This afternoon we took our learning outdoors for a little bit of rocket science.  We used 35mm film canisters, fizzing antacid tablets and water to build canister rockets.

We had to wear our safety goggles as we experimented with different quantities of water and tablet to see how high we could launch our rockets in the air.

The water dissolves the tablet and the gas carbon dioxide is released. This leads to a build up in pressure until eventually the cap blasts off and the rocket blasts up.

This system of thrust is how a real rocket works though of course they use rocket fuel.

Could you try this at home? You could experiment controlling the rocket’s path by adding fins and a nose cone made from paper.