Manufacturer: | Scientific Explorer |
Style: | Other |
Brief:
The Meteor is 1.5 liter bottle with three fins and a nose cone. It launched
with vinegar and baking powder to a hundred feet. It is meant for little kids
who want rockets with out explosives.
Construction:
The rocket is made form a 1.5 liter bottle, a sheet of balsa wood, silver shiny
tape, foam tape, a transparent red paper and a plastic nose cone. The rocket is
launched with two rubber stoppers, a big screw, a plastic tube, and a bolt.
Every thing I listed comes with the kit!
First you trace and cut out the fins from a sheet of balsa wood. Then you cover the fins with this shiny silver paper they give to to make it look nice. The you glue the fins on to the pop bottle and reinforce it with the extra shiny paper. Next you tape a red transparent piece of plastic on to the top of the pop bottle to hold on the nose cone. The instructions were clear on how to make the Meteor, but were too long. Withe the materials that the rocket are make form, I don't think it was worth the $20 that I bought it for.
Finishing:
There really was not finishing to do because the body is transparent. It still
looks neat though.
Construction Rating: 3 out of 5
Flight:
The flight of this rocket was very interesting. First you put about a cup of
vinegar into the pop bottle. The you stick the plastic tube on to the rubber
stopper and fill it up with as much baking powder as you want. Then you put the
rubber stopper with the baking powder into the bottle (the rubber stopper stops
at the opening of the bottle while the tube of baking powder goes inside the
bottle). Then you turn the rocket upside down and start shaking it so the
chemicals mix. You then turn it right side up and put it on the ground. Poof up
into the air about 100 feet then fall back to earth. That is what is supposed
to happen on a normal flight, which never happened for me. When I would mix up
the chemicals, would explode in my hands and get me soaking wet. That happened
3 times. But out of all the failures, I did get it to work once by letting it
launch in my hand. The rocket is not propelled by the liquids, as it looks like
in the picture, but by the gasses in which it produces. It was kind of neat to
see a rocket propelled by something you could not see.
Recovery:
The recover is not original, once it is up in the air, it just falls back to
earth with no recovery systems. It doesn't need any anyway because all it is is
a pop bottle.
Flight Rating: 2 out of 5
Summary:
If you want a present for a kid that is a rocket and can not hurt you or start
a fire and gets you wet, this is what you are looking for. Personally, I
probably would not recommend it to anyone though.
Overall Rating: 3 out of 5
Photo courtesy of Scientific Explorer This kit is made by Scientific Explorer, Inc. It is a carbon dioxide gas powered rocket. The gas is generated from the chemical reaction of vinegar and baking soda. The fueling module provides a safe and easy separation/mixing chamber controlled by the rocketeer. The kit was purchased from an Edmund Scientific catalog, and is available from other ...
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D.F. (September 1, 2001)