Hooked on Science: Tea-bag rocket

You can make a tea bag fly through the air with a few materials found around the house.

Materials

* Tea bag

* Scissors

* Grill lighter

Instructions

STEP 1: Using the scissors, remove the staple and string from the tea bag.

STEP 2: Open the tea bag and remove the tea leaves.

STEP 3: Open the bag to form a cylinder. Place the cylinder upright on a flat surface, away from curtains or anything that might catch fire.

STEP 4: With a parent's help, use the grill lighter to ignite the top of the tea bag, and observe.

Explanation

The flow of rising hot air within the cylinder creates a convection current, which generates an upward force. As the tea bag burns, it loses some mass. Eventually, the upward force created by the convection current will lift what's left of the tea bag upward, into the air.

Jason Lindsey is a science outreach educator with Hooked on Science. Check out his website hookedonscience.org for webcasts and experiments that might get you hooked on science.