In this activity, students construct a balloon-powered rocket car, demonstrating Newton's Third Law of Motion.
Formally stated, Newton's third law is: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
According to Newton, whenever objects A and B interact with each other, they exert forces upon each other. When you sit in your chair, your body exerts a downward force on the chair and the chair exerts an upward force on your body. There are two forces resulting from this interaction - a force on the chair and a force on your body. These two forces are called action and reaction forces and are the subject of Newton's third law of motion.
In this activity, the rocket car is propelled by air escaping from a balloon through a plastic straw. The escaping air acts as the action force, causing the car to roll forward, as the reaction force "pushes" back..
