STEAM Club & Newton's Laws

We had a great time at Canyon View Elementary School last week, teaching the 2nd - 5th graders about Newton's laws of motion and seeing them in action with The Mighty Seltzer Rocket! These ingenious plastic test tube rockets are designed and built by Tucson's own CSC Toys, and they operate on water and Alka Seltzer tablets. Just add a bit of water, place a tablet on the holder, cap the tube, and invert the rocket on the ground to start the reaction. In a few seconds, the tube overpresurizes and blasts the rocket into the air--from a few feet to over 50 feet!

We ran the 20 minute activity twice with 2 groups of 50 students each, so this can be a fast paced activity, or you can slow it down to discuss more of the observations from their experiments and the physics behind these unconventional rockets. I will say that it is better to work on a grassy field if you can, because we damaged a few rockets landing on the pavement. The Seltzer rocket packs come with 2 tablets per rocket, which are good for 2 or 3 flights, so plan to bring extra Alka Seltzer tablets--bulk boxes are great for this activity.

The kids had a blast, and many groups experimented with different amounts of water and to find the most efficient pressure to mass ratio! This is a great example of how to use Rockery Works' selection of Science Toys to teach science. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to teach science--just google the principles you'll be exploring with the kids, talk as little as possible, and let the kids guide most of the action.