What Type of Water Rocket Bottle is Best?
Unless you have bottles that came with your rocket from AntiGravity, you’ll need to select and prepare a water rocket bottle from your recycling bin. The very best bottle to use is a 2-liter plastic pop bottle that previously held fizzy pop. This type of bottle is very good at holding the pressure that your rocket will need.
Never Use These Bottles!
Never use glass bottles, as they can shatter and send dangerous glass shards in all directions. They are also very heavy and can damage anything they hit.
Never use water bottles. They will burst, as they are too thin and cannot hold the pressure that a rocket needs. When anyone talks about a “water bottle rocket” they are just plain wrong. Unfortunately, it is a popular search term.
And never use a ketchup bottle. That’s just plain silly.
Can I Use Other Bottle Sizes?
If they are plastic bottles that were meant to hold fizzy pop, and the mouth of the bottle fits your rocket nozzle, you can usually use them for your AntiGravity water rocket. We’ve tried 1 liter bottles and 591 ml single-serving bottles and they work well, but they just don’t go as high as the 2-liter bottles.
The 3-liter pop bottles won’t work. They have a wider mouth and won’t fit the AntiGravity rocket nozzles.
Snip Off the Plastic Ring!
You can use a pair of snippers or a nail clipper to remove the plastic security ring from the neck of the bottle. This ring can interfere with attaching the rocket fins to the bottle, so off it goes!
Peel Off the Advertising Label!
Sure, you can leave this label on the rocket, if you don’t mind displaying your soft-drink supplier’s advertisement from hundreds of feet up in the sky, upside-down! But if you want to save a couple of grams of weight and make your rocket look sleek and clear, off it goes!
A hand-held electric hair-dryer on low heat will gently soften the glue that holds the label on so you can peel it off easily.
Don’t use a workshop-type heat gun. It will be too hot and will shrink and distort your bottle.
Your Finished Bottle Should Look Like This!
Whether you are flying one of AntiGravity’s amazing professional water rockets, or making your own homemade project, this bottle should do the job just fine!
Always remember to stay at least 20 feet away from the bottle when you are pressurizing it, just in case it goes POP!
Now let’s get to lesson #2: building the rocket!