Page 8 - My discovery Lab Volume 1/ Issue 1

Experiment 4:

Popping film canister rockets

LET’S DISCOVER:

Fill a glass of water and drop a vitamin C tablet into it. What do you see?

The vitamin C tablet dissolves and the water turns orange. You can also see a chemical reaction take
place as it fizzes, and bubbles of gas are given off.

Last time we used the force of air to launch our rockets. Now let’s try to create some pressure from our
vitamin C fizzing reaction to launch our film canister rocket.
You will need from your box:
• Film canister
• Vitamin C effervescent tablets
• Safety glasses
30ml
Things from home: 25ml
• Tray or plate 20ml
15ml
• Water 10ml
5ml
• Tablespoon or small
measuring cup
LET’S EXPERIMENT: https://youtu.be/FwtSMJ0It6I

It’s a messy one, so do the experiment outside or on a table with a clear space around it.
(1) Put on your safety glasses

(2) Collect your equipment and a tray or
plate to do the experiment on

(3) Measure out 1 tablespoon
(about 5ml) of water and put it inside
your film canister.
The canister should be about a
quarter full of water

(4) Now break the vitamin C tablet in half

Did you know? Real rockets
use thrust from burning fuels
to launch them into space!

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