Making Rockets  with Carbon Dioxide---Week  Six

 To make the rockets you need the white Fuji film canisters because of the way the cap closes. Since most people no longer use film, stores do not carry the canisters.  They can be ordered on Ebay or Amazon. To make rocketry more fun and to add a little scientific thinking and have a little artistic creativity, I had the kids design their own rockets using my scrap box.

 

  The fuel is water and an Alka Seltzer which will make carbon dioxide gas when mixed.

 On my art table (my kitchen table) I put feathers, colored string, colored paper, markers, scissors, coffee filters and scotch tape.  Do not use glue as it takes too long to dry and can make the canister too heavy. I gave the kids the task of thinking how their design could help the rocket fly higher.
The rocket hit the top of the porch.

  Some of the kids put the feathers facing down instead of facing upward toward the sky . Then we talked about how this could hurt the rocket from separating from the bottom cap. We also questioned whether the feathers would help the rocket fly higher like it does for the birds. My grandson David used a coffee filter as the parachute for the rocket to come down. Marius made wings on the side of the rocket to help it go up and then level. It was interesting to see how involved their thinking and designing became. Even the five year olds  put a lot of effort into their design. We went outside to try our rockets and to see if their designs helped or hindered.

For the first try we used about 1/3 water to ¼ of an  Alka Seltzer. The kids could really see how their design helped or hindered. Some had made them too heavy. We then went inside to improve on the rocket design. The ones who had feathers in the wrong direction changed them. Others added a parachute or wings. The  kids were very busy figuring out what would work

 The rocket went up and then down.

                                                               

 The second launch we used 1/3 water and ½ of an Alka Seltzer.  I asked what the difference was. The response was it went higher because of the design and because the Alka Seltzer was bigger and made more carbon dioxide gas.  Lesson learned! I was so proud of them.

Look at the white over the house. That is the rocket higher than the house.

 

Next we tried to see if we could use the ingredients on the Alka Seltzer label to make the same results. The label says citric acid and baking Soda. We tried it but it didn’t work.

The excitement for each launch was so much fun. The kids really got into the designing and scientific reasoning.  Learning science does not have to be boring.  The next time I saw the parents they were still talking about how enthusiastic their children where about learning and creating such a fun scientific project. The parents said their children told them all about the project and what it proved. The kids talked about how they modified their rockets and how the different ingredients made more or less gas.  The club time exceeded 2 hours because the kids were so excited and involved in the project, I did not want to stop them.  Science is both exciting and creative, and it stops the kids from thinking they are stupid when their project or thinking is not like everyone else.  It teaches them to try and think and design on their own and when something doesn’t work—just try again to make it better.