Vinegar and Baking Soda Rocket

Kids as well as adults are always fascinated with rockets. Most kids pester their parents to buy a rocket from the market to execute their ambition of being a real astronaut. But, what if you can teach your kid to build his/her own rocket which can be powered by vinegar and baking soda? Well, it might sound surprising but baking soda and vinegar rocket is extremely easy to make. In fact, making vinegar and baking soda rocket is one of the easiest science fair projects for kids. Along with being easily accessible, both vinegar and baking soda are relatively safe and non-hazardous products that the kids can handle.

How to Make a Vinegar and Baking Soda Rocket

Here are a few simple steps to do this. But after you are done, do remember to launch the baking soda and vinegar rocket only in an open ground. Along with launching it in an open area, following some more safety tips is also very important. For instance, do not ever point the rocket towards any person, car or building. Also, make sure that nobody has their face near the head of the rocket at the time of the launch.

Materials Needed

• An empty film canister
• A construction paper of the desired color
• Vinegar
• Baking soda
• Glue tape
• A pair of scissors

Procedure

• Roll the construction paper around the empty film canister in order to form a long tube. Make sure that the lid of the canister is at the bottom of the construction paper roll and then secure the roll with the help of the glue tape.
• Now, cut a circle of the construction paper in order to make a cone, which will serve as the top of your rocket.
• Cut a slit into that circle and fold it in shape of a cone and secure it with the tape. Now, secure this cone at the top of your rocket.
• It is important to stabilize your vinegar baking soda rocket. For that, add four tail fins at the base end of the rocket. Now, take off the lid of the film canister and put a small amount of baking soda and vinegar in it.
• Make it a point to close the lid as quickly as possible and place the rocket on the ground, with its nose side facing up. Now just stand back and see the magic!

You can also use an empty soda bottle instead of the film canister. Once you learn how to make baking soda and vinegar rocket, you can experiment with its ingredients a bit. Try using plain lemon juice and other types of vinegar like white vinegar, balsamic vinegar and apple cider vinegar and measure the difference depending on the performance of the rocket.

Well, isn't making a vinegar and baking soda rocket on your own really easy? If you are still not sure, then you can buy one of the baking soda and vinegar rocket kits that are available in the market and launch it on your own. For me, the first option sounds much better and exciting! What about you?