Force and Motion
Activity 3 – Stomp rockets
Simple Stomp Rocket
Odds are you have these things in your home right now if you have done any plumbing recently. If not, the cost of materials is about $10 as of January 2019. That includes buying a full bottle of pop of sparkling water. A 10 foot (3.5 metre) piece of 1/2 inch (13 mm) PVC plumbing cost about $7. Any plumbing store or general home improvement store will carry this. You need one 90 degree elbow which retails for about $2.
There are many plans for simple stomp rockets using a pop bottle and 1/2 inch PVC plumbing pipe. Here is the simplest, and most elegant, version I have found. Special thanks to Peter Hopkinson who shared this idea with us through the BCAPT (British Columbia Association of Physics Teachers) when he was an instructor at VCC (Vancouver Community College, Vancouver, BC, Canada).
Materials list:
10 foot piece of 1/2 inch PVC pipe
90 degree elbow for 1/2 PVC pipe (1)
empty pop bottle
duct tape
(optional) PVC glue
Tools:
Pipe cutter or have the nice folks at the plumbing store cut the pipe for you. The lengths are not critical.
Instructions:
Cut the pipe into five pieces: 5 feet or whatever height is comfortable for you to be able to blow into. For safety it is better to be taller than most of your young students. I am average height for a Canadian woman so I cut the long one about five feet long or 1.5 metres. Cut three pieces that are 11.5 inches (29 cm) long to use as guides to make the rockets. The left over peice will be about 2 feet (60 cm) long.
If you do not have a ruler with you then cut into four pieces = cut into half, cut one half into half, and then one of those halves into half again. Yes I had fun writing that. You will end up with four pieces about 5 feet long, 2 1/2 feet long, 1 1/4 feet long (2).
Assembly:
Assemble as shown with the long and the medium pipes attached to the 90 degree elbow. A friction fit is all that is required. I used the stomp rocket shown above at an out door event for more than 6 hours. Hundreds of rockets were launched. I had to fit it back together just a few times. If that annoys you, use duct tape to hold it together better.
(Optional) If you want to, use the PVC glue to glue everything together. Follow the instructions and make sure you are working in a well ventilated area. Personally, I have never bothered.
Use:
Encourage rocket scientists to use one foot. If they stomp with both feet, or at the back of the bottle, odds are the bottle will break. I always bring along at least two bottles, but I have one bottle last for hundreds of launches. After the rocket has launched you blow the bottle back up by blowing down the tube. Make sure you sterilize it before and after use.
Rockets
Wrap paper around one of the template lengths of PVC. Tap down one edge. Construction paper is best but it does not matter. If you make the rockets directly onto the PVC it can be difficult to get the paper rocket onto the launcher.
Wrap an 8 1/2 x 11 inch piece of paper around one of the short template tubes that have already have paper on it. Tape the long edge and one end of the rocket. Remove from the template, put on the rocket launcher and stomp away.
The rest is up to you. If you add more mass to the nose area it tends to fly better. I use wine corks. You can add nose cones, fins, etc. This is where the artistry and the design cycle comes in.
Other stomp rockets
Science World. Here is a link to a similar one from Science World at the Telus World of Science in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. They use flexible hose, but I find the rigid PVC works better. I do love their template as it has rocket flames on it.
https://www.scienceworld.ca/resources/activities/stomp-rocket-launchers
This is part of their much larger unit on rockets.
https://www.scienceworld.ca/resources/units/rockets
Instructables Here is a link to a much more complicated one, but with lots of good ideas. If you are doing a large crowd and do not want to hold the rocket, this is a nice solution. It requires more PVC. As well, the launch angle cannot be varied. Gluing the top of the pop bottle into the pipe is brilliant. Instructables.com is a great site for everyone, including elementary school teachers.
Stomp Rocket Photo Credit: Jennifer Kirkey 2015 CC BY 4.0
Materials list:
10 foot piece of 1/2 inch PVC pipe
90 degree elbow for 1/2 PVC pipe (1)
empty pop bottle
duct tape
(optional) PVC glue
Tools:
Pipe cutter or have the nice folks at the plumbing store cut the pipe for you. The lengths are not critical.
Instructions:
Cut the pipe into five pieces: 5 feet or whatever height is comfortable for you to be able to blow into. For safety it is better to be taller than most of your young students. I am average height for a Canadian woman so I cut the long one about five feet long or 1.5 metres. Cut three pieces that are 11.5 inches (29 cm) long to use as guides to make the rockets. The left over peice will be about 2 feet (60 cm) long.
If you do not have a ruler with you then cut into four pieces = cut into half, cut one half into half, and then one of those halves into half again. Yes I had fun writing that. You will end up with four pieces about 5 feet long, 2 1/2 feet long, 1 1/4 feet long (2).
Assembly:
Assemble as shown with the long and the medium pipes attached to the 90 degree elbow. A friction fit is all that is required. I used the stomp rocket shown above at an out door event for more than 6 hours. Hundreds of rockets were launched. I had to fit it back together just a few times. If that annoys you, use duct tape to hold it together better.
(Optional) If you want to, use the PVC glue to glue everything together. Follow the instructions and make sure you are working in a well ventilated area. Personally, I have never bothered.
Use:
Encourage rocket scientists to use one foot. If they stomp with both feet, or at the back of the bottle, odds are the bottle will break. I always bring along at least two bottles, but I have one bottle last for hundreds of launches. After the rocket has launched you blow the bottle back up by blowing down the tube. Make sure you sterilize it before and after use.
https://www.instructables.com/id/Paper-Stomp-Rockets-Easy-and-Fun/