Blast Off: Knollwood Students Learn Science Through Bottle Rockets

Bottle rockets, wind turbines and egg drops showed seventh grade students from the importance of math and physics.

May 26 was Knollwood School's Math and Physics Day. Seventh grade students participated in a series of design challenges that taught them a thing or two about how math and physics are related. Parents and friends attended a presentation at Knollwood school Thursday night which demonstrated the ideas and products the students produced.

"We've had a math and physics night before," said Principal Thomas Famulary. "But this is the first year that we have had it with bottle rockets and things that are very hands-on."

During the day on Thursday, the students split up into teams and performed a series of surprise tasks. First, they were to design and build a wind turbine that generates as much power as the wind of a household fan. Second, the teams were to create something that would prevent a regular egg from breaking after it was dropped from 15 feet in the air.

A second aspect of the Math and Physics day was for the students to create a 2-litre bottle rocket. This was assigned to the students about two weeks prior so they had time to work on it with their teams. The goal was to create a rocket, starting with a 2-litre bottle, that can travel the greatest distance possible using compressed air and water as a propellant.

According to Maddie Burpee, the best part was testing their rockets. "It was a lot of fun to test the rockets over and over again," said Burpee. "Each time we tested them, we had to fix them afterwards."

The purpose of the students creating the wind turbine was to teach them about force vectors, the transfer of energy and the generation of electricity. The creation of the bottle rockets taught the students about acceleration of gravity and momentum. The egg drop challenge taught the students about problem solving and working as a team.

After a presentation of the challenges on Thursday night, parents and guests went outside to watch a demonstration of the bottle rockets the students produced. Evan Werner's team won first place as their bottle rocket shot out almost 250 feet. "Our rocket was well balanced," said Werner. "Our rocket was lighter then everyone else's and we used electrical tape instead of duck tape."

Seventh Grade Science Teacher Jim DiPalma says having a day like this gets the students a lot more interested in subject. "When you can create that kind of interest in the students from these activities, it's easier to get them interested in the subject matter behind it," DiPalma said.

Katy Frissora, member of the Fair Haven Board of Education, was at Math and Physics Night to support her son Michael. "I think this is a great way for the kids to practice what they are learning in their science books," Frissora said. "It's a friendly competition and the kids have to realize why one rocket goes faster then another. It teaches them about the rules of science."