A Rocket in Your Pocket

Not just a rocket in your pocket, but an entire rocket factory and launch system!

Step 1: Materials

The materials are easy to find in most modern homes:

• A pocket-sized box.
• A box of matches
• A small scrap of wood.
• Some pieces of kitchen foil

Optional extra: a pocket lighter.

Step 2: Making the Launch Pad

Take the scrap of wood, and trim it to fit inside the box.

Half way along it, drill a small hole at an angle of 45 - the hole needs to be just large enough to fit a matchstick into.

Step 3: Outfiting the Kit

Er, well, you just put it all in the box...

If you put the pieces of foil at the bottom, they'll stay flatter.

Step 4: Making and Launching a Rocket.

Take one piece of foil, and lay two matches head-to-head at one end.

Roll the matches up in the foil.

Make sure that one match can slide out of the foil tube you've made, but not too easily.

Twist the foil tightly around the other match.

Slot the rocket into the launcher, and apply heat to the middle of the foil, either with another match, or with the lighter.

After a few moments, the heat conducted by the foil will light the match-heads, and ... woosh!... off it will go.

I could make a lot of fuss about health and safety, but if you're old enough to be allowed to play with matches, you're old enough to know where and when you should launch rockets like this.  If you set fire to the cat and burn down the garden, it's your own fault.

Comments

[legofire7]

Hi,

Im having trouble lighting the rockets. I think they don't get enough oxygen, and so I tried cutting off the top half and...... BOOM as soon as I cut off the bottom it went about 6 inches. XD then I made the end of the rocket bigger with a different one (the other one exploded) and it worked fine. Thank you for making this, I have always been interested in making a model rocket, but I never have because they are SUPER expensive, so this has made my budget happy. :D

[SebastiaanV3]

Great!
I already forgot this one.
My father thought me this.
Now it's time to teach my own kid.
Thanks for the reminder.

[Kiteman]

You're welcome!

[hmbmideas]

Awesome

[Kiteman]

Thank you!

[Saakaar Barthwal]

This is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Kiteman]

Thank you!

[vishalapr]

Managed to launch some rockets pretty far! Had a blast with a few friends XD

[Kiteman]

Cool!

[stevo69nz]

nice one mate we'll try it tommorrow after work or at work :-)

[smiley G.I JOE]

i gona try that and make like 20 of them next thing you know it i gona have a mini missile launcher. ladies and gentlemen this is how we crush our enemies.(quote tony stark iron man 1)

[Patna43]

Hey guys! I cool mod is to just cut of the red tips of the matches and stuff about five of those. If one match heats up, it causes the others to heat up in a chain reaction. When i tried that, my match rocket when about 40 feet. Plus add an extra layer of foil so the smoke doesn't leak out, otherwise it wont fly very well or not at oll. And instead of using a match as plug for the nozzle of the rocket, use a paper clip. That makes the nozzle smaller and causes the pressure to go up and the rocket goes further. Just a few tips.... :P

[Patna43]

Another thing I did was make a full scale match rocket. I made a couple of these as booster rockets attached to a huge match rocket made from "Extreme Burner" Matches. These matches have HUGE flames that cause the rocket to fly far. This rocket flew almost 80 feet.

[chimei62]

wow were do you buy the extreme burners?

[avgas]

personaly I think it sucks the only reason is I followed o all of your insrtuctions and used 4 hole packets and matchs

[TheAmateurArtisan]

somebody's not a happy camper...

Personally, I'm always looking for various designs in pyrotechnics and well, everything. This is a very nice design Kiteman. I had an altoids tin and a zippo utility bending lighter soldered together to make a launch pad that could light far from your fingers over the summer.

[somebody12345]

Kiteman please respond to this

i think that this could work better if you used a small pinpiont blowtorch to light the matches

[Kiteman]

They certainly ignite more quickly, but there is the risk of burning through the foil from the outside before the matches ignite on the inside.

If I use a blowtorch or bunsen to light these, I usually wave the flame over the match-heads to stop the whole thing scorching.

[somebody12345]

thanks for your reply, my problem is that i do not really know what i am doing wrong i think it is that i wrapped the foil around the bottom match a little too tightly but i am not sure.

[Kiteman]

So slacken it slightly by pulling one match out and then sliding it back in.