On 5 June UNAWE student ambassador Janith Weerasinghe (Foundation Astronomical Studies and Exploration (FASE)) organized an event for children in Sri Lanka. At the Astronomical Society of Maliyadeva College in Kurunagala, children and teenagers (10-15 years) participated in a water rocket challenge!
Participants had to find out how to build the best water rocket and launcher. The challenge was to launch the water rocket with an egg as payload, and land the egg safely to the ground. This challenge provides a fun and exciting way to learn about physics subjects (such as center of gravity, air resistance and Newton’s laws).
Students first watched a short movie followed by a step-by-step presentation on how to build a water rocket. Materials such as tubes, candles and plastic bottles could be used. Then the challenge began: which rocket would reach the greatest height and return the egg safely to the ground?
The event was a huge success, several water rockets were able to deploy parachutes at the end of the flight and landed safely with eggs still intact. Some of the rockets, predictably, did not do as well, which was also fun according to Janith: “Some rockets were splashing water on everybody during the launch, and sometimes payloads crashed down and sprayed egg yolks all around”.
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