Students send bottles skyward
How far can a fizzy drink bottle fly?
That was the question being answered by students taking part in the Witt Taranaki Science and Technology Fair in New Plymouth.
The event has been running for more than 30 years, with the 2017 fair taking place at Pukekura Raceway.
On Tuesday it was all about water rockets, with students from year seven to 13 launching old bottles into the overcast skies above.
They part-filled them with water and then used air hammers – the type of hand pump more often seen inflating bike inner tubes – to send them skywards.
It was a chance to have fun while the judging of science and technology projects took place, chief judge Rick Wood said. ‘‘It’s amazing to see kids come up with some awesome ideas around science and technology.’’
Eli Waite’s rocket, a six bottle behemoth, held together with black tape, was by far the tallest on the day.
The year eight student from Mangorei School said the rocket took him and father Andre hours to make. They had done a lot of research on YouTube.
‘‘I wanted to make a big as rocket, it took weeks to put together. We had a competition at school last year and it didn’t go so well so I wanted to upgrade.’’
Despite the size, the rocket didn’t manage to get off the ground come launch time, with a small leak blamed for dashing dreams of vertical success.
Arnika Watson, 11, was the sole entrant from Toko School and the last one to launch her yellow and black rocket, named Toko 1.
Her dad helped her with the construction of her rocket which took around two weeks to build.
‘‘I had to give it a paint job to add some weight to it.
‘‘We tested it at 120psi and it went really high but I’m a bit nervous as they are only filling at 80psi today,’’ she said.
Moss Page, 14, was one of around six Spotswood College students hoping to send his ice cream container contraption skyward.
He had transformed a Goody Goody Gumdrops icecream container into a cone and fins for his rocket held together with some grey duct tape
‘‘It took about 45 minutes to make but I did a bit of testing as well,’’ he said.
He was quick to acknowledge help from his friend Josh and said it was part of a class project for year nine and ten students at the school.
‘‘Mine was the best in class but only a few of them managed to launch,’’ he said.