Baking Soda and Vinegar Rockets

Today we discussed several aspects of planetary space exploration, for example: why do we prioritize certain planets and moons in our solar system, why do we send probes and robots instead of people, what kinds of propulsion can we use in space, and why would we even want to go out and explore at all?! This exploratory dialogue allowed the instructor see what topics most interested the students in order to plan future classes.

The class wound-down with a baking soda and vinegar rockets. The students were already familiar with how the reagents produce carbon dioxide gas and they correctly made the conceptual leap from last class where they used balloon rockets to explore Newton’s Second Law. At first they tried to use the baking soda and vinegar to inflate a balloon to launch a bottle, but they quickly realized that the balloon just expanded instead of allowing the pressure to build in the bottle. Their next launch was a splashing success, despite the instructor getting drenched in vinegar.