| Year 6
Year 6 created aerodynamic soda bottle rockets to launch with the power of air pressure.
After work in STEM lessons to find out about forces acting on moving bodies and the power of air pressure, Year 6 pupils experimented with an online simulator to explore the effects of weight and thrust on rocket launches.
They decided that the best launch would be one that went high and straight and then set about designing their own rockets to launch on the school field. Fins and nose cones were added to a basic soda bottle body, in order to give stability and make the shape more aerodynamic.
The day of testing came and everyone went out to the field to watch the tests. Each person’s rocket was launched using an equal amount of air pressure as thrust, and we watched to see how high and straight they flew upwards before gravity brought them back down to the ground. It was a great end to our topic and, during the evaluation process, lots of discussion followed about how changes could be made to make the launches even better another time.