Imagine that a natural disaster has left people isolated on a remote island, and you need to build a rocket to deliver food to them.
That’s what 4,000 students in the Cabarrus County and Kannapolis City schools faced, in a scaled-down version, as they participated in the “Rockets to the Rescue” experiment Oct. 8.
The experiment was part of the seventh annual 4-H National Youth Science Day, which required the elementary through middle school students to react to this fictional scenario.
Their rockets, made of household items and less than 2 feet tall, had to fly yards instead of miles. With air as the propellant – supplied by a launchpad made of PVC pipes and an empty 2-liter soda bottle – there were no ignitions or explosions, so the experiment was both safe and environmentally friendly.
Kannapolis Intermediate School students designed and built their rockets to deliver a payload of four raisins to the imaginary island that was marked off on the softball field.
On the first attempt, Meredith Katz’s class managed to land a rocket on the island. A few others landed in the area marked as water, close enough that the survivors in the scenario could reach the food with a short swim.
Ten-year-olds Chloe Johnson and Louisa Roche jumped on the soda bottle together, but it still did not make it to the island.
“I am disappointed that it didn’t make it into the circle. I have learned that we made the rocket too heavy,” said Louisa.
The girls agreed, though, that the project was exciting and fun, “My old school never did anything like this. Today I learned about force and motion,” said Chloe.
“Participating in high-quality, positive youth development programs like 4-H NYSD offers youth(s) and adults the opportunity to engage in scientific exploration and work together to build the next generation of our nation’s scientists, engineers and mathematicians,” 4-H Program Associate Beverly Bollenbecker said.
