Young Engineers Club: balloon-powered hovercrafts & rocket sledges

Date: Monday 1 February 2010

This term members of the Young Engineers Club are learning about forces and pressure (friction, air pressure etc).In our first session of the term we made balloon-powered hovercrafts out of CDs and film canisters.We then experimented to see how we could improve the air cushion.It was great fun!

More recently the Young Engineers have continued their investigation of forces by making rocket sledges.By using a card base, a balloon and a bendy straw, the engineers experimented with a number of interesting and exciting variations.Some even experimented with increased force by adding an extra balloon or two.