Content

• Part 2 of 3: Building the Launcher
• Part 3 of 3: Launching a Rocket
• Warnings
• What do you need

1 Roll a piece of A4 or smaller cardboard into a cone. Lay the sheet horizontally and start curling from the bottom right corner towards the bottom left corner.Roll the cardboard tight enough to form a tapered shape. Secure the edge of the cone with tape.

• Try to form a perfectly even cone out of a sheet of cardboard.

2 Attach the cone to the bottom of a 1/2 liter plastic soda bottle. First, insert the bottom of the bottle into the cone. Then tape the corners of the cardboard to the bottle to secure the cone in place. Wrap the tape around the bottle 2-3 times to secure the cone to the bottom of the bottle.

• If the cone is too large for the bottle, trim the edges to the size you want.

3 Attach your rocket's stabilizer wings to the bottle. Cut out a rectangle of cardboard about 13 cm x 15 cm. Fold the rectangle in half. Then cut the resulting part diagonally (visually into two triangles). You will end up with two separate right triangles and two folded right triangles that need to be cut. Choose only three triangles for your rocket wings and attach to the bottle in the following way.

• For all triangles, tuck the longest of the legs by 1 cm.
• Make two cuts on the folded strips at a distance of 5 cm from each other, thereby creating 3 petals each.
• Bend the center petals of the triangles in opposite directions.
• Attach all the petals of the triangles with tape to the sides of the bottle (slightly closer to the upper end with the cap), distributing the triangles at an equidistant distance from each other.

Part 2 of 3: Building the Launcher

1. 1 Place a mark at a distance of 13 cm from the edge of the PVC pipe. To do this, use a permanent marker. The mark will indicate where you should cut the pipe.
   • Make sure the pipe is large enough to accommodate the top of the soda bottle.
   • You can buy a suitable PVC pipe at a plumbing store.
2. 2 Ask an adult to cut the pipe. To avoid injury, this step should only be performed by an adult. Place the pipe on a sturdy work surface. Grasp it tightly with one hand, and with the other, attach the hacksaw to the mark. Slowly cut the pipe back and forth with the hacksaw.
   • Ask an assistant to hold the opposite end of the pipe to more securely fix its position during your work. You can also use a vice for the same purpose.
3. 3 Place the bottle with its neck in the pipe section. The cardboard cone at the bottom of the bottle must point upwards. Make sure the neck of the bottle inside the tube does not reach the very bottom. The pipe section will serve as a support and launcher to launch the rocket into flight from the ground.
   • If the neck of the bottle touches the surface of the ground, then you need to prepare a longer piece of PVC pipe.

Part 3 of 3: Launching a Rocket

1. 1 Fill the vinegar bottle halfway. Use distilled white wine vinegar. Of course, you can use a different kind of vinegar, but this option will leave less clutter behind.
2. 2 Prepare a paper bag of baking soda. Place 1 rounded tablespoon of baking soda in the center of a paper towel. Fold and roll the towel into a small bag of baking soda. Make sure the baking soda is securely packed inside. The resulting bag must be small enough to fit through the neck of the bottle.
   • The paper towel will act as a temporary release agent. It will give you enough time to back off the missile before the chemical reaction starts.
   • If the paper towel breaks while preparing the bag, exposing the baking soda, use a new towel.
3. 3 Go outside to your yard or other open area. Bring your rocket and missile launcher along with a bag of baking soda and a matching wine stopper. Place the launcher in the middle of an open area away from walls and windows.
   • Choose a place where no one will mind a little mess.
4. 4 Place a bag of baking soda inside the bottle. Quickly plug the bottle with a wine stopper and set this end to the inside of the launcher. All these actions should merge into one well-coordinated and agile movement.
   • Remember that the cone of the rocket must be pointing up towards the sky.
5. 5 Step back and watch the rocket take off. For safety reasons, you should move at least 1.5 m away from the rocket. It can take off in 10-15 seconds.
   • If the rocket does not take off, you may have stuck the wine stopper too tightly into the bottle.

Warnings

• Do not aim the rocket at yourself or at other people.
• Do not launch a rocket near cars, houses, windows, or other fragile or valuable items.
• Use safety glasses to protect your eyes.

What do you need

• Empty half liter soda bottle
• Thin cardboard
• Scotch
• Scissors
• Permanent marker
• PVC pipe
• Hacksaw
• Distilled White Wine Vinegar
• Paper towel
• Baking soda
• Wine cork