We could make diet coke and mentos rockets, seems like this would fit into the theme this year. we could set up rocket lab happening to build’em and then e could set up a competition for distance or targets. I’m not sure if we could do this if there are environmental objections of diet coke getting everywhere though.
There would also be a kinetic hazard present but if we set a weight limit on the rockets we could reduce that to a non-issue
Will seltzer water work?
There are ones we made in grade school that used a step-on air pad to launch them also.
Yes but selzer water is less energetic, there are a lot of other power sources available too like compressed air and water, or dry ice and many others. i figure what we would want is something easily portable, that would require no power, SAFE, easily to regulate (for a competition), and doesn’t create any environmental issues, other considerations would be general messiness
http://www.harborfreight.com/12v-100-psi-high-volume-air-compressor-61788.html a portable car powered air compressor like this could be used for air rockets.
What about pressurizing bottles with a bicycle pump?
As long as we aren’t harassing the wildlife or scaring people on the day use trail, we might be okay to do something like this. (Maybe. @Crowley might make me eat my words, heh)
Why not both? I’d like to see what some people can make at home and bring with.
We should turn this into a launch party…
If y’all would like a more eco-friendly but still fizzy-water powered solution (ha!), I’ll have a 20lb CO2 bottle in my rig, of the same type used in soda machines. With a Schrader valve glued into the top of a 2L bottle, you can carbonate liquids of various types. I use it as an air up/down bottle and to run impact tools in the field, so we’d have to launch a lot of rockets to drain it appreciably.
I like this idea. A pressurized tank would allow for many many launches, especially at 20lbs of gas. Twenty or so 2L bottles for rockets and we’d probably be pretty good. Something we’d need (if we were making it a “competition”, would be a way to keep the pressure equal between all of the contestant’s bottles.
-Mal
I don’t think there’s going to be a really good way to do that - the CO2 bottle has an adjustable regulator, but the amount of gas that actually goes into solution tends to be highly variable based on time, temperature, agitation, etc. I’d suggest that maybe this one should just be for fun, or judged on an aesthetic basis. Or maybe we all just have a seltzer water fight!
I’ve been thinking about putting together a paper airplane building happening that might be a little easier to judge, if anybody would be interested in that as well.
Has anyone checked the list of ingredients in diet coke for biodegradability? Sodium benzoate – the chemical I’d be the most worried about (though I’m not a chemist) – is quoted in passing by most papers as being biodegradable to some extent.
There must be a way to sort of contain the exhaust to a small patch of human-only land in the campsite so that critters won’t start drinking it.
This is definitely worth consideration. We work hard to preserve ogden. To that end, I’d rather go with the classic water + schrader valve + bicycle pump method.
I am planning on bringing a soda bottle launcher of the regular water and compressed air variety (as Koinu suggested). I have used one before and can attest to the effectiveness. A 2L bottle will go a good 50’+ in the air with no need for sticky soda, or otherwise expendable substances. I will be posting up a Happening thread shortly.