• One empty 35mm plastic film canister and lid (vist any store that has film developing and they should give you some of these for free. The white canisters work much better than the blacks ones do.)
• One antacid tablet (such as Alka-Seltzer - Get this from your parents)
• Water
• Safety goggles

1. Put on those saftety goggles and head outside. No really, when this works, that film canister really flies!

2. Remove the lid from the film canister and put one half of the antacid tablet in the container.

3. Add a teaspoon of water to the container.

3. Do the next 2 steps quickly - Put the cap on and make sure that it snaps on tightly.

4. Quickly put the canister on the ground CAP SIDE DOWN and STEP BACK at least 2 meters.

5. About 10 seconds later, you will hear a POP! and the film canister will launch into the air!

6. If it does not launch, wait at least 30 second before examining the canister. Usually the cap is not on tight enough and the build of of gas leaked out.

When you add the water it starts to dissolve the alkaseltzer tablet. This creates a gas call carbon dioxide. It also creates pressure inside the film canister. As more gas is made, more pressure builds up until the cap it blasted down and the rocket is blasted up. This sytem of thrust is how a real rocket works whether it is in outer space or here in the earth's atmosphere. You can improve the rocket by adding fins and a nose cone that you can make out of paper. If you like this experiment, try the Exploding Lunch Bag. Be safe and have fun!

The project above is a DEMONSTRATION. To make it a true experiment, you can try to answer these questions:

1. Does water temperature affect how fast the rocket launches?
2. Does the size of the tablet piece affect how long it takes for the rocket to launch?
3. Can the flight path be controlled by adding fins or a nosecone to the canister?
4. What combination of water and tablet size creates the highest flight?