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Darwin Awards
2008 Slush Pile

This item was recently submitted by a reader.
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bottle rockets

2008 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance

I was in the 7th grade, and I had one of the best science teachers I have ever met. He was a fun person who shared my interest in the dispersing of energy.

We got to test this natural phenomenon one day when we had a class project of creating bottle rockets. We were told to use only clay, 2-litter bottles, and tape. I set to work and soon had a very good looking rocket. For this test, we were allowed to choose two variables that would separate our results from everyone else's. I chose to up the clay weight in the nose cone and bump up the pressure. Only one other classmate could see the possibility of an Award. We set up my rocket and pump that sucker so much that I thought it might explode. Fortunately for me, it did not. We sent that bottle sky high and watched as the little piece of plastic far excelled all of the previous launches in height and speed. As is Sir Isaac Newtons law, the bottle came back down. Unfortunately for me, I was so caught up in trying to see my rocket through the rays of the sun, that I did not hear My teacher shout out a

"HEADS UP!" and run for cover. I am lucky for the slight breeze that we had that day, for the bottle rocket came down hard and fast, burying itself three inches into the ground, two inches away from my foot! The bottle rocket was totaled, it looked more like and xylophone than a rocket. My teacher was willing to bet his worth in gold that if that bottle hit me full on in the face, that I could very well been killed. I feel that I have achieved my very own honorable mention for looking at the sky for flying objects.

I have not touched a bottle rocket since.

Submitted on 08/27/2008

Submitted by: Logan Hall
Reference: 2005 Pinetop AZ,

Copyright © 2008 DarwinAwards.com

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Candi said:
Definitely Keep: Personal Account
This is funny! As a PA, it might fly! Thanks, Logan!


Tracy said:
Definitely Keep: Personal Account
Thanks, Logan, for a very well-written story - I liked it!


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