Fizz-ics: University of Minnesota students aim to reclaim title in Alka-Rocket Challenge

You don’t need to understand chemistry to know that if you add Alka-Seltzer to water, the water fizzes.

If you bottle up the pressure from that chemical reaction over and over and release it all at once you could — say — launch a small rocket. That's what a team of University of Minnesota students will do when they compete in the third annual Bayer Alka-Rocket Challenge later this week in Florida.

The Minnesota students are hoping to claim the $30,000 prize and to reclaim the Guinness Book of World Record title for the "highest launch of an effervescent tablet." They set the record in 2017 at the first Alka-Rocket Challenge by launching their rocket to a height of 430 feet.

Last year, however, a team from Brigham Young University blasted that record with a stratospheric 883 feet.

"BYU technically went higher, but they did not recover under parachute — they just free-fell back down,” said Machlen Polfliet, a junior majoring in aerospace engineering who has competed all three years for Minnesota. “Technically in the Guinness Book Record rules it doesn't mention anything about needing to recover" the rocket for reuse.

Polfliet expressed confidence that his team could beat that record while still incorporating a parachute for safe landing this year, adding that (Alka Seltzer owner and challenge host) "Bayer is stressing safety a lot, and also it's just much more of a challenge to recover safely.”

Polfliet described their rocket as functioning like a potato gun. Competition rules allow them to add up to 100 Alka Seltzer tablets to the water in their canister, which Porfliet says makes a loud fizzing sound.

The team’s rocket is built with strong, lightweight carbon fiber and fiberglass, which they crafted with the help of an advanced resin-based 3-D printer. The resulting rocket is 15 inches long, one inch in diameter, and weighs slightly less than a small can of tomato paste. The team used software programs to run flight simulations as they continued to refine their design.

"Over a bunch of trial and error and the help of simulations we've come to our design now, which we feel is pretty good," said Polfliet. Of the five students competing in Florida at the National Finals — Polfliet, Devin McGee, Nick Conlin, Nick Pahl and Andrew van Gerpen — four are majoring in aerospace engineering and one (Pahl) in mechanical engineering. Five university teams are competing Thursday, including the reigning champions from BYU.

The Florida heat will be a big advantage for high fliers. Cold temperatures drastically slow down the reaction time of the fizzing tablets. Temperatures at the Kennedy Space Center are predicted to be around 77 on Thursday, more than 50 degrees warmer than forecast temperatures at the Twin Cities campus.

In a news release, Bayer stated that the company "created the Challenge to generate greater awareness about the country's need for more scientists, engineers and innovators." Astronaut Dr. Mae Jemison is one of the judges of the event.

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