What you remember

For years my folks have been reminding me that I had some stuff stored in their attic from before Tina and I got married.  One of the items was a microscope which I knew my kids would enjoy using.  So on a Saturday, after noticing the reminder on my desk for the umpteenth time, I gathered up the boys and headed to my parents' home.

We gathered up most of the boxes, leaving only a couple containing old college text books and notebooks.  I had no immediate use for those, so I left them.  We packed the rest in our van and headed home.

One of the items I had saved was a chemistry set I received as a Christmas gift, probably around the year 1974 when I was 13 years of age.  I showed the boys, and tossed most of it in the trash.  A little rocket caught my eye, and I kept it out, knowing the boys would enjoy it.

The following day, my boys asked about the rocket, and if we could set it off.  We have built model rockets together that use engines.  This was not one of those.  It is a simple body with a base, and appropriate for a chemistry set, is fueled by the reaction of vinegar and baking soda.  Or so I recalled.

We gathered up the necessary materials and took them outside.  We found a piece of wood that would serve as the launch pad, and a second piece, which Elias deemed the "materials area".  Here we would sit our vinegar, baking soda, and water to wash out the rocket between uses.

I vaguely recalled putting the soda in a piece of tissue, but I thought we may be able to bypass this part of the procedure.  Instead, we put vinegar into the body, dropped some soda on top, put the bottom on quickly, and set it on the launch pad.  We got the necessary chemical reaction, but experienced a failure to launch.

After several failed attempts, I decided to incorporate the use of the tissue.  The idea is that you put the vinegar in the rocket first, put the baking soda in the tissue in the end of the rocket, and then attach the bottom of the rocket.  Since this is all done with the rocket inverted, the chemical reaction does not begin to take place until you turn the rocket over.

This was an improvement, but apparently was not the key to the whole process.  It was at this point I gave up on memory, and decided to go to the source.  One of the things I had tossed out was the book to the chemistry set.  So we headed to the trash can.  Asher was thrilled at the prospect that daddy had joined the ranks of those who "dumpster dive".

I quickly located the instructions for the rocket.  Instead of baking soda and vinegar, the prescribed fuel was baking soda, citric acid, and water.  We returned to the trash can to dumpster dive for the citric acid, which we found.  While diving, we retrieved the rest of the dry chemicals from the set, thinking they would come in handy for other experiments found in the book.

The next attempt with the correct procedure again failed, but we were clearly on the right track.  Then came the second attempt, the moment we had been anticipating for the last half hour.  We achieved lift off.  It shot, literally, every bit of 4 inches off the pad. Elias, obviously unimpressed and thinking that perhaps the failure was in my ability to recall its performance, assumed this was par for the course, and commented "What exactly do you remember about this rocket, Daddy?"  

I pressed on in the midst of Elias's doubt, and we did in fact achieve two launches of about 20' each.

There were many more treasures in my folk's attic, hopefully with stories to follow.