The Construction and Launch of a Water-Powered Bottle Launcher

To build the launcher, the team started by attaching a 78-inch piece to the tee, followed by an 18-inch piece, and finally a two-inch piece. They then attached these pieces together with air pressure, requiring an end cap to maintain the pressure inside. To achieve this, they drilled holes in both ends of the pieces and inserted valves, which they obtained from an automotive supply store.

The valves were threaded into the caps, and the team used pliers to secure them tightly. To protect the threads, they applied a sealant called purple primer to the exposed areas. Before assembling the pipe, the team cleaned it with the primer to ensure a tight fit. They then glued the launcher together, using a special seal to keep water inside a two-liter bottle.

The seal was crucial to prevent air leaks and maintain pressure. To create the seal, the team pushed the pipe together hard, making a small bulge in the middle. They then applied tin foil around the bulge to hold it in place. The bottle was secured to the pipe using zip ties, which were wrapped around the handle of the launcher. To prevent the bottle from coming loose during launch, the team used a pipe clamp to hold the zip ties in place.

To ensure safe and controlled launches, the team designed a spring-loaded mechanism to release the tension on the pipe. This allowed them to pull back the string, which triggered the launch. The entire contraption was made from PVC pipes and fittings, with the addition of a bicycle pump to generate pressure.

Before launching the bottle, the team checked the pressure gauge to ensure it didn't exceed 70 PSI. With the system complete, they were ready to test their creation in a wide open space. As they pumped up the launcher, they carefully placed a two-liter bottle on the end of the stem, filling it with about one-third of water.

The reason for this specific amount of water was due to Sir Isaac Newton's principle that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. By using water, the team aimed to achieve a longer range than if they had used air alone. With the launcher fully assembled and the pressure gauge reading 75 PSI, the team was ready to launch their creation.

As they pulled back the string, the spring released, propelling the bottle forward with great force. The team held their breath as the bottle soared through the air, its trajectory determined by the careful design and construction of their launcher. With each successful launch, the team refined their design, ensuring that their water-powered bottle launcher was safe, efficient, and effective.

