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For a two-liter baking soda rocket, gather a clean plastic drink bottle, baking soda, vinegar, a cork, paper towel, duct tape, three unsharpened pencils, and safety goggles. A funnel and measuring spoons are useful for filling and measuring. Use one activity’s instructions as a complete setup: bottle designs and film-canister designs use different quantities and closures.
Supplies for a plastic-bottle rocket
- Clean plastic drink bottle: The rocket body. The National Museum of the United States Army lists a two-liter bottle for its activity.
- Baking soda and vinegar: The ingredients react to produce carbon dioxide gas.
- Paper towel or toilet paper: Used to hold the baking soda in a packet until it is placed in the bottle.
- Cork: Closes the bottle in the launch setup. The Planetary Society notes that a cork pushed in too tightly may prevent launch, while one that is too loose may release too soon.
- Duct tape and three unsharpened pencils: The Army museum lists these as construction and support materials.
- Safety goggles: Wear eye protection during the activity.
- Optional helpers: A funnel helps pour ingredients into the bottle; measuring spoons help measure them.
The Army museum lists its bottle activity as suitable for grade 5 and older with adult guidance. See its Build a Rocket activity.
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Use one activity’s amounts and setup
For its two-liter bottle activity, The Planetary Society suggests two cups of vinegar and two tablespoons of baking soda, with smaller amounts for a one-liter bottle. These are starting quantities for that particular activity, not universal optimum amounts or a guarantee of a particular launch height. Follow the same activity’s instructions for preparing the packet and fitting the cork rather than mixing steps from different designs. Read The Planetary Society’s soda-bottle rocket instructions.
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Some baking soda rocket activities use a film canister instead of a drink bottle. Science Buddies and the Lunar and Planetary Institute describe canister designs; their quantities, closures, and procedures should not be assumed to work with a two-liter bottle.
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Choose a safe launch area
- Launch outdoors, with room around the rocket and a stable place for the bottle to stand.
- Keep the launch area clear of items that could be damaged by splashes.
- Wear safety goggles and follow the chosen activity’s adult-supervision guidance.
- For The Planetary Society’s bottle activity, retreat at least 10 steps after setting down the rocket.
If the bottle has not launched after a couple of minutes, The Planetary Society says an adult should slowly remove the cork, taking care because pressure may have built up inside. Do not treat an unlaunched bottle as safe to handle casually.
The Lunar and Planetary Institute’s instruction for children other than the launcher to stand at least 10 feet back applies to its film-canister activity, not as a universal distance for every bottle rocket. Its activity also calls for eye protection. See Lunar and Planetary Institute: Rocket Launch.
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Why the rocket moves
Baking soda and vinegar produce carbon dioxide. As gas builds pressure inside the container, it eventually escapes; the gas moving out produces thrust in the opposite direction and pushes the rocket upward. This demonstrates a basic action-and-reaction principle, but the household reaction is not the same propellant chemistry used by spacecraft. For related explanations, see Science Buddies’ homemade baking soda rocket activity and Science Buddies’ baking soda and vinegar rocket project.
Turn launches into a fair comparison
You can compare launch delay and relative height, but the cited activities do not establish a guaranteed height for a bottle rocket. Change one variable at a time so you can tell what changed the result.
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- It's pocket sized rocket science
- Flies up to 50 feet
- Powered by vinegar and baking soda
- A practical demonstration of chemical reactions
- Adult supervision required for children under 14
- Compare different amounts of vinegar or baking soda.
- Test whether adding mass changes the flight.
- Compare flights with and without fins or a nose cone.
- Repeat launches under the same conditions to see whether the results are consistent.
Clean up after launch
Rinse wet surfaces and reusable parts, and keep the area clear of anything that should not get wet. Science Buddies specifically advises rinsing a concrete launch surface after launches and rinsing and drying the canister and lid for its film-canister activity; those detailed canister steps are not bottle-specific.
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