Rocketry~



backyard style.

We had studied rocketry in April & May.

Our first easy-peasy experiment was "blow rockets". We placed a skinny straw into the tube of the rocket, and BLEW. We explored theory of the angle of the fins, and the amount of fins used.

Next we attempted "pop rockets" by using mini M&M containers.




Add water, insert alka-seltzer, seal lid on, and voila..
FLOP...as in flopped over!

not.so.exciting.


So, I bought fuji film. Yes, real film. It comes in a white canister. *smile*

Got our protective eyewear on.

Had a
stopwatch
to record
'time to blast off'.

Dad judged the distance of the 'take off', while we tried a variety of water levels, amount of alka-seltzer, and even tried soda (pop).


It was too fast to catch it well on camera,

but it was fun, and the kids thought it was great.

Our last event in this series was the "sling rocket".


Do you see Katie's on the ground? That hot pink 'stick' in the ground. That was a flopped shot. *hee*


These were so much fun!!

They go so far, we ended up heading to the local elementary school to use their field.


Basically, it is a fancy paper airplane that you use with a good rubber band. (yes, we did snap a few in the process, stings pretty good after about the 3rd time)



We had a good contest amongst us all.

and the littles would chase after them as the flew across the field.



Here is an upclose view.

Can you tell we are a 'color-coded' family?

Rockets, events on the calendar, school folders,

Yep, everyone has their assigned color. Interesting right now though, cuz Andrew *likes* blue, which has always been TJ's color, so we've been going with the dark/light variety.
I figure that's one way to compromise. ;^)

With the mix of all this fun, we read a good Rocketry book, viewed a variety of educational videos, and even watched some fun shows from "Myth Busters"

In conclusion,
we had a blast with this study!