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Easter Egg Rocket

Easter Egg Rocket

Where do fizzy tablets get their fizz? After all, when they're in the package, they don't do anything at all. But drop them into a glass of water, and fizzy tablets (like Alka-Seltzer) immediately start fizzing, filling the glass with bubbles.

The bubbles are full of carbon dioxide, just like in a glass of soda or fizzy water. You're seeing a chemical reaction in the glass, where compounds in the fizzy table react to make something new — in this case, carbon dioxide (and some other things). You can see this happen in a plain old glass of water, but these jumping Easter eggs are a festive way to have fun with fizzy tablets! in this case, carbon dioxide (and some other things). You can see this happen in a plain old glass of water, but these jumping Easter eggs are a festive way to have fun with fizzy tablets!

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Materials you'll need

Step-by-step tutorial

Warning
These egg rockets should only be launched outside, as they can make a bit of a mess. Make sure that children are wearing safety goggles and are closely supervised. The eggs will fly quite high, and children should be kept far back to avoid the launch area.
Step 1
Plan, sketch, and cut out designs for your animal. Consider what kind of shapes you might need to create them. We decided to go with a woodland theme so we created a fox, an owl, and a bunny. We used some circles, triangles and teardrop shapes, to create them.

Step 2
Attach your shapes to the egg with glue. We used glue sticks to attach the paper shapes to themselves, but needed hot glue to attach the paper shapes to the Easter eggs. Make sure to ask for grownup help, if needed.

Step 3
Now it's time to make your animals come to life! Accessorize with googly eyes, a mouth, and any other features your animal may have. What additional features will your animals have?

Warning
Stop! When the eggs are ready, make sure to head outside before launching your eggs. Put on safety goggles, and keep children well back from the launch area.
Step 4
To launch, place two fizzy tablets into the bottom half of an egg. Then fill the top half of the egg about halfway with water. Quickly close the egg and step back. After a few seconds, your egg should pop open and fly!

The height of the rocket surprised us! While really exciting, make sure to take necessary precautions. We recommend for little ones to wear safety goggles!

Learn more
Ever made a volcano with baking soda and vinegar? The fizz you get when you drop a fizzy tablet into a glass of water is exactly the same reaction. Fizzy tablets contain sodium bicarbonate (also called baking soda) mixed with citric acid, plus some other stuff. In their solid form, the baking soda and acid can't react, which is why the tablets don't fizz while they're in the package. But when the tablets are dropped in water, the baking soda and citric acid get together and fizz.

When this reaction happens inside of an Easter egg, the walls of the egg trap the gas inside. As the egg is filled with more and more gas, the pressure inside the egg increases. Eventually, the gas inside the egg pushes hard enough to make the egg pop open and launch!