PVC Rocket Launcher

How to make an amazing rocket launcher out of PVC and compressed air

I was first introduced to this incredible teaching tool in 2001 while speaking at the U.S. Space Camp for Educators. As part of the week-long experience, teachers learned how to use Homer Hickam's Rocket Boys with multi-grade levels and in a variety of subject areas to not only inspire students to work hard to see that their dreams come true, but to also introduce and reinforce skills and concepts in some very creative ways. The documents below are offered by the U.S. Space Camp and the Space Academy for Educators in an effort to bring the wonder, discovery, and exploration of space and rocketry into a wide variety of classrooms.

Materials

Rocket Launchers and More - A New Lesson in Rocketry Adapted from “Industrial Strength Paper Rockets” By Gregory Voght/NASA JSC

How to Make PVC Rocket Launchers

See a Rocket Launch in Action

Read About a Modern Day Miss Riley in Centennial, Colorado

Experiment
Reviews

Rocket Boys Interdisciplinary Unit - This is a novel study integrating core subject areas in an interdisciplinary unit where students will experience the underlying themes of space exploration, following your dreams, literary elements, and mining results in relation to the novel Rocket Boys.

Rocket Boys Unit Plan
Rocket Boys Curriculum Part 1
Rocket Boys Curriculum Part 2
Rocket Boys Curriculum Part 3
Rocket Boys Curriculum Part 4
Rocket Boys Hodgkin's Disease Then and Now
Rocket Boys Picture of Homer's Home in Coalwood
Rocket Boys Curriculum Websites

Additional Info

These resource materials are offered with permission by Space Academy for Educators and the U.S. Space Camp.

Launching Rockets with Steve Spangler

Kavya - May 4, 2011

This user gave 5/5 stars

Editor's Note: This review is in response to a blog post that was contributed by Lisa Heaton, a GT teacher in Centennial, Colorado (http://www.lisaheaton.com). Steve Spangler was a guest in her class and the students were asked to write about their experiences.

Mrs. Heaton,

Steve Spangler made the laws of Isaac Newton easy to understand and fun. I learned that "An object will stay at rest until a force acts upon it." This is Newton's First Law of Motion. I also learned that “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” I never knew these until Mr. Spangler came and taught it to us in an unusual way!

When I was talking to my parents about what happened last night, they were impressed. When my dad came home from work, I sprang out at him and shot him with the bottle rockets we made.

When Steve Spangler told me to shake the bottle of ethanol and then handed me safety glasses, my heart started pounding. Sydney and I followed Mr. Spangler and crouched in a corner as he lit the corks that were placed on top of the bottles. The first cork didn’t light but the second one came around him and landed on my lap.

I also enjoyed when Steve Spangler took the empty bottle with the string attached to it and asked Mrs. Heaton to hold the other end of the string. When he lit the bottle, it went soaring across the line with orange colored flames whirling around it. It was hilarious when Mrs. Heaton asked Mr. Spangler to keep moving the bottle down until it was a safe distance away from her. Mr. Spangler wouldn’t agree and asked her “ Science isn’t for…” and Mrs. Heaton said “ Sissies.”

Launching the rockets today though, felt so amazing. When we were all together and we were shouting 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and the rockets blasted of the launcher. The way that every student was so supportive of one another was really fun. No one was made fun of and that made the experience even more enjoyable. It was nice that we got a second chance on our rockets, to rebuild and redesign them. I got to make a brand new rocket that went way farther than my first rocket. I felt just like the rocket boys when we launched our rockets and sprinted at the very end of the launch to get them back. It was like what the rocket boys felt in doing this rocket launch I could feel their whole process and our rockets were so much easier to build! The Rocket Boys went through so much trouble to get their supplies!

Thank you so much Mr. Steve Spangler for making such amazing and everlasting moments in my life. I felt as though I were the rocket boys. I have never had such an interest in science in my life without these couple of days. You make science so much easier to understand and so unusual. I would have never known what Isaac Newton’s 1st and 3rd law were until you taught them to me and I wouldn’t have understood what they meant.

Thank you Mrs. Heaton for inviting such a special person to talk to us these couple of days. He was truly incredible. I so far love this unit. You are not only making us read the book and watch the movie but also letting us experience what the Rocket Boys felt. I really couldn’t ask for anything more in this unit! Thank You so much!!

Overall, these Rockets really turned out great!! They were really impressive!! Everyone did a really good job on these rockets. They launched really well!! This unit is the best so far!!!

-Kavya