Testing with Balloon Rockets
Students should already know a little something about:
- Newton's Laws
- force and thrust
This lesson will review force and Newton’s 3rd Law, while students learn about pressure/air pressure. They will create a rocket out of a balloon and propel it (carrying cargo) across a suspended string/line by increasing the air pressure inside the balloon. Students will continue their tests by changing variables. (Most appropriate for grade levels 5-10.)
If the students had the WOW! Newton’s Second Law of Motion lesson they did this balloon rocket setup, but testing is different.
Lesson Time: 55-60 minutes
Student Activity: This activity has students transporting weight (cargo) while attached to balloons across a suspended string. They will consider how balloon shapes and sizes, and cargo weight will affect the speed of the balloon.
They will continue tests by changing variables.
Group work: Students will work in groups of 3-4 students. In order to save time, teachers are asked to create the groups before our Wizard arrives.
Science Standards:
4.PS.2: Energy can be transferred from one location to another or can be transformed from one form to another.
5.PS.1: The amount of change in movement of an object is based on the mass of the object and the amount of force exerted.
6.PS.3: There are two categories of energy: kinetic and potential.
6.PS.4: An object's motion can be described by its speed and the direction in which it is moving.
7.PS.3: Energy can be transformed or transferred but is never lost.
7.PS.4: Energy can be transferred through a variety of ways.
8.PS.2: Forces can act to change the motion of objects.
High School Standards:
P.F.1: Newton's laws applied to complex problems.
P.F.5: Air resistance and drag.
PS.FM.2: Forces • Force diagrams • Types of forces (gravity, friction, normal, tension) • Field model for forces at a distance.
PS.FM.3: Dynamics (how forces affect motion) • Objects at rest • Objects moving with constant velocity • Accelerating objects.
Critical Technology Connections:
Hypersonics and Space Technology: This "Rocketry" lesson, using balloon rockets to explore principles of force, thrust, and pressure, connects to both Space Technology and Hypersonics. The concepts of thrust, cargo capacity, and optimizing variables for performance are fundamental to both rocket design for space travel and the challenges of achieving and controlling hypersonic speeds. Experimenting with different balloon shapes and sizes provides a simplified analogy to the design and engineering considerations involved in developing aerospace vehicles, including those intended for hypersonic flight.