How Do Probes Get To Space?

Add to list Go to activity
Investigate how force and thrust work to propel rockets into outer space. Build a rocket: a blown-up balloon taped to a drinking straw threaded through some string. The rocket follows Newton's Third Law of Motion: Every action produces an equal and opposite reaction. [Activity is publicly available through a web crawler capture on Archive.org. Activity write-up only, images are unavailable.]

Quick Guide

Preparation Time:
5 to 10 minutes
Learning Time:
10 to 30 minutes
Estimated Materials Cost:
$1 - $5 per student
Age Range:
Ages 6 - 11
Resource Types:
Activity, Model
Language:
English

Materials List (per student)

  • Plastic Drinkin Straw
  • Fishing line or string (long enough to reach from one end of a room to the other)
  • Long balloon
  • Transparent tape
  • Twist tie

Keywords

Subjects

  • Physical Sciences
    • Energy
      • Potential and Kinetic Energy
    • Motion and Forces
      • Momentum and Velocity
      • Projectile Motion
      • Newton's Laws

Informal Categories

  • Model Building

Audience

To use this activity, learners need to:

  • see
  • be mobile
  • touch

Learning styles supported:

  • Involves hands-on or lab activities

Other

Access Rights:

  • Free access

By:

Source Collection

  • TryScience

Rights: