Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

1 Will wind be a factor for the rocket?
2 Will more baking soda than vinegar effect the height?
3 What does Newtons Third Law have to do with my project?
4 What does Qxidation mean?
5What are the componins of thrust?
6 What is the chemical reaction?
7 Will to much pressure cause it to fail?
8 What does exhaust have to do with it?
9 Will gravity be a factor in when the rocket is up in the air it will come down?
10 Will to much paper effect the lauch?

Please remember that our Experts at Ask an Expert can help with specific questions related to developing or troubleshooting a project. They can't answer questions that can be answered by research or time spent doing an Internet search. I'm sorry that your questions went unanswered. If you move forward with doing an experiment on this topic and have questions, please post again at Ask an Expert.

Amy
Science Buddies

smarshall wrote:Will wind be a factor for the rocket?

That depends on what your question/hypothesis is.

smarshall wrote:Will more baking soda than vinegar effect the height?

The baking soda vinegar reaction is a chemical reaction that rapidly produces a gas everywhere the two reactants meet. Any left over unreacted materials in anything moving will affect movement. Ideally, you would want to balance the reactants so that there isn't an excess of either. After taking a highschool chemistry class, you should be able to figure out the proper ratio assuming all of the vinegar comes in contact with baking soda before it is expelled and no baking soda is expelled without reacting. Since you haven't had chemistry, and even if you did, there is no guarantee that all the materials will react or be expelled unreacted in the proper ratio, this is something that you should consider as a possible experimental question to answer.

The whole purpose of doing a science fair project is figuring out things for yourself. Find an interesting question. Do research to learn what others have discovered already that might be related. Figure out a testable hypothesis. Figure out a way to attempt to prove/disprove your hypothesis. That is what scientists do. The try and investigate things that are interesting that little or nothing is known about or that previous researcher's findings are suspect.