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Water Bottle Rockets
| Content Provider | TeachEngineering: STEM curriculum for K-12 |
|---|---|
| Author | Harrold, Duff Mullen, Michael Pace, Sara |
| Copyright Year | 2016 |
| Description | Students are challenged to design and build rockets from two-liter plastic soda bottles that travel as far and straight as possible or stay aloft as long as possible. Guided by the steps of the engineering design process, students first watch a video that shows rocket launch failures and then participate in three teacher-led mini-activities with demos to explore key rocket design concepts: center of drag, center of mass, and momentum and impulse. What makes rockets fly straight? What makes rockets fly far? Why use water to make the rocket fly? Students are challenged to design and build rockets from two-liter plastic soda bottles that travel as far and straight as possible or stay aloft as long as possible. Guided by the steps of the engineering design process, students first watch a video that shows rocket launch failures and then participate in three teacher-led mini-activities with demos to explore key rocket design concepts: center of drag, center of mass, and momentum and impulse. Then the class tests four combinations of propellants (air, water) and center of mass (weight added fore or aft) to see how these variables affect rocket distance and hang time. From what they learn, student pairs create their own rockets from plastic bottles with cardboard fins and their choices of propellant and center of mass placement, which they test and refine before a culminating engineering field day competition. Teams design for maximum distance or hang time; adding a parachute is optional. Students learn that engineering failures during design and testing are just steps along the way to success. |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Rights Holder | Regents of The University of Colorado University of California Davis |
| Subject Keyword | Physical Science Physics Science and Technology Mistake Laws of Motion Failures Aerodynamics Mass Rotation Center of Drag Pressure Center of Mass Conservation of Momentum Water Bottle Rocket Parachute Hang Time Law of Conservation of Momentum Force Stability |
| Content Type | Text Video |
| Time Required | PT3H15M |
| Education Level | Class VI Class VII |
| Pedagogy | Experimental Activity Lecture cum Demonstration |
| Resource Type | Hands-on |
| Subject | Physics Technical |
