The competition was fierce at the Lismore Showground yesterday when teams from primary and secondary schools across Lismore came together to battle it out with bottle rockets.

Strategy and design is the aim of the game as students learn engineering skills in aerodynamics and physics as well as making the rockets in the lead up to the competition. 

A STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) initiative, the coordinators were very pleased with the second iteration of the competition.  

Karen Ramsay, awarded last week for her excellent service to the region in her work as a STEM project officer, said “We’re doing something pretty good here, the kids are all engaged.   

“They've done so much learning beforehand about forces and aerodynamics. It’s taught at all different levels, too, and everyone can access it, which is really good.

“It's our public system at work.”

The atmosphere was festive as the children discussed tactics, fine tuned their rockets, with one team making a contingency rocket when theirs got accidentally smashed the day before.

“Well, you have to make it a little bit aerodynamic. So you have to make sure the cone is straight, and it's nice and pointy, and the fins are all the same length,” Ariel and Willow from Dunoon Public School explains.

Benji, Harlan and Ryan from Wyrallah Road Public School called their rocket Grass Breaker and used a different tactic. They had a blade of grass embedded in its nose, “for luck”.

Three boys from Modenville Public School had their rocket, “Scotland Forever”, attached to the rocket launcher, ready to go. 

(Archie, James and Loki with Scotland Forever)

Archie, James and Loki explained their rockets name.“Just because it was funny and one of Archie’s grandparents had Scottish heritage.”

Their rocket made an impressive flight, landing with its nose dug into the dirt. The kids retrieved their rocket, marking its location. The idea is they then make improvements to their design and try and better their distance.  

“I want to cut the nose off and make it more rounded because that's all the high schoolers have done, and they've got really far. It looks like 80 metres.”

("Scotland Forever" ready for launch, skyward and dug in at its landing point)

Little did they know that High schoolers use 3D printing to make their rounded nose cones. But they got the point and were asking themselves why the high schoolers got better distance.

Lismore High students explained their strategy. 

“Bottle rockets are pressured with compressed air, and they will fly because of the water bursting out - and we made them aerodynamic," Damien said.

Braden and Sophie chime in; “The tilt of the fins allows for it to spin or not go either direction. So you don't want to have too much spin and not too much weight, but you also don't want it to be too light.”

(Lismore High School Students, including Damien, Braden and Sophie gathered around to show us their rockets)

Jay, a teacher from Lismore High School, spoke of the engineering principles important to year 7 and 8 students and explained some of the variables the kids use to get better results. Water quantity being the adjustable factor to measure differences on the day of the competition.

“They're getting massive differences in the flight distances at every trial. 

“The competition has lifted. We did this a year or two ago, and one was doing really well, and everyone else was a ways behind. 

“But now we've got better teaching methods, and we are working with CADCAM packages like Google SketchUp software. 

“So now the designing is getting much better, and we can mock things up quickly with the 3D printers. We're getting more competition out on the field now. 

“And the kids are having a great time mingling between schools. The whole concept is bringing more excitement for the kids.”

(The rocket is in the top left corner)

The field was littered with markers by the end, but there could be only one winner. 

The final outcome:

Primary school winners

Eli, Quinn and Franklin from Dunoon Public School romped in their win with a distance of 55.5m.

High school winners 

Caelan and Fred from Richmond River High trounced the previous record with a distance of 115.5m, breaking the previous record by 23m!