Make Your Own Air Rockets!
Using the properties of air & air pressure this is a very fun and easy science activity on how to make your own air rocket out of simple household materials.
You will need: 2 feet PVC pipe (1/2" or ¾" in diameter), PVC connectors, 2 feet (1/2" or ¾") flexible tubing, 2 liter plastic bottle, card stock, tape. Wood platform, cable ties.
Now try this:
1. Construct a rocket out of card stock. Make the shaft of the rocket the diameter of the PVC tubing. To make the cone, make a circle from the card stock, cut a triangle out of the circle and fold into a cone.
2. With the PVC Connectors attach the PVC to the flexible tubing. Attach the flexible tubing to an empty 2 liter plastic bottle.
3. With the cable ties attach the PVC pipe to the wood platform.
4. Place the rocket over the PVC pipe. Your rocket is ready to be launched.
5. To launch your rocket jump up and land down on the empty 2 liter bottle pushing all the air out with great force creating strong enough air pressure to propel your rocket.
Explanation:
Air is around us and is a gas. Gas is matter and thus has mass and occupies a volume. When you squeeze an "empty" plastic bottle you feel the air coming out of it, thus showing evidence that the bottle is actually not empty but contains air. Air like all gases exerts a pressure based upon the collisions the gas molecules or atoms make in the space it occupies. If you reduce the volume of a container the gas pressure is increased. Like all gases air prefers to be in a lower pressure situation. Utilizing this behavior of gas allows the rocket to propel into the air. Stomping on the 2-liter bottle containing air causes the air to move from a high pressure situation to a low pressure situation, thus propelling the rocket.
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