ISU Physics Dept.'s Water Rocket Festival Slated for June 29 and 30

Rockets will be taking to the skies at a Pocatello park later this month. 

Saturday and Sunday, June 29 and 30, from 10 a.m. to noon, Idaho State University’s Department of Physics will host their Water Rocket Festival at Tydeman Park, N. 8th Avenue and E. Young Street. Each day, the first 100 youths ages 16-years-old and younger will receive the materials needed to build a water rocket. From there, ISU students will explain the physics of a good rocket and help the young water rocket scientists create and launch their projectiles. The builder whose rocket travels the furthest will win their own water rocket launcher. 

“This will be a great opportunity to include some STEM in your summer and to learn a little physics,” said Steve Shropshire, professor of physics at Idaho State University and organizer of the Water Rocket Festival. “It will be a lot of fun for the whole family."

Last year’s winning rocket traveled 114 meters (374 feet). 

The Water Rocket Festival is being held in conjunction with the Kiwanis Club of Pocatello’s 56th Annual Bing Hong Pancake Breakfast fundraiser. The first Water Rocket Festival was held in 2011. 

For more information, contact Steve Shropshire at steveshropshire@isu.edu or (208) 282-2212.

For more information on the ISU Department of Physics, visit isu.edu/physics.