Physics Class Shoots Off Water Rockets

Physics Class Shoots Off Water Rockets

On the brisk Wednesday morning of Nov. 6, senior McKensie Theis walked out to the football field to launch Team Swag’s self-made rocket. Student teacher Brandon Jones’ physics classes had created makeshift rockets that week and tested them out in order to learn about conservation of momentum with a hands on project.

With the pressure tank ready to go at 60 psi, Jones tugged on the string that sent the rocket flying, propelled by air and water pressure.

Equipped with jackets, the students fought the chill and successfully launched eight rockets during their third block class. The farthest distance overall was 98 meters by senior Emily Digg’s rocket. To fire the rockets, a contraption was built that held the bottle top and released the air into it.

“One, two – I’m going to get really wet,” Jones said with a wary, but excited face as he tugged the release for the first launch. “Three!”

The discharged water soaked Jones, but he said he didn’t mind. The project was a relief from the normal routines and schedules.

“I wanted the students to create something cool while we were covering conservation of momentum in class,” Jones said. “Students see how far their rockets went, as well as calculate the average horizontal velocity of the rocket based on the displacement of the rocket and travel time.”

Each rocket had its proper nose cone and fins, along with some including parachutes that earned teams extra credit. There was a prize for the farthest launch, so by using a parachute, teams sacrificed the chance at winning candy.

“I haven’t had any to the bleachers yet,” Jones said in response to a question.

“Our’s is the one,” Theis commented.

As the tanks ran out of pressurized air, there was only enough left for one more – Theis and her team of junior Shelby Denton and seniors Erik Hydeman and Kaitlyn Zielsdorf were up. The rocket was put on the launching contraption, and away it sailed. It went up into the air, higher than any other rocket tested that morning.

“Yeah, that works,” Hydeman said.