rocket science

If the Alka-Seltzer takes a longer time to dissolve and build up pressure, then water will go the highest, because it has a higher pH than the coke.

We are trying to figure out which liquid will make the bottle rocket go higher. We are using Alka-Seltzer to mix with the various liquids of different pH scales to create a chemical reaction.

Alka-Seltzer has a base ( sodium bicarbonate ) and an acid ( citric acid) when the base and the acid are suspended in the tablet, they are not touching each other therefore not creating a chemical reaction. But when you add water, the base and the acid get mixed together and create carbon dioxide (CO 2)

the carbon dioxide expands pushing pressure on the cork and eventually causing the cork to pop. When the cork pops it pushes the bottle upwards and that is what makes the bottle go up. Alka seltzer will dissolve quicker when placed in acid.

“for every action there is and equal and opposite force”

Newtons third law.

Controlled Variables: Alka-Seltzer ,bottle, volume of liquid, temperature of liquid.

Manipulated Variable: liquid.

Dependent Variable: time in the air.

1.Pour 250 mL of water into a plastic bottle

2.Put 3 broken up tablets of Alka-Seltzer into the bottle

3.Seal bottle with cork

4.Flip bottle over

5.Start timer

6.Record tome to explode and time in air

7.Repeat steps 1-6 with coke and diet coke.

●

liquid | Time to explode ( seconds)

coke | 36

| 30

| 34

| Average 33.3 to explode

Diet coke | 25

| 22

| 24

| Average 23.7 to explode

water | 50

| 52

| 53

| Average 51.7 to explode

The water took the longest to explode because it has the least acid in it so the Alka-Seltzer took longest to dissolve.

The coke was in the air the longest, because the coke has more acid and therefore more carbon dioxide will fill the bottle. We learned about what is inside Alka-Seltzer, and also learned how to make a bottle rocket.

Real world applications: Welearned how to make a bottle rocket. We could use this information to build a real rocket knowing that a more acidic solution mixed with a base will make a larger explosion.

Improvement opportunities: If we were to repeat this experiment we would make sure that we would put the cork in exactly the same way each time.

We think that sometimes our sources of error could be that the bottle has landed on the roof or in a tree and messed up our results. Another source of error could be the fact that we didn’t always put the cork in the same way each time.

Nasa website : Water Rocket | Glenn Research Center | NASA

Science world Mini Pop Rocket - Science World

Thoughtfully sustainable How to Conduct an Alka-Seltzer Rocket Science Experiment – Thoughtfully Sustainable

Imagination station website Alka-Seltzer Rockets | Imagination Station

We would like to thank both of our parents for helping us along the way.

We would also like to thank our siblings for helping us with the testing.