Driving home the other night, I heard a local radio talk show host admit that part of him would always be 12 years old. I can relate, which is no doubt why I find the
Aquapod so appealing, enough to request a review unit and head for City Park to try it out.
At some point in our lives, haven't we all used a two-liter soda bottle for an experiment? Check YouTube. You see them used for everything from
fish bowls to the means to produce a
Mentos/Diet Coke geyser.
As a kid growing up around the time of NASA's Project Mercury, toy rockets and missiles were common, but nothing like the Aquapod existed.
For one thing, two-liter soda bottles weren't around. Soft drink companies didn't start using plastic bottles until 1970, and polyethylene terephthalate (PET), the material most commonly used today, wasn't introduced until 1973.
Too bad for me, because the Aquapod turns empty plastic soda bottles into soaring, water-propelled missiles. Kids today have all the fun!
The durable, one-piece, fluorescent orange ABS plastic platform needs no assembly. You will, however, also need a bicycle pump, which isn't included. I was a little annoyed when I discovered this omission, but you can buy a bicycle pump at a discount store for $10 or less.
Once you attach the pump (via a standard valve stem), pre-launch consists of filling a soda bottle 1/3 - 1/2 with water, inverting the device to insert the nozzle, then placing the entire assembly right-side up on the ground or a flat surface.
A built-in safety valve prevents over-inflation. When maximum pressure is achieved (water starts leaking out of the pressure valve), simply move to the end of 15 foot actuator line and give it a short, quick tug. A five-second countdown is optional.
A properly-charged plastic soda bottle can attain an altitude of 100 feet or more, complete with a spectacular blast-off. The spent bottle simply floats back to earth, ready for another mission.
The Aquapod is recommended for kids age 12+, but since children might be tempted to stand too close to the launcher or aim bottles at each other, adult supervision is recommended. Nevertheless, it's a fun way for kids to see Newton's third law of motion in action.
Schools use water rockets to help students understand the principles of aeronautics. NASA devotes a section of its website to
water rockets, and the
Science Olympiads, state-sanctioned science project competitions for middle and high school students, includes water rocketry as a category. Amazingly, the
altitude record for a water-propelled rocket is over 2,000 feet.
Although the Aquapod won't propel pop bottles to such heights, it's solidly-built (3mm ABS plastic, brass check valve, stainless steel wire, rubber O-ring, etc.). As such, the
$24.99 price tag is reasonable, and right now, if you
order four at one time, the company will throw in
free shipping. For more information, visit
TheAquapod.com.