The use of a bicycle pump to generate pressure proved to be an inspired decision, allowing the team to achieve higher pressures than they would have been able to with manual effort alone. By combining this with their clever design, the team had created a truly remarkable device that was capable of launching water bottles with impressive force and accuracy.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwe're going to make a rocket from a 2-liter soda bottle and we're going to make the launcher for the rocket from some pvc plastic pipe from any home center you can get it and then we're gonna propel it using just water and a bicycle pump let's take some measurements we need three pieces of pipe and the first one is two inches can you mark it there at two inches nice job and we need a second piece that's 18 inches long and evie what's 18 plus two can you mark it at 20. in the third piece 78 inches josh what's 78 plus 20. 98 perfect mark it at 98. josie help me cut this i'm going to hold here you hold there and we're going to cut this right on the mark here's what the rocket launcher is going to look like when we're done we're going to put the 18 inch piece into the tee and the 78 inch piece into the tee and the two inch piece into the middle of the tee and we're going to pressurize this with air and so we have to have an end cap to keep the air pressure in and another air cap and we're going to put a valve in this air cap to get the air in and to do that we have to drill a hole perfect all right guys the valves we're going to use we got ours at an automotive supply store they come in a pack and they look like this with a little threaded end and a bulge here on the bottom and we're just going to simply thread that through the cap that we drilled now i want to protect the threads when we pull it so back on with the cap and josh if you'll hand me those pliers thank you i will get a good grip on it and michael will you pull that side now let's pull it and get a nice tight fit keep going pull show me your muscles and all right there you go that valve is through now we are ready to glue the launcher together before we glue the pipe we have to clean it with some of this purple primer josh wanted you put some of that slosh it around the end and josh get me some in the cap here too real good okay evie we're gonna put some glue on i'm gonna put some inside on your tee and i'm going to put some outside on the 18 inch piece here and we're going to push it together real hard and kind of twist it we have to work fast excellent like this is half inch pvc pipe and two liter bottles slide onto it just perfectly and we're going to slide that almost to the end but not quite touching and we're going to put a seal right here between the bottle and the pipe what's the seal for the seal is to keep the air in the water inside the bottle until we're ready to launch so we have a regular birthday candle being held in place with just a little bit of tin foil what are you using this for we're softening the pipe we'll push it together hard and make a little bulge and that's where we make our seal exactly let me show you how the bottle seats on the bulge slip that on there like that and that'll hold a lot of pressure in but of course the pressure's going this way so how do we kind of clamp that bottle onto the pipe well we use these zip ties and they will wrap around the handle they go above the handle so you've actually got the little proud part facing in grabbing the lip right there of the bottle and if you were to clamp those down the bottle's not coming off right but we use a one and a half inch piece of pvc pipe instead of my hand to hold these zip ties in place right and it slides on up so will that not come off that's remarkable it's not going anywhere that's right all right so how do we hold the zip ties onto the pvc that's with a pipe clamp mm-hmm down in the middle there and then what's the trick here because we need to have this piece of pvc uh a little bit of pressure pushing up to the bottle but we want to be able to pull it back so we can launch this how do we accomplish that that's it let me show you so here's the real deal what are we looking at well the new piece is a spring made from a two liter bottle with the ends cut off and holes in the middle pushes that pvc pipe back up that's a trigger pipe let's look at the whole contraption right here we've got the pipe clamp right here that is holding on the zip ties the bottle is seated so they grab pvc pipe goes over it spring holds it in place and then you've got a string right here to release and fire that bottle are we ready to launch let's go this is great gang it's safety first and you have to do this with adults do it in a wide open space and always point it up all right so we've got ourselves a bicycle pump right here we are connected to the stem which means we're about ready to put the bottle on the end go ahead and slide that on so the bottle has got about what a third fill of water why is that a third to a half and sir isaac newton said that for every action there's an equal and opposite reaction and if you have a water in it goes a little higher you could do it with air but water's gonna make it go further that's right i like the sounds of that all right let's pump it up mikey you wanna do the honors so we've got a pressure gauge here how much psi are we looking for not more than 70. give us 75. wait two onewe're going to make a rocket from a 2-liter soda bottle and we're going to make the launcher for the rocket from some pvc plastic pipe from any home center you can get it and then we're gonna propel it using just water and a bicycle pump let's take some measurements we need three pieces of pipe and the first one is two inches can you mark it there at two inches nice job and we need a second piece that's 18 inches long and evie what's 18 plus two can you mark it at 20. in the third piece 78 inches josh what's 78 plus 20. 98 perfect mark it at 98. josie help me cut this i'm going to hold here you hold there and we're going to cut this right on the mark here's what the rocket launcher is going to look like when we're done we're going to put the 18 inch piece into the tee and the 78 inch piece into the tee and the two inch piece into the middle of the tee and we're going to pressurize this with air and so we have to have an end cap to keep the air pressure in and another air cap and we're going to put a valve in this air cap to get the air in and to do that we have to drill a hole perfect all right guys the valves we're going to use we got ours at an automotive supply store they come in a pack and they look like this with a little threaded end and a bulge here on the bottom and we're just going to simply thread that through the cap that we drilled now i want to protect the threads when we pull it so back on with the cap and josh if you'll hand me those pliers thank you i will get a good grip on it and michael will you pull that side now let's pull it and get a nice tight fit keep going pull show me your muscles and all right there you go that valve is through now we are ready to glue the launcher together before we glue the pipe we have to clean it with some of this purple primer josh wanted you put some of that slosh it around the end and josh get me some in the cap here too real good okay evie we're gonna put some glue on i'm gonna put some inside on your tee and i'm going to put some outside on the 18 inch piece here and we're going to push it together real hard and kind of twist it we have to work fast excellent like this is half inch pvc pipe and two liter bottles slide onto it just perfectly and we're going to slide that almost to the end but not quite touching and we're going to put a seal right here between the bottle and the pipe what's the seal for the seal is to keep the air in the water inside the bottle until we're ready to launch so we have a regular birthday candle being held in place with just a little bit of tin foil what are you using this for we're softening the pipe we'll push it together hard and make a little bulge and that's where we make our seal exactly let me show you how the bottle seats on the bulge slip that on there like that and that'll hold a lot of pressure in but of course the pressure's going this way so how do we kind of clamp that bottle onto the pipe well we use these zip ties and they will wrap around the handle they go above the handle so you've actually got the little proud part facing in grabbing the lip right there of the bottle and if you were to clamp those down the bottle's not coming off right but we use a one and a half inch piece of pvc pipe instead of my hand to hold these zip ties in place right and it slides on up so will that not come off that's remarkable it's not going anywhere that's right all right so how do we hold the zip ties onto the pvc that's with a pipe clamp mm-hmm down in the middle there and then what's the trick here because we need to have this piece of pvc uh a little bit of pressure pushing up to the bottle but we want to be able to pull it back so we can launch this how do we accomplish that that's it let me show you so here's the real deal what are we looking at well the new piece is a spring made from a two liter bottle with the ends cut off and holes in the middle pushes that pvc pipe back up that's a trigger pipe let's look at the whole contraption right here we've got the pipe clamp right here that is holding on the zip ties the bottle is seated so they grab pvc pipe goes over it spring holds it in place and then you've got a string right here to release and fire that bottle are we ready to launch let's go this is great gang it's safety first and you have to do this with adults do it in a wide open space and always point it up all right so we've got ourselves a bicycle pump right here we are connected to the stem which means we're about ready to put the bottle on the end go ahead and slide that on so the bottle has got about what a third fill of water why is that a third to a half and sir isaac newton said that for every action there's an equal and opposite reaction and if you have a water in it goes a little higher you could do it with air but water's gonna make it go further that's right i like the sounds of that all right let's pump it up mikey you wanna do the honors so we've got a pressure gauge here how much psi are we looking for not more than 70. give us 75. wait two one\n"