Newton’s Third Law Balloon Rocket Lab 8th grade science Name ______Date ______Period______

1- State Newton’s Third Law: ______

Balloon Rocket Lab Part 1 A rocket's movement depends on Newton's Third Law of Motion –When a rocket blows out gas at high speed in one direction (action force), the rocket is pushed in the opposite direction (reaction force). In other words, when there is a force on one thing in one direction, another force is acting on something else in another direction. The gas pushes against the rocket and the rocket pushes back just as hard against the gas.

Objective: To have a balloon travel over a measured distance in the shortest possible time. The balloon will be attached to a soda straw. The soda straw will have a length of string running through it. The balloon will then travel along a length of fishing line or thread after being filled with air, and the air inside then being allowed to escape. Somehow, you must come up with a way for your balloon to travel from start to finish in the quickest way possible using only the pressure of air inside it to propel it forward.

Problem: How fast can the balloon go?

2 - Hypothesis : ______

Variables: By the time you finish this experiment, you will need to identify the different types of variables present in this investigation. Consult your text book glossary for definitions of the types of variables.

3 - Independent Variables: ______4 - Dependent Variables: ______

Newton’s Third Law Balloon Lab, K.M.Swahn Adapted from: G.Baker www.thesciencequeen.net and http://www.teachengineering.org 1 November 2009 Newton’s Third Law Balloon Rocket Lab 8th grade science

Data Table: Trial Distance traveled Time in seconds Average Speed Acceleration in cm. (to the nearest . Formula is - Formula is - 10

1 - small 2 - small 3 - small 4 - small 1 - large

2 - large

3 - large

4 - large

Average small Average large

5 - Were your results accurate and reliable? Why or why not? ______

Please graph your results by the size of balloon and trial # on the x - axis and distance traveled on the y - axis:

Newton’s Third Law Balloon Lab, K.M.Swahn Adapted from: G.Baker www.thesciencequeen.net and http://www.teachengineering.org 2 November 2009 Newton’s Third Law Balloon Rocket Lab 8th grade science

Questions: 6 What is the action force in this investigation? ______

7 What is the reaction force in this investigation? ______

8 What happened when the amount of force (amount of air in the balloon) was changed? ______

9 Explain your answer to number 8 using Newton’s 3 rd Law. ______

10 Think about a real rocket launching at NASA. What are the action and reaction forces in the launch? What are the forces acting upon? ______

Newton’s Third Law Balloon Lab, K.M.Swahn Adapted from: G.Baker www.thesciencequeen.net and http://www.teachengineering.org 3 November 2009 Newton’s Third Law Balloon Rocket Lab 8th grade science

Overall Conclusion: Use your Lab Report Format conclusion section to write a paragraph to state if your original hypothesis was correct or incorrect using specific references from the lab to support your answer. ______

11 - Newton’s first law states: An object in motion stays in motion, an object at rest remains at rest, until acted on by an outside force. Apply Newton’s First Law to our balloon rocket. ______

Newton’s Third Law Balloon Lab, K.M.Swahn Adapted from: G.Baker www.thesciencequeen.net and http://www.teachengineering.org 4 November 2009 Newton’s Third Law Balloon Rocket Lab 8th grade science ______12 - Newton’s Second Law states: F=ma with acceleration in the direction of force. Apply Newton’s Second Law to our balloon rocket. ______

Materials: balloon, string/fishing line, scissors, tape, and straw.

Procedure: 1. Thread the string through the drinking straw.

2. Tie off ends of string to chairs or tape string to walls. Make sure the string is stretched tight.

3. Blow up the balloon and pinch it shut with your fingers. You need to keep a hold on it while you tape it onto the drinking straw.

4. Slide the balloon-straw system down the string until the pinched end reaches the end where pinched end is toward wall or chair.

5. Release the balloon. Record your observations in distance measured in floor tiles (blocks) and time in seconds to the nearest 0.10 (tenth).

6. Complete 4 trials for each size balloon.

7. Record data into data table.

Newton’s Third Law Balloon Lab, K.M.Swahn Adapted from: G.Baker www.thesciencequeen.net and http://www.teachengineering.org 5 November 2009