Water Rocket Bonanza

The story started some time over the summer when Erik saw a fellow shooting off water rockets in a small park in Cambridge.  An idea was planted in his mind and when he came to Berkeley, he instructed us to begin saving sparkling water bottles.  This Christmas, our grandchildren, his nieces and nephew, got water rocket supplies (empty water bottles, red duct tape, a plastic sheet for fins and a bit white plastic pipe for a snorkel) for Christmas.  I’m not sure they quite understood the plan that Erik had.  But the idea came to fruition on the last afternoon the children were here.  All the children gathered in Bob’s shop to build the rockets.  They put on the fins and taped together two bottles into a rocket and then decorated the bottles with markers and spray paint as Erik and Grandpa worked to make the launching apparatus.  The excitement was building, but it was nip and tuck whether they could finish the building before dark.  I wasn’t sure this was going to work out, but it did.  At 4:30 they began to fire the rockets.  Liam’s rocket was

the first.  He poured the water into the opening of the upside down rocket.  The snorkel pipe was inserted and the bottle turned upside down with the nose cone pointing up and the fin part down.  Then air from Bob’s shop compressor was pumped into the rocket, putting the air in the rocket under pressure while Erik held the rocket in place. When he let it go, the air pushed out the water.  The rocket started to rise slowly, reminding me of the slow start of the big rockets at Cape Canaveral, and then it fell sideways.  Oh no!  They tried again with Sonja’s rocket.  It got placed on the launching pad.  This time, more air was pumped in and the opening was made tighter to keep the water from leaking out.  As Erik released it, it rose high, high into the sky, higher than the house and everyone jumped up and down, so so excited.  The rockets were then fired, one after the other, each one going higher than the one before.  It was a good thing all the rockets but one fell down into the yard and only one got stuck in the tree.  Elsa’s rocket landed in our neighbor’s yard and she was proud she could crawl under the fence to retrieve it.  The children (and adults) were so excited.  The highest rocket flew up at least 75 feet.  The perfect red sunset gave a beautiful backdrop for the rockets flying high into the air. At the end, I heard in my head, “The 1812 Overture” playing dramatically as the rockets were launched faster and faster.  It was like the finale of a fireworks celebration.  Erik gave the children an idea and then showed them how to build and launch these rockets.  The supplies cost next to nothing, but the experience was priceless.  What a fabulous Christmas present!!!