The Rocket Rover is balloon powered. It converts potential energy that you store in the balloon when you blow it up, into kinetic energy when you let it go.
You may need an adult to help you with parts of this activity!
The thick piece of cardboard will be the base of the rocket rover. The first thing that we are going to do is make the wheels for it. The milk bottle tops are going to be the wheels. You will need to make a hole in the middle of each milk bottle top and then thread two onto a wooden skewer with a small piece of straw in between. You will need two pairs of wheels for the rocket rover
You will next need to attach your wheels to your rocket rover. If you want to decorate your rocket rover the best time to do it is before you attach the wheels! Stick the wheels to the bottom of the card base on the piece of straw. This will allow the wheels to spin freely. Make sure that the wheels do not come into contact with the base. If you have excess skewer you may like to cut the end off.
You now want to attach the balloon to power the rocket rover. You will want to tape a balloon to a straw. Make sure that you use lots of tape so that no air escapes. You will then tape the straw to the top of the rocket rover but make sure that the straw hangs over the edge of the base. This will make it easier to blow up the balloon.
Your rocket rover is now ready to test! When you release the balloon air is pushed out the end of the straw and this propels it forward.
The video tutorial for this experiment is available on Surrey Libraries Facebook page and Surrey Libraries YouTube channel.
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