Nanyo NHS Science Club - Rock It To The Moon!

INTRODUCTION

Have you ever marveled at how fireworks, toy rockets or real spacecraft can launch into the air? It can be an amazing thing to witness. It is thrilling to see something lift off against Earth's gravity. The strong push required to launch a spacecraft comes from a chemical reaction in its rockets. This means that every time you see a spacecraft launch, you're watching chemistry at work. In this activity you'll get to blast an object into the air using two simple household ingredients: baking soda and vinegar. Investigate how to mix these chemicals to get the best lift off and prepare for a gravity-defying show!

Source:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bring-science-home-homemade-rockets/

OBJECTIVE

At the end the activity, students must be able to design, build and launch simple rockets.

MATERIALS

Empty plastic bottle

Vinegar

Baking Soda

Cork

Sticks

Colored Paper

GUIDELINES

Tape 4 sticks to the top of the bottle to be used as legs for the rocket to stand on while launching.
Decorate the rocket in any way you can imagine.
Fill the bottle halfway with vinegar.
Scoop a spoonful of baking soda in the center of a square of paper towel and roll it up. Twist the ends to close the baking soda in.
Place the paper towel into the bottle, but don’t drop it in the vinegar yet. Let the neck of the bottle hold the paper towel.
Put a cork in the mouth of the bottle.
Turn the bottle upside down and let it stand on its legs.

DOCUMENTATION

The making of rockets. Students decorated more colors and shapes to improve the looks of their rockets.

The most exciting part is the launching of their rockets outside.

The group in the video added the baking soda first, followed by a vinegar which immediately propelled the rocket to the sky!

Untitled design.mp4

SCIENCE BITS

So, how does the fuel in your rocket work to make it fly? The fuel in your rocket is composed of baking soda and vinegar, which (when exposed to each other) releases carbon dioxide that builds up inside the bottle. This CO2 (carbon dioxide) causes pressure to build up inside the bottle due to the cork trapping the reaction inside. Eventually, the gases contained in the bottle will build up too much pressure for the cork to handle and will explode out of the end of the bottle. This sudden release of built up pressure will LAUNCH the rocket into the sky, propelling the rocket in the opposite direction to where the gas was released. The more pressure that was built up beforehand, the higher the rocket will fly!

Source:

https://fun-science.org.uk/baking-soda-rocket-experiment/#:~:text=The%20Science%20Bit%3A&text=The%20fuel%20in%20your%20rocket%20is%20composed%20of%20baking%20soda,cork%20trapping%20the%20reaction%20inside.