Living on the Space Coast of Florida, you get pretty familiar with rockets. The Kennedy Space Center resides just 45 minutes from our home, and often we forget how lucky we are to be able to watch these amazing real-life science projects take flight. And right from our driveway!
On the brink of the launch of Artemis this year, we started a space unit that we complete every year. One of the hallmark activities of our space unit is creating a home made rocket. Like any science experiment, we’ve had years where all the rockets launched, and years where only one has gone off successfully. We relate a little bit to the schedule of the actual KSC launches. So if you’d like to try this rocket launch at home, grab your safety glasses, and read on to see how set this up.
Supplies:
- 2 liter empty bottle
- 3 pencils
- duct tape
- box of baking soda
- napkin or two
- large bottle of vinegar
- a cork that fits the neck of your bottle
- safety glasses
- a flat surface outdoors
First, tape the three pencils to the neck area of the bottle, evenly spaced. You will want to have them stick out about 2″ from the top (see picture). Flip the bottle upside down to test its sturdiness. The bottle should be able to stand evenly on the three pencils. If it doesn’t stand evenly, adjust the pencils until it does. Test the cork as this point to see if it fits nicely in the neck of the bottle. not too loose, but not too tight either.
You are ready to create your rocket – make sure there is an adult handy to perform the actual launching part. You will fill the bottle with about 1/2 cup to 1 cup of vinegar. Part of the science behind this experiment is figuring out just how much vinegar produces the best launch. You want there to be enough vinegar to create a reaction, but not so much that it weighs the bottle down. Each time you launch your rocket, you can adjust the amount of vinegar to see what works best.
Next, open up the napkin and tear off or cut a square about 2″ wide by 2″ tall. Pour some baking powder into the napkin, then fold it into a little pouch. Again, the amount of baking soda you add is part of the experimenting phase. We started with about 1 tsp and went from there. Each launch, we would adjust either the baking soda or the vinegar to see if we could get a higher launch.
Home Made Rocket
To launch the rocket, find a flat surface that is not going to be damaged by vinegar. Have an adult quickly stuff the baking soda packet into the bottle, stuff the cork into the neck of the bottle, then flip it over so it sits on the pencils. Back up to a safe distance. Make sure everyone is wearing safety goggles and is at least 20ft from the rocket.
Then watch it go! (video of one of our launches below). Continue to test different combinations to see what will launch the best.