Science Day

Today is Science Day. All teachers are taking efforts to engage their students in science. For example, there is a class of fifth graders on the playground beneath my window. They are all armed with rockets. Each cylindrical rocket is about one and a half feet long. The rockets have a nose cone and 3-4 fins. They look a little like this:
The rocket launcher is at about a 45 degree angle. The power is provided by an air compressor, that fills the rocket chamber. The student decides how to point the launcher and when to stop the air compressor. At first I thought the purpose was to launch your rocket the farthest. On closer inspection of the playground, there is a target 70 meters from the rocket launcher. The object is to hit the target.

The kids seem to really embrace this science. A little to the North I believe adults are doing the same thing.