Science Fair

Grown-ups

Does a pointed nose make a straw rocket fly farther?

3rd–7th grade · 1 day of testing · free · ages 8 to 13 · 50 minutes a sitting

  • 🙅 Never at faces
Straw Rocket: the Workshop build the straw rocket nose shapes project grows from

My hypothesis

If I change the shape of the rocket's nose, then how far the rocket flies will ______, because ______.

You fill in the blanks. Think about how easily each nose slides through the air. A guess is a good because: the test finds out.

Change, measure, keep the same

CHANGE

the shape of the rocket's nose: Flat, folded shut, Short pointed cone, Long pointed cone

MEASURE

how far the rocket flies, in cm

KEEP THE SAME

  • the same straw to blow through
  • the same size of paper tube
  • one quick puff from the same line

Scientists call the thing you change the independent variable and the thing you measure the dependent variable. The things you keep the same are the controls: if one of them changed too, you wouldn't know which change made the difference. Try each of the 3 levels 3 times.

What you need

  • Paper: 3 sheets
  • Straws: 1
  • A pencil
  • Masking tape, to mark lines
  • A tape measure, or a long ruler
  • ✂️ Kid scissors
  • 🩹 Tape

Steps

  1. Cut three strips of paper and roll each around a pencil into a tube.
  2. Tape each tube shut along its side, and slide it off the pencil.
  3. Fold one tube's end flat and tape it: the flat nose.
  4. Tape a short paper cone on the second tube and a long cone on the third.
  5. Stand behind a tape line and slide a rocket onto your straw.
  6. Aim at the floor ahead, never at anyone, and give one quick puff.
  7. Measure from the line to where it landed, and write it down.
  8. Launch each rocket three times.
  9. Find the middle distance for each nose and draw a bar graph.

Every step is one you can do yourself, with a grown-up nearby. Write each number down straight away, in the table below, so nothing is lost.

Your results table

MY RESULTSPeabody 🦉 peabody.kids/science-fair

Name ______________________ Fair day ____________

Question: Does a pointed nose make a straw rocket fly farther?

I changed: Nose shape   I measured: how far the rocket flies (cm)

Nose shapeTry 1 (cm)Try 2 (cm)Try 3 (cm)Mean
Flat, folded shut
Short pointed cone
Long pointed cone

MY GRAPH (a bar graph: nose shape along the bottom, cm up the side)

What I noticed: ______________________________________________

From 4th grade, add the tries for each level and divide by how many there were: that's the mean, and it goes in the last column. Then draw a bar graph, one bar for each thing you tried.

📊 Make my graph🖨 Print the whole packet (9 pages)🛠 Run it as an engineering project

Why it works

Your puff pushes air into the tube, and the air shoves the rocket off the straw. As it flies, the rocket has to push air out of its way. A pointed nose slides through the air more easily than a flat one, so less of its speed is lost to drag.

Going further (7th and up): Change a second thing: add paper fins to half your rockets, and test every nose with fins and without.

Board layout

MY BOARD · 36 × 48 in tri-foldPeabody 🦉 peabody.kids/science-fair
  1. ❓ Question (10 × 8 in): Does a pointed nose make a straw rocket fly farther?
  2. 💭 Hypothesis (10 × 9 in): If I change the shape of the rocket's nose, then how far the rocket flies will ______, because ______.
  3. 🧺 Materials (10 × 12 in): 5 things: see your list.
  4. 🪜 Steps (22 × 9 in): 9 steps, three tries at each level.
  5. 📊 Results (22 × 16 in): Your table (Nose shape down the side, tries across) and your bar graph.
  6. ✅ Conclusion (10 × 14 in): My hypothesis was right / partly right / not right. I know because…

Materials to list: Paper; Straws; A pencil; Masking tape, to mark lines; A tape measure, or a long ruler.

Bring photos or drawings of your test. Nothing wet, hot, powered or alive on the table.

This project at your grade

1st–3rd gradeTries: three at each level (one is fine at a first fair). The table: levels and tries, numbers or pictures. The graph: a picture, or a simple bar graph. The conclusion: what happened, in their words.
4th–6th gradeTries: three at each level. The table: units in the header and a mean column. The graph: a bar graph, or a line for a number that grows. The conclusion: right, partly or not, and the numbers that show it.
7th grade and upTries: three or more at each level. The table: a mean for every level of both tests. The graph: a graph with two lines or two sets of bars. The conclusion: the numbers, what might have gone wrong, and a next question. Second variable: add paper fins to half your rockets, and test every nose with fins and without.

From 4th grade up, the table gets a mean column. See every project for 3rd grade, or print a blank results table.

What a judge will ask

  • What did you change, and what did you measure? I changed the shape of the rocket's nose and measured how far the rocket flies, in cm.
  • What did you keep the same, and why does that matter? I kept the same straw to blow through and the same size of paper tube the same, so the only difference was the shape of the rocket's nose.
  • How many times did you test it? 3 times at each of my 3 levels.
  • If you did it again, what would you change or test next? I'd add paper fins to half your rockets, and test every nose with fins and without.

Make it yours

Keep this project on this device and Peabody counts down to your fair day, with a plan for each day. Nothing is sent anywhere.

Try next

🔨 From the Workshop: this project grows from a Workshop build, with picture steps of its own.

👨‍👩‍👧 For grown-ups and teachers: how much to help, the safety rules, and running a school fair. Science fair v0.16.1 · Checked .

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