Water rockets are like their model rocket cousins, except that these are powered by a combination of water and air pressure instead of a chemical propellant.
The pressure vessel, the engine of the rocket, is usually a used plastic soft drink bottle.
The bottle is partially filled with water (typically a third full), and then inverted so the nozzle points towards the ground.
The bottle is then pressurized with air and then released.
Water and air are used in combination, with the air providing a means to store potential energy, as it is easily compressed, and the water providing momentum when ejected from the rocket's nozzle..
For more information about the topic Water rocket, read the full article at Wikipedia.org, or see the following related articles:
Rocket engine A rocket engine is a reaction engine that can be used for spacecraft propulsion as well as terrestrial uses, such as missiles. Rocket engines take ... >
read more
Propellant A propellant is a material that is used to move an object by applying a motive force. This may or may not involve a chemical reaction. It may be a ... >
read more
Hybrid rocket A hybrid rocket propulsion system comprises propellants of two different states of matter, the most common configuration being a rocket engine ... >
read more
Multistage rocket A multistage (or multi-stage) rocket is, like any rocket, propelled by the recoil pressure of the burning gases it emits as it burns fuel. What ... >
read more
Note: This page refers to an article that is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the article Water rocket at Wikipedia.org. See the Wikipedia copyright page for more details.