This week we investigated balloon powered rockets using balloons. This was after we had looked at the rocket fuel scientist Mary Sherman Morgan, who once worked in a factory of 900 engineers where she was the only women. A true pioneer for women in STEM! The pupils found this quite unbelievable just how unusual it would have been for a woman in the 1930’s to have been working in such a career.
So, it was into the hall for this week’s activity as we needed lots of space. Supplied with string, balloons and masking tape, the groups set to work on seeing how far they could get their balloon rocket to ‘fly’ across the hall. Some then tried taping two or even three balloons together to se if this improved performance (it didn’t seem to as it was quite a clumsy arrangement). The groups found that the rockets appeared to travel faster over shorter distances as the balloon reached the end of the strong before the air power had run out.
Some quotes from the pupils about this acitivty;
‘I really enjoyed it because we were making rockets with balloons and we even tried three balloons. It was amazing’ Iris
‘ I loved it, I loved pumping up the balloons.’ Jack
‘STEM Club is really good. We enjoy making rockets, making slime and loads of other things. I’m really excited.’ Georgina
