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| The "Soccer Ball" rocket. |
She named this rocket "Soccer Ball" since we were launching from a soccer field and there was a chance the rocket might go into a net. This rocket also has a rated maximum height of twice that of the rocket we launched last week. It's less massive so I figured it would go higher, but I was a bit skeptical that it would go twice as high. We launched 4 times, each with a more powerful engine. We began with a starter engine to see high it would go and how the wind would affect the fall. Then we launched with two medium level engines with no problems. Watching the first three launches, I told me daughter that it's going higher than the first rocket, but not as high as I thought it would go. Below is the video of one of these launches.
Then we loaded the most powerful engine and let it fly. And fly it did! Once it was way up in the air my daughter commented that the parachute didn't come out. I had to tell her that's because it was still going upward! The parachute did finally open, and although I moved the launch pad to compensate for the wind, it flew past the soccer fields, halfway into the adjacent cornfield. This began our next adventure...tromping through a cornfield. The corn was taller than my daughter and in some rows, as tall as me. We walked, and walked, and walked, and just as I was about ready to give up, we saw it. Phew!
I grew up surrounded by cornfields, but I've never walked through one until today! I had no intention of walking my daughter through a cornfield, but now she has a cool story to tell her friends.
Rocket launching is an excellent science activity for you and your kids. My daughter loves it and gets excited whenever I tell her that we'll be launching rockets. And I'll be honest, I get just as excited, if not more excited, than her!
I was most impressed that she went into the cornfield with me, given the height of the corn!
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