History Of Water Rockets ● The first water rocket I could find record of was made of tin cans. ● Soda pop bottles caused a big growth spurt in popularity ● The picture at right shows a manned water rocket

Water Rocket Physics ● The driving force behind all water rockets is that every action has an equal & opposite reaction water rocket

Water Rocket Physics (continued) ● For a rocket to fly straight the center of gravity has to be in front of the center of pressure ● Otherwise the rocket will not fly straight. CGCG CPCP stable CGCG CPCP unstable

Diagrams of Rockets nose cone parachute air high pressure air water fins tennis ball simple rocket Mr. Bouncy backslider

Launch Frame 1 ● This is the rocket on the launch pad ● Note that the reservoir is approximately 1/3 full of water

Launch Frame 2 ● Here the rocket starts to take off ● To make the rocket fly straighter we added a launch tube

Launch Frame 3 ● This is the rocket at the end of the acceleration stage ● As the water runs out it rushes out creating a toroidal vortex (in theory)

Launch Frame 4 ● Here the rocket has flown off the page ● These are the remains of the toroidal vortex ● Note the launch tube jet