Flashes of Panic

My brother and I, with some unfocused help from his daughters, set out to build the water rocket this afternoon. Unfortunately, it didn’t fly, but I take comfort in the fact that the diagnosed problem was one even the pros have suffered from: an O-ring issue. Because we had trouble sealing the neck of the bottle on the launcher, we couldn’t pressurize the launch vehicle before all the fuel leaked out.

Had this been the Simpsons, the rocket would have burst into flames at this point, but fortunately we avoided that outcome.

However, we did also find a handful of grass in the launcher tube. Upon questioning, the older daughter admitted that she thought it would be a good idea. Why, of course, she couldn’t explain.