Rocketeers UNIFAL-MG: teaching Physics by launching handcrafted rockets

We present the results of the extension project “The Physics of the Handmade Rockets Launching” performed by the “Rocketeers UNIFAL-MG” team in the city of Poços de Caldas (MG, Brazil) and neighbour cities. We developed prototypes of PET-bottle rockets propelled by pressurized water through a system of PVC pipes connected to a manual air pump. The prototypes included a rocket with a recovery module (parachute released at the maximum height). This handcrafted launching system was taken as a Physics teaching laboratory for elementary and high school students: the rocket’s motion realizes kinematical physics (e.g. vertical trajectory and oblique motion), dynamics (by the application of Newton’s laws) and conservation laws (especially through momentum conservation). We did presentations in the 2012, 2013 and 2014 editions of the National Week of Science and Technology; we visited four public schools and assisted one university. The number of people directly affected by the project is estimated in 1,300. The activities included interactive seminars about the Physics involved in handmade and professional rocket launching, workshops for the construction of the rocket–launch-pad system, rocket launching by students, labs for processing the data collected during the launches using the equations learned in the theory classes. The results from the project actions are the provision of an additional method for teaching Physics, stimulation of elementary and high-school students for dedicating themselves to studying natural science, demystification of Physics through the practical and playful aspects inherent in rocket launching; rockets that they can build on their own with recyclable materials.