With a few recycled bottles, pressurised air and a bit of imagination, students at Wagga Christian College successfully turned their oval into a rocket launch pad on Friday.
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Now in its fifth year, the school's Golden Rocket Challenge tests the engineering and design capacity of year 8 students.
Over the past four weeks, the students create rocket prototypes using recycled materials. Their designs are tested and refined until 'launch day' when each team's rocket is pitted against the others for supremacy.
"It teaches them that with design, you don't get it right the first time, you have to refine it, re-design it, constantly rework it with your team," said technology teacher Emily Deighton.
One group - who named themselves the 'space cadets' - managed to achieve a distance of 78 metres over the back fence, which managed to secure the silver medal.
"We've had a few different designs, some have gone high but haven't gone very long," said team member Emily Greenlees.
"One try we filled it with 850mL of water, but that didn't work so we've gone with 300mL and that seems better."
Ms Deighton said this was a common error the students confronted while testing their designs over the weeks.
"Some get stuck on the water and forget to factor in how much that will weigh when it's in the bottle, and how that will effect its flight," she said.
"They can [also] get a bit stuck on the fin [design] and I'll remind them they need to consider the position and angle as it goes through the air."
The bottle rockets that prove the farthest flyers, Ms Deighton said, are those that are built with a sound understanding of Newton's three laws.
"It's all about the centre of mass and the centre of air pressure," Ms Deighton said.