Balloon Rocket Car Experiment

My experiment is the Balloon Rocket Car. My experiment is going to see if Newton’s

third law applies to this balloon car. In this experiment i will be filling a latex balloon up with

different amounts of helium to see how far a balloon car can go. The point of this experiment is

to test out Newton’s third law of Motion. The balloon will have different amount of air, by

putting different amounts of helium in the balloon, the car will go short to long distances.

Newton’s Third Law of motion is that for every action there is a reaction. When the balloon’s

helium is released it will travel through the straws and push the car forward. By doing this

experiment it will show that the balloons action will make the cars reaction to move forward. So

if the experiment is done correctly the balloon should exert a force on the car and the car should

exert the same force and push it back. I picked this experiment because i got interested in

Newton’s Law’s of Motion. Learning about things and how they move and the science behind it

is interesting to me and always fascinates me. When i see Newton’s cradle in action i think of

how the balls move. When one ball hits another it creates a chain reaction and each ball exerts

the same kind of force back on the other. Also both of my parents are engineers and they deal

with science and physics. Seeing Newton’s cradle has sparked an interest in learning about

physics and how it works. Physics has always been a thing that i wanted to know more about.

For last year’s science fair project i did an experiment also dealing with physics and motion of

objects. Another reason because i chose this project is because when physics is a class i’ll take

in highschool and college. Some of my questions that will be answered during my experiment

are, does how much helium in the balloon matter? Does the size of the water bottle matter? Is

there a difference if i use carbon dioxide or helium to fill the balloon up? Does the size of the

straw matter? Will the balloon car still work with multiple balloons?

Does how much helium in the balloon matter? Yes because if I put a tiny bit of air in the

balloon the car might move only a little bit or might not move at all. if i use a lot of air the car

will be fast and go a very long distance. If i use a medium amount of air in the balloon it will go

at a medium speed and distance. So if the balloon doesn’t have a lot of air it will go at a slow

speed and a short distance if it has a lot of air it will go far in distance and speed. So the amount

of air in the balloon does matter and if you don’t put the right amount of air in the balloon it

won’t move so even if you put a lot of air the experiment will still work.

Is there a difference if i use carbon dioxide or helium to fill the balloon up? Yes because

if you blow up a balloon with your carbon dioxide it will not float. When you blow the balloon

up with carbon dioxide the balloon won’t have enough force to push the balloon a little bit. So

no matter how much carbon dioxide you put into that balloon it will still not be strong enough to

push it. But when you fill a balloon up with helium it starts to float and it doesn't fall to the

ground. So when i release the balloon the helium will go through the straws and make the car

move forward. Another big factor is the density of the gas helium has very little density and

carbon dioxide has a lot of density. A helium balloon rises because it has a lighter density but

carbon dioxide has a lot of density or weight so the balloon won’t float. But if you use helium

the balloon will make the car move forward in direction. So if you use carbon dioxide the car

will not move a bit. But if you use helium it will work definitely.

Does the size of the straw matter? Yes the size of the straw does matter when doing this

experiment. If the straw you use is too small the air can’t pass through the straw to make it

move. If the straw is too big then the car might not even work as a whole because it won’t be

connected. So you need to have a medium straw to make it perfect and have it moving forward

and having the balloons air pass through the straws. The straw will need to act as a nozzle

directly into the bottle so the air can pass through and move it. So you need to have the straw at

the perfect length for the car to do anything. If you don’t have the straw at the right length the

experiment will not work because it the air will not go directly into the bottle. So no matter what

the size of the straw must be perfect or else helium from the balloon will never be able to reach

the car, so it won’t be able to move.

Will this experiment work with multiple balloons? Yes this experiment will still work

with multiple balloons. In order for this experiment to be compatible will the car you will need

to add more straws and balloons to the back of this car. With the added balloons to the car it will

make it go faster and farther than with just one balloon. So yes the experiment will still work

with multiple balloons and Newton’s Third Law of Motion still applies to the experiment. So if

you add more balloons it will create more force and the car will exert the same force and go

faster and have more distance. So if you add multiple balloons they all must be connected to

individual straws for the air to go directly into the water bottle. The straws act as nozzles so if

you have 5 balloons on one straw it would be too powerful and all the air would be lost before it

goes through the straws. So yes this car can be used with multiple balloons but every balloon

must have its own straw for the air to propel the car.

So for this whole project I will build a balloon rocket car out of a water bottle, caps,

skewers, straws, and balloons. With the water bottle caps, skewers, straws and balloons i'll make

a small little balloon car. This car will move only with helium coming out of a balloon and

coming out of the straws. The purpose of the balloon filled with helium is for it to let out helium

to push the car. The straws are placed in the car so the air from the balloon could travel through

them to move the car. If you didn’t have straws directly connected to the bottle the balloon by

itself could not directly transfer the helium into the bottle to make it move. The skewers and

bottle caps are used for the wheels for the car to move because if you have no wheels on it you

can’t move. The skewers are used to hold the wheels in place and connect them with the car so

both of these things are essential for the car to move. So if I do everything correctly the car will

be able to move and work. Newton’s Third Law of Motion is that for every action there is a

reaction. So when the balloon filled with air is released it will travel through the straws straight

into the bottle and out of it to make it move. The skewers and bottle caps will act as wheels to

make it move and be able to go forward. So if the balloon has a force of 1 Newton the car will

go in the opposite direction 1 Newton and as a result it will move at a certain speed and will go a

certain distance. So this proves that the a balloon rocket car passes Newton’s Third Law of

Motion that every action receives a reaction. This is what my science experiment the balloon

rocket car experiment is about.

Croce, Nicholas, Newton and the Three Laws of Motion, The Rosen Publishing Group, 2005

explorable.com/balloon-rocket-car-experiment

esciencenews.com/sources/live.science/2014/06/26/equal.opposite.reactions.newton.s.third.law.

motion