Unit 8 cont.

Today in class we started practice launching for our water bottle rocket lab. We filled our water bottle rocket past half way then used a special pump to pump air into the bottle until the pressure was up to 50. We then pulled the plug from the lip and it flew up into the air. If you looked at this lab in a physics perspective, we were increasing the potential energy of the "rocket" by pumping air into it. Once we significantly increased the potential energy of the rocket, we released the plug and the rocket shot up, increasing its kinetic energy and decreasing its potential energy simultaneously. This got me thinking about the wind up toys I loved so much when I was little. If you think about it, its very similar. The more you wind up the toy, the more you are increasing its potential energy. And though the release of that potential energy (become kinetic energy) is less dramatic, it has the same effect on the wind up toy as the water bottle rocket.