PET bottle rocket

Level Primary, Elementary, Secondary

Concept
It is easy to understand that rocket fly by using reaction
when it pushes away something to outside.
PET bottle rocket can fly up to the height of the school
roof. Students can have a lot of fun.
To enlarge the momentum, water is put in the PET bottle
and it can fly higher than in the case of only the air in it.
It can be examined how to make the big momentum.
It is understood to be able to make the fog and the cloud,
when the adiabatic expansion happens suddenly.

Materials
PET bottle (for a carbonated drink), rubber stopper, air
pump, pin for the ball, water, celluloid board and packing
tape

Fabrication
(1)Make a small hole in the rubber stopper, and the pin for the ball is passed.
(2)Water is put in the PET bottle about 1/3.
(3)The rubber stopper is strongly pushed into the mouth of the PET bottle.
(4)Put some air in the PET bottle by air pump.
(5)When the pressure in the PET bottle grows more than the frictional force of the
rubber stopper and the bottle, the bottle launches.

It is better to use the PET bottle for a
carbonated drink because of the high pressure.
If the PET bottle is cut and the launch pad is
made, it becomes easy to fly.
Put the head corn on the top and wing on the
lower part to fly stably.


1
Science
It hardly flies only by air in the
PET bottle.
The water is heavier than the air, so
the momentum that is pushed away
from the bottle becomes big.
Therefore, the rocket comes to fly
higher.
It is possible to examine the law of
conservation of momentum by
measuring the height which the
rocket flies over.






















At the moment of launching,
water goes away and the
reaction pushes up the PET
bottle rocket.




Extension
Lets make the fog in the bottle.
At the moment when the rocket was driven, it becomes white in the PET bottle
momentarily.
It is because the temperature rapidly falls by the adiabatic expansion when an inside gas
expands suddenly.
The fog can be made in the PET bottle in the classroom by using this experiment.
2
The small amount of water is put in the PET bottle, and rubber stopper is put.
Put some air in the bottle by air pump.
The fog can be made and it becomes white inside the PET bottle after the rubber stopper
is pushed away.
If the smoke of the match is put inside the bottle before the pumping, it becomes easy to
make the fog.
It is quite the same mechanism that can make the cloud in the sky.












During the pumping, the air
temperature goes up.









After the stopper is pushed away,
the adiabatic expansion occurs
and the air temperature in the
bottle is down. The fog is made.





3