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This exciting project allows students to understand Newton's Laws of Motion through hands on activites. Students learn forces of drag, thrust, and lift and apply their knowledge to creating a bottle rocket from a 24oz. soda bottle. Then, students test their design as they launch their rocket into the air over 200 feet!

Newton's 1st Law of Motion - Objects at rest will stay at rest, or objects in motion will stay in motion, unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. For a rocket to lift off from a launch pad, force must be exerted to unbalance the present forces at work.

Newton's 2nd Law of Motion - The acceleration of an object is directly related to the force exerted on that object & oppositely related to the mass of that object. In other words, Force = mass * acceleration (F=ma). The rate at which the rocket leaves the launch pad will be determined by the mass of the rocket and the force that is produced when the fuel is burned.

Newton's 3rd Law of Motion - For every action there is always an opposite & equal reaction. The reaction, or motion, of the rocket away from the launch pad is equal to and opposite from the thrust of the engine.

Figure 1: Preparing to launch	Pitsco's R2K Bottle Rocket