How To: Build a sugar rocket motor

How to Build a sugar rocket motor

Did you know that you can make a rocket out of stuff you might already have around the house? In this tutorial, you'll see how to make a candy rocket using PVC pipes, sorbitol (a sugar substitute) and other fairly common household objects. With just a little work, your sugar rocket will be ready to blast off into space. Sweet!

Materials needed:
Toilet paper tubes.
PVC coupler ,attached to the size of the motor casing and cut in half to use for molds.
PVC tubing, same diameter as motor casing.
Wax paper.
KNO3 and sorbitol.
Red iron oxide.
Silicon spatula.
Purple primer.
Black solvent cement.

Measure out 65% KNO3 and 35% sorbitol and put in a bowl with a pinch of red iron oxide. Mix, screening out all sorbitol chunks. Melt the mix on a griddle pre-heated to 250 degrees, stirring with a silicon spatula. Carefully pour the mix into PVC molds, let it dry, remove the wax paper and then assemble the pieces of your rocket, insert fuel grains and get ready for blast-off.