As part of a recent lesson with teacher Joe Landoni, seventh-grade students at Sequim Middle School took their turn pressurizing and launching home-made Newton’s bottle rockets.
Students transformed simple, 2-liter plastic soda bottles into aerodynamic projectiles as they applied background knowledge and science and engineering practices in an attempt to out “blast” their classmates.
Additionally, they showed what they had learned about the forces of flight — thrust, lift, gravity/weight and drag — and applied measurements of distance, time and speed.
Students were able to manipulate certain variables including the number, size, shape, material and position of fins, the size of a nose cone, decoration material and the rocket’s total mass.
A number of rockets were then suspended from the ceiling in the hallway outside the seventh-grade science classrooms at SMS, Landoni said.
“This engaging experience has become a highlight of the Energy, Forces and Motion unit in seventh grade,” he said.
Top bottle rockets by distance (meters)
Kendra Dodson — 115
Jessie Bainbridge — 111
Andrew Keeler — 105
Sam Cobb — 98
Julia Reandeau — 97
Aiden Leis — 87
Ashton Campbell — 85
Kaitlyn Haberlack — 85
Kaesha Larsen — 85
Aaliyah Lara — 82
