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Bottle Rocket Project Instructions
The Bottle Rocket Project has been very popular with the students and the adults. These Bottle Rockets have several significant features:
Click here for Detailed Plans for Bottle Rocket
The Bill of Materials for these Bottle Rockets is shown below:
Also, the following tools and supplies will be needed:
Building the Bottle Rocket
1.) Tube a) Place an 8 ½ x 11 inch piece of paper on the table. b) Roll this piece of paper tightly around the ¾ inch CPVC tube to form an 11 inch long tube c) After you are able to get the piece of paper squarely aligned on the tube, unroll the paper until the paper just covers the tube d) While holding the tube with the paper wrapped around it with one hand, apply the glue stick to the exposed piece of paper. Be sure to apply glue to the edges and not glue the paper to the tube. e) Then tightly roll the piece of paper around the tube. This rolled piece of paper should freely slide on the tube. f) While the rolled piece of paper is still on the tube, now is good time to decorate the rocket with magic markers and to mark the location that the fins will be glued on. A jig for marking the fin location marks can be made by made by taking a length of ¾ inch copper repair coupling and sawing it in half along its length.
2.) Cutting the Nose Cone a) The outside diameter of a piece of ¾ x 12 inch Repair Coupling needs to be sanded down (i.e. on belt or disc sander) to make a sharp edge and then polished it. If this tubing is not available, thin wall tubing that has the same inside diameter (i.e. 7/8 inch) or slightly larger is an acceptable substitute. b) Place a piece of 2 inch thick piece of extruded polystyrene Styrofoam on a soft surface such as a scrap piece of wood c) Place the sharpened end of the tube on top of the insulation and perpendicular to the insulation. Using a 2 x 4 that has a 1 inch hole drilled in it to keep the sharpened tube perpendicular to Styrofoam will make it easier to cut out the cylindrical shaped piece of Styrofoam. To do this hold the 2 x 4 in one hand and he sharpened tube in your other hand. d) While slowly turning the sharpened tube also gently push down on the tube. Keeping the tube perpendicular to the insulation, continue turning and pushing on the tube until the sharpened tube breaks out on the other side. e) Pull the sharpened tube out of the insulation f) Use a section of 1/2 inch PCV tube to push the Styrofoam cylinder out of this tube g) This step may to easier to do for your students before the rocket building session takes place rather than having them do it.
3.) Shaping the Nose Cone and Gluing the Nose into the Tube a) Using a sanding pad shape the end of the Styrofoam cylinder. Be careful not to squeeze the end of the Nose Cone that will be glued into the Tube (i.e. this will make it a loose fit into the Tube rather than a tight fit) b) Verify that the Nose Cone will be a tight fit into the Tube. If it is a loose fit, it will not seal this end when it is glued in. If it is a tight fit, one can squeeze it slightly to reduce its size. c) Apply glue around the circumference of the Nose Cone where it will slide into the Tube and gently slide it in. Wipe off any excess glue to make a seal between the Styrofoam Nose Cone and the paper Tube.
4.) Making the Fins a) Fold a 3 x 5 inch index card in half to form a 3 x 2 ½ inch rectangle b) Cut the index card in half by cutting along the fold line c) Fold each of the two pieces of cut index card in half to form a 2 1/2 x 1 ½ inch rectangle d) Slide one the just folded pieces of index card inside the other one so that that the folds line up e) To form the fins, cut these pieces of index card to the shape shown on the plans. The exact shape of these fins is not critical.
5,) Gluing the Fins on to the Tube a) To make gluing the Fins on easier a jig can be made to hold the tube. The jig consists of a few inches of tube sticking out of a base. b) The fins are to be glued on to where the reference marks were previously put on the tube. c) The fins are to be glued on such that the bottom of the fins lines up with the bottom of the Tube (i.e. this makes it so it will sit on a table later), the fins are to be lined up with the length of the tube and approximately opposite of each other. As a faster drying alternative to white glue, hot melt glue can be used. d) Once the glue is dry, the rocket is ready to be launched.
Launching the Bottle Rocket
1.) Making the Rocker Launcher a) To make the Bottle Rocket Launcher, follow the instructions on the attached pdf file.
Click here for Rocket Launcher Details
2.) Preparing to Launch the Bottle Rocket a) Attach the bottle on to the short end of the Launcher. The tube of the launcher should extend in to the bottle about as far as the bottle cap is tall. b) If the bottle is collapsed, blow on the other end of the launcher until the bottle has its original shape. c) Place the Bottle Rocket over the long end of the Launcher. The Bottle Rocket should gently slide down over the Launcher.
3.) Launching the Bottle Rocket a) Hold the Rocket Launcher so that the bottle is resting on the ground and the long tube of the Launcher is straight up. b) To launch the rocket, with one foot stomp on the middle of the bottle. Stomping on the neck or bottom of the bottle will break the bottle. When the bottle cracks it will need to be replaced. c) It is better to allow the rocket to land on its own rather than trying to catch it. Trying to catch the rocket often results in damaging the rocket beyond what is repairable.
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