Video: Orchard Students Explore Chemical Energy With Indoor Rockets During Math & Science
Enjoy this sneak peek inside a fourth grade classroom here at Orchard. During a study of chemical energy, students predicted how many seconds it would take to launch a rocket, depending on the amount of Alka-Seltzer and water inside of the canister. Watch below and find out!
More from the teacher:
“Fourth grade students are exploring chemical energy - specifically, how chemical reactions inside a film canister fill up the air with carbon dioxide bubbles. As the antacid tablet fizzes, carbon dioxide is released inside the canister. Pressure from the gas builds up and, depending on the amount of water vs. air in the canister, eventually pops the lid off.
The thrust, or push, of the "rocket" is related to how much pressure has built up inside the canister before the top popped off. It goes up because the gas keeps building and building inside the canister. Since the lid is the weakest point of the film canister, it pops off and all that gas comes rushing out, causing the rocket to thrust upward (this is Newton's Law of Motion).
We'll relate this to what happens at NASA with chemical rocket fuel. The big thing we are also introducing with this experiment is energy transfer - specifically, from the chemical energy created inside the film canister to the physical motion energy propelling the "rocket" upward.”
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