3… 2… 1… Lift off! - Building your own paper rocket | Teach with space P17
Subjects: Physics
In this set of 3 activities students will design and build their own paper rockets and launch them. They will learn what it takes in order for a rocket to be stable and they will calculate the rocket’s trajectory and velocity. They will learn about the velocity required to leave Earth in a rocket and uncover why the Moon has the potential to be a stepping stone for further space exploration. Lastly, they will calculate the acceleration of their rocket at launch and put this into a context of the G-force experienced by astronauts during launch.
Download: English, Danish, Portuguese, Spanish (teacher guide + student guide)
Age range: 14-16 years old
Keywords: Physics, Rockets, Parabolic motion, Aerodynamics, Centre of mass, Centre of pressure, Escape velocity, Orbital velocity, Velocity, Acceleration
This classroom resource is part of a set of resources developed by ESA’s Education Office in collaboration with ESEROs to support the Moon Camp project.
Leaving the Earth is not as easy as it may seem. Learn more about launching into space in this Airbus Foundation Discovery Space animation. More videos here.
