Stomp Rockets

In this activity, students will:

• Work individually or in teams of two to construct and launch paper rockets using a teacher-built PVC-pipe launcher.
• Following the flight of their rocket, calculate the altitude their rocket achieved.
• Based on the flight performance of their rockets, analyze their rocket designs, modify or rebuild them, launch again, and calculate the altitude achieved to determine if their changes affected the performance of the rocket.
• Conclude the activity by writing a post-flight mission report.

• Prepare for the lesson by reading the guide and watching the video tutorials for instructors below.
• Prior to launch day, construct at least one rocket launcher. Take the Stomp Rocket Launcher Assembly Instructions to a hardware store to make purchasing the right pieces easy. While at the hardware store, purchase enough 1/2-inch PVC pipe to make the launchers and the rocket forms. If you do not own a PVC cutter, it's a good idea to purchase one or ask the hardware store to pre-cut the PVC pipe for you in the specified lengths. You may also use a fine-tooth saw to cut PVC.
• Safety Note: Use caution when cutting the PVC for the launcher and rocket forms.

• Decide in advance if students will each build their own rocket or will work in teams. Working in pairs works best for younger students and can be useful for brainstorming between older students. Students may work in pairs to build more than one rocket to observe design differences.
• Be sure that the rocket-body tubes that students roll are slightly loose. They should slide freely along the PVC rocket form. If they are too tight, it will be difficult to slide the completed rockets over the launch tube.
• While students finalize their rockets, examine them to ensure that they are airtight.

• If your students will be measuring the altitude attained by their rockets, allow time to construct the Altitude Trackers. To obtain an accurate angle of elevation, you'll want several Altitude Trackers on each baseline, so have each student team make one.
• Be sure to print out a copy of the Data Sheet for each baseline (A and B) and have a student recorder for each baseline take the Data Sheet, along with a pencil and a clipboard, out to the launch area. Alternately, download the digital Data Sheet onto a mobile device that students can use to record the data.
• Younger students may make comparative altitude estimates using landmarks on buildings or flagpoles. If using this technique, consider building several launchers for the class so that multiple rockets may be launched simultaneously.

• When headed out to launch, always have spare empty 2-liter soda bottles and duct tape handy. Though some bottles will launch 20 to 40 rockets, bottles will eventually fail and will need to be replaced.
• Because of their lightweight design, stomp rockets perform best on non-windy days. If you are located in a windy location, try to orient your launch location behind a windbreak such as a gymnasium or other large building.
• Secure an outdoor location that is clear of overhead obstructions (trees, building roofs, power lines, etc.) and has a ground area of at least 100 meters by 25 meters for best altitude-tracking results. A shorter, 50-meter or 25-meter baseline may also be used.
• If calculating altitude using tracking stations A and B, place the rocket launcher at the midpoint of a 100-meter baseline. If estimating altitude using local markers such as marks on buildings, orient the rocket launchers and observers appropriately.
• Stomping: Be sure students stomp on the bottle across the bottle label, perpendicular to the body of the bottle. This is the most flexible zone of the bottle and allows for it to be reused numerous times. If students stomp on the bottom end of the bottle, it will often shatter, rendering the bottle unusable.

• Aiming: The PVC legs of the launcher are different lengths. This allows for adjustment on uneven ground and aiming the launch into the wind if you are launching on a windy day. (Launching into the wind will compensate for rocket drift and make rockets easier to track and retrieve.) Additionally, horizontal distance competitions can be held and launch angles adjusted. Place a basketball in the landing zone, have students imagine the ball is Mars, and launch their rocket to Mars! If performing horizontal launches, a large indoor space such as a cafeteria or gymnasium may be used.
• Re-inflating the bottle: Bottles can be easily re-inflated using air from your lungs. Place your hand in a fist around the open end of the launch tube and blow into your fist to re-inflate the bottle. Using your fist protects you from the unsanitary conditions that may exist on your rocket launcher.

• Safety Note: Use caution when launching the stomp rockets. Keep all students clear of the launch tube and the landing area. Allow only one student, the stomper, to be near the launcher, and be sure the launch tube is pointed away from the stomper. Only retrieve rockets once they have landed.

The mighty space rockets of today are the result of more than 2,000 years of invention, experimentation and discovery. Rockets have launched spacecraft to every planet in the solar system and even sent humans to the moon. Soon, they will take humans even farther to places such as Mars and beyond.

Early rocket pioneers created what at the time seemed impossible – rocket-propelled devices for land, sea, air and space. When the scientific principles governing motion were discovered, rockets graduated from toys and novelties to serious devices for commerce, war, travel and research, and made some of the most amazing discoveries of our time possible.

Every space rocket ever built was constructed with a specific mission in mind. The Bumper Project in the 1950s combined a small WAC Corporal rocket with a V2 to test rocket staging, achieve altitude records and carry small payloads for investigating the space environment. The Redstone missile was designed for explosive warheads but later adapted to carrying the first American astronaut into space. The Saturn V was designed to carry astronauts and landing-craft to the moon. It, too, was modified and used to launch the first U.S. space station, Skylab. The space shuttle, perhaps the most versatile rocket ever designed, was nevertheless a payload and laboratory carrier for low-orbit missions and was used in assembly flights to the International Space Station . The myriad potential uses for NASA's future Space Launch System remain to be seen, but plans include carrying robotic spacecraft to places in our solar system that might harbor life, such as Jupiter's moon Europa and Saturn's moon Titan, and carrying crew in the Orion spacecraft to the Moon, and possibly farther into the solar system than ever before – to an asteroid or even Mars.

Learn more about the history of rocketry and the inspirations that ultimately led to humankind's first journeys into outer space here.

Each rocket has a unique design that's dependent on the mission at hand, but they all have a few essential parts: the fuselage, the fins and the nose cone. The fuselage is the main body of the rocket. The fins provide stabilization and are placed symmetrically around the circumference of the fuselage near the tail. And the nose cone is secured to the top of the rocket to aid in aerodynamics by piercing the air.

The stomp rockets in this activity, while simple, can have a surprising amount of variability in the altitude they achieve. By eliminating drag and streamlining their designs, students can make their rockets fly higher. The rockets won't reach Mars, but if designed properly, they can reach more than 50 meters!

• Discuss various flight results and student designs. Ask students to hypothesize about the connection between design and performance.
• Ask students to devise a method of testing their theories of performance-linked design and then test their theories.
• Discuss construction variables: type and amount of paper used, tape vs. glue, etc. If these things change, will performance be enhanced?
• Have students describe what other variables existed during launch? (wind, interference, human error in angle measurement, etc.)

• Have younger students submit drawings of their rocket(s) and illustrations of their flight paths. Ask them to comment on the design of each rocket and reflect on how various design aspects impacted flight and altitude achieved.
• Have older students submit a more sophisticated version of what younger students are expected to do, including scale drawings and mathematical calculations for altitude.
• Have students discuss how they might improve on their design should they have the opportunity to build and launch another rocket.

• Compare rockets to an arrow, a weather vane, or a dart. Bring one or more of these objects to class and compare them to the shape of the students’ rockets.
• Show pictures of different rockets and compare them to students’ rockets.
• Use a mobile device to record slow-motion/high-frame-rate video of the launch to be watched later. Analyze the flight of the rocket to assist in generating ideas for redesign.
• Consider hosting a family rocket-launch event, during which families work together to build rockets. The knowledgeable student in each family will be the team captain and instructor.