Baking Soda = More Rocket Launches

Last class the students made a prototype baking-soda and vinegar rocket. Inspired by their first attempt and the Falcon Heavy SpaceX launch, we continued designing and building baking-soda and vinegar rockets.

The students improved on their design by using a sealed pressure-vessel fuel tank (water bottle), an advance fuel-injection cartridge (baking soda in a paper wrap), and most impressively determining the ideal fuel-mixture ratio experimentally. The later took up most of the session as they honed in more and more accurately on the right baking soda to vinegar proportions. 
Next week, we will be recording a launch and measuring the position/speed/acceleration achieved by the vessel, discussing Newton's Second Law, and touching on the nature of calculus.