Design and launch your own bottle rocket!
How it works
The rocket launcher pumps air into the bottle the air compresses and creates high pressure. When the bottle cant hold any more pressure, the air and water leave the bottle and creates thrust that shoots the rocket into the sky! Rockets that are aerodynamic will travel even higher!
Try this at home
- Build your own rocket launcher and rocket! There are plenty of designs online.
- What else can you think of that is aerodynamic?
Definitions/glossary
- Mechanical Engineering: mechanical engineers design and build motors and machines that move like racecars, escalators, trains!
- Aerodynamics: properties of an object that aect the way air moves around it
- Thrust: the force that moves a rocket up or a jet engine forward
What's going on at the University
Canadian astronaut, Chris Hadfield, is a professor of aviation at the University of Waterloo. Before becoming an astronaut, he received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering.
How to become a mechanical engineer
The first step to becoming a mechanical engineering student is to graduate from high school with the required math, chemistry, physics, and english courses. After high school, you will attend an accredited engineering program. Mechanical engineering students at Waterloo are trained to lead large, multi-disciplinary team projects and come up with innovative solutions, like: designing a crashworthy, ultra-light vehicle; harnessing green energy from wind, wave or sun; or developing new surgical implants.
The co-operative study program will provide you with up to 24 months of practical experience complements and reinforces in-class learning. This will prepare you for a career as a mechanical engineer.