Even Higher: Summer Program Starts Soda Bottle Rocket Launches At MUMS

By Ed Barna

photo by Ed Barna The picture shows Gary Lussier-Thompson at the launcher, Kenny Dalley (in wheelchair) doing the countdown, Casey Dalley in another wheelchair, teaching assistant Helyn Anderson in white, Suzanne Sampson in black, Derek Larson, and teaching assistant Jeremy Ackton (in back so his stomach bulge wouldn’t show).

How high can a water-and-air-filled rocket made from the two-liter soda bottle go?

“Higher than the school building,” said Derek Larson, lead teacher for this summer’s Encore team at the Middlebury Union Middle School. A few minutes later, a series of launches proved he was speaking truly.

The activity took off, so to speak, from the Propulsion Project that Toby Dills led at the middle school about 10 years ago, Larson said. It was a very scientifically oriented project, which showed it could be done, as long as they  could devise (as they have done) a launcher.

Next they had to figure out the right mix of water and air, Larson said. Their findings, after many experiments, won’t be given here because a rocketry contest may be in the works.

They’re still working on the best parachute design, because the idea is to stay aloft as long as possible, he said. The nose cone for the bottle is pretty well developed.

As the accompanying picture will show, their world-beater two liter works a lot like those little pump-up rockets that periodically appear in toy stores. There’s the same satisfying fwoosh as the thing illustrates the principle of equal and opposite reaction, only bigger.

“Hopefully we’ll be doing some competitive launches with some of the other teams here (such as Kaleidoscope, Lynx, Quicksilver, and Tiger), now that we’ve got a launcher,” Larson said.

And what did YOU build this summer?