Make rockets from stuff you have around the house. (And if you don’t have them around the house you can get the supplies to make hundreds of rockets for a couple dollars.)

This is one of my favorite projects. It’s fun, cheap, hands on, and educational. My brothers taught me how to make them when I was about nine years old, but I suspect it originally dates to a time when young boys carried everything they needed in their pockets: Matches, a bit of wire, and a foil gum wrapper. Over time bits of wire gave way to paper clips and pins, and gum apparently doesn’t come in foil wrappers any more, so we’ll make do with regular aluminum foil. Here’s the full how-to with a about two dozen rocket launches included because I was having too much fun:

(YouTube version)

We’re harnessing the solid fuel in the match head as propellant for our rocket. When a match is lit the solid fuel in the match head turns into a gas. Gas takes up more space than the same weight of solid so it expands like crazy. That gives us enough power to make a tiny rocket – if we can harness it!

This is as close as I could get to photographing an action shot. These things take off incredibly quickly!

We wrap the head of the match in foil to contain the expanding gasses. (This is one case where cheap foil is better. Every milligram of weight counts when using a match head as propellant.) We place a pin along the side of the match before wrapping it to create a tube down the length of the foil. This tube will channel the expanding gasses, generating thrust.

Be sure to form it tight around the head of the match and run your fingernails along the edge of the pin to create a tight seal.

Bend a paper clip to make a launch pad. (Honestly, it’s not the best launch pad, the rockets fall off a lot, but it has the advantage of being simple and easily available. Feel free to improvise something better.)

Then place a lit match (or better, a long-neck lighter) under the head of the match and wait…

Launching these reminds me of the anxious rocket launches of the early 60’s. You never knew what was going to happen. In this case you don’t know when it’s going to happen either. Maybe 5 seconds, maybe 15… Maybe the wind will blow out the match before it lights. But when it goes you’ll know. It’s gone in a flash of smoke and a distinctive whisssssss sound. A good one will go 10 feet, some might go a couple inches. You will get a number of duds (I got 3 out of 15 shooting the video up top) that will just sit there and smoke. Some might even go sideways or backwards. Which leads me to:

Safety: We’re playing with matches.* So be safe. Do it in a well ventilated area clear of flammables. And wear eye protection because when you launch these things they take off faster than you can blink and they don’t always go where you aim them. Making the video I had one shoot backwards and another fly right at my face.  A hot match in the eye kills the fun pretty quickly. And it’s a reasonable precaution to keep a bucket of water handy.

Robot Factory:  If you want to make something fun to hand out I made a pattern for turning a matchbook into a rocket factory. It has full instructions on how to make the rockets and a place for a pin and paper clip, fold up a bit of foil and put it inside and you’re good to go!  Download and print the PDF.

* Disclosure: I singed the hair off two fingers making this video, but not when shooting off rockets, just trying to light a wad of matches all at once for the video opening. You know, trying to look impressive. Don’t do that.

• Robert Hermes

  Just in time for the holiday weekend! Great video Steve.

• Nick Hoefer

  Home made rockets! What’s not to like. Nicely done, as always.

• Pencilwit

  As I am a fan of being able to say the unusual…like, “I’m gonna go make a rocket right now and shoot it of” and actually have it be true is probably my favorite part of this project!

  Also, can that ‘towel’ match become a real match?! I’d love to see that one go!

  • grathio.com Steve Hoefer

    Since I manage to singe some hair just making this video, I think it’s best if I give it a miss.

    But if you want to see what it would be like to light a match of similar size, watch this video:
    www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzmyibW5A1I

    (You may want to turn down the sound.)

• twitter.com/stuck411 David

  Did this in the 1970s after reading a an article in either Boys Life or some such magazine. If you can, use wooden matches and trim the back end on one side to get more lift. Think wing. Plus the strike anywhere kind of match is the best, but those can be hard to find if not illegal to sell in your area. The strike anywhere have a sulfurous tip. They ignite faster and the seemed to fly farther. Use a brick or concrete surface to launch from. If you spend hours like I did as a kid playing with this you’re going to leave a mark on the ground.

• Captainvoid

  I did this a lot as a kid.
  A: You use too much foil. The lighter the better. More thrust that way.
  B: put a point on the foil, rather than folding it over. This is a match head worth of thrust, it won’t need to be that tight. A point makes it fly better. Are rockets blunt on the end?
  C: You can slide the pin in afterwards, that also lets you poke the match head a bit and make a nice channel. Also, the foil will be tighter if you make the exhaust tube afterwards.
  D: you can make a better launchpad from some foil.

  • grathio.com Steve Hoefer

    Thanks for the tips Captain! I think at this point we’re down to personal preference with how you want to make them.

    A: This is the cheapest foil from the $0.99 store, which is a lot less foil than it looks. Its so thin you can feel a stiff breeze blowing through it. When using brand-name foil use less. (Also, the $0.99 foil from the $0.99 store is enough foil for millions of rockets, but not good for anything else.)

    B: Folded over for safety. Secondarily I had many fewer blowouts when I started folding it over. At a flying distance measured in single-digit feet aerodynamics don’t count for much.

    C: When I try to make the channel after the wrap I usually poked holes in the foil, ruining the rocket. Running your fingernails either side of the pin makes it as tight as its going to get.

    D: *Slaps forehead* Of course!

• www.facebook.com/jrhoefer John R. Hoefer

  It may be in the Hoefer blood but I’ll be trying this first thing tomorrow!

• Amiram Khen

  I also did that as a young boy,
  I have a launcher suggestion. Where to can I e-mail a photo?Amiram Khen,amiram@khen.net