, sending the rocket into the air. The pop rockets demonstrate Newton's third law of motion: for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. An instructions handout, worksheets (English and Spanish) and quiz are provided.
Students model rocket launchesCopyright 2000 NASA https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Proton_Zvezda_crop.jpg
Engineers design scale models of projects to learn and experiment with how they perform. When designing rockets, engineers develop small prototypes to test fuel properties. Does the fuel burn too high? Does the fuel create enough thrust? Rocket and engine prototypes help engineers discover the balance between weight and thrust that is necessary for space flight.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Explain that energy needed for a rocket launch is related to the size of the rocket.
- Collect and analyze data on model rocket launch height, comparing to size or weight of the rocket.
- Describe what factors an engineer must consider when designing a rocket.