Science Fair Project

1. 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?

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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

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