Make a balloon rocket for your next science fair project using your own air as the energy.

Here are the materials you need to get to complete this project:

• Fishing line about 30-50 ft.
• A bag of various size balloons. You can get these at a dollar store
• A straw
• Tape
• 2 chairs or something you can tie the fishing line to such as two poles about 10 to 15 ft apart from each other

The instructions for this project are pretty simple but they show a great deal of physics and energy.

Take one of your balloons and blow it up. Do not tie it but pinch off the end and while it is blown up tape the straw to the side of the balloon. You will probably want to secure it in several places to make sure it will stay.

Let the air out of the balloon slowly. You do not want to make the straw fall off.

Now place your chairs with the backs facing each other about 10 to 15 feet apart.

Thread the fishing line through the straw and then take the monofilament thread and tie it around the back of the chairs. You will want this to be very tight so the line does not sag. You may also want to tie a knot that you can easily untie and retie again and again. Now you will want to make sure there is your balloon with a loop of fishing line wrapped around two chairs or poles.

Blow up the balloon and pinch the end again so no air escapes. If you have a balloon pump this works wonders. You can also get these at a local dollar store. They usually come in a package with long skinny balloons to make shaped animals. Pull your balloon rocket to one side of a chair. The end you are pinching closed should be closest to the chair.

Release your fingers and watch your balloon rocket to the other side.

How far did your balloon travel?

You will want to graph this on paper. Measure the length the balloon traveled. Now get a different size balloon and do the same thing. You will want to test different size and shape balloons to see if a certain size or shape is more effective at propelling the rocket farther.

Also you will want to try only blowing the balloon up half full and see what that does.

So how can you explain this as a science project? This is physics. The law states with every action there is an opposite reaction. So the air releasing from one end forcefully cause an opposite reaction by pushing the balloon matter the different direction. Your air blown into the balloon was energy to fuel the rocket. When you opened your fingers that stored energy was released and was able to move the balloon.

Get more great science project ideas at http://scienceprojects.fetching.us

Lesa Bolt is a contributor to science projects