We had lots of fun investigating how rockets launch. Working in groups, we did a rocket launch. First we blew up a balloon and let it go. We watched it fly around the room. Then we decided to control the path of the balloon by connecting it to a piece of string. We tied the string to two chairs. We blew up a balloon and kept it closed using a clothes peg. We attached it to the side of the string using sellotape. Then we removed the peg and the balloon flew along the string like a rocket. The air coming out the back of the balloon pushed the balloon forward like a rocket. We investigated a rocket launch using two balloons.
Design a Bridge
We investigated bridges. We examined different types of bridges and what bridges are made of. We examined bridges around the world such as our local William Dargan bridge in Dundrum and the tallest bridge in the world, Millau Viaduct in France, which is 336.4 metres tall and took three years to build. We also investigated the role of engineers and how important safety is and the upkeep of bridges. Working in our pods, we began to design our own bridges. We used books and paper to construct our bridges. We agreed the same height for the books and width apart so that it would be a fair test. We had two piles of books 15cm apart. Each group made a simple bridge using two piles of books and an A4 page. We tested its strength by adding lollipop sticks. Then we used two pieces of paper. We investigated ways to make the bridge stronger by folding the paper in different ways. We tested which bridges were stronger by testing which could hold the most books. We made arch and corrugated bridges and tested the strength. We linked maths by measuring the width and height of the books.