Straw Rocket Lab - Newton's Laws of Motion

This is a fun inquiry lab in which students investigate the effect of fins on rocket flight. They make 4 identical paper tube rockets and then change the fin configuration to produce stable flight. Finally, they have to hit a target with their rocket.

Expect it to take 20-30 minutes, but you can extend it by investigating the effect of the length of the nose cone or changing other variables. It costs pennies to do and you can get all the supplies at any grocery store. All you need are 1 clean straw per group, tape and or glue sticks, and colored or plain paper.

• Hands on experience
• Cooperative Learning
• Teacher instructions and set up
• Reinforcement of difficult concepts
• Student handouts including data table and graph
• Links to launchers you can build

Keywords: motion, position, time, graph, dependent, independent, control, variable, Newton's laws, action, reaction, force, inertia, friction, air resistance, linear, STEM, GTE, lab, laboratory, cooperative learning, experiment, design, challenge