Are you a Rocket Scientist? If not, you will be after this project! In fact, space travel wouldn’t be possible without rockets. In this project, your Rocket Design Team (4 per group) will attempt to build a Water Bottle Rocket that will meet the Rocket Design Challenge:

• Fly the Highest in the air, the largest Altitude
• Have the longest Flight Time
• (Optional Deeper Dive)- launch an egg to ride in rocket without breaking

Critical to meeting this challenge, will be your group’s understanding of the Physics and Science behind it all. The better you understand these concepts, the better your rocket design will be.

Project Deliverables (What you must complete):

• Build a Water Bottle Rocket- you choose Level of Difficulty/Complexity (see Below)
• Create a Rocket Manual & Rationale- a document showing how you built your rocket, Rationale of Design, Rocket Flight data, Pictures and Video.
• Mathematical Flight Graphs- distance vs time graphs, displacement graphs, and acceleration vs time graphs.

Essential Questions

• What are Forces and how do we control it to create motion?
• How is the science of rockets applicable to the science of your everyday world?

Level of Difficulty: your group will choose how complex of a rocket to build; the highest is to build a rocket to carry your Egg and return safely back to Earth.

Rocket Rookie: a basic 1 bottle rocket without a basic retrieval, parachute system. Best place to start just to understand Rocket Flight Dynamics.

Rocketeer: a 1 bottle rocket with a parachute deployment system.

Advanced Rocketeer: a multi-chamber rocket with a parachute deployment system.

NASA Rocket Scientist: a rocket with payload compartment to carry egg complete with a parachute deployment system; may be a multi-chamber rocket.

Go to Phases to see the steps in this project