Safety
Water rockets employ considerable amounts of energy and can be dangerous if handled improperly or in cases of faulty construction or material failure. Certain safety procedures are observed by experienced water rocket enthusiasts:
- When a rocket is built, it is pressure tested. This is done by filling the rocket completely with water, and then pressurizing it to at least 50% higher than anticipated pressures. If the bottle ruptures, the amount of compressed air inside it (and thus the potential energy) will be very small, and the bottle will not explode.
- Using metal parts on the pressurized portion of the rocket is strongly discouraged because in the event of a rupture, they can become harmful projectiles. Metal parts can also short out power lines.
- While pressurizing and launching the rocket, bystanders are kept at a safe distance. Typically, mechanisms for releasing the rocket at a dstance (with a piece of string, for example) are used. This ensures that if the rocket veers off in an unexpected direction, it is less likely to hit the operator or bystanders.
- Water rockets should only be launched in large open areas, away from structures or other people, in order to prevent damage to property and people.
- As water rockets are capable of breaking bones upon impact, they should never be fired at people, property, or animals.
- Safety goggles or a face shield are typically used.
- A typical two-litre soda bottle can generally reach the pressure of 100 psi (690 kPa) safely, but preparations must be made for the eventuality that the bottle unexpectedly ruptures.
- Glue used to put together parts of water rockets must be suitable to use on plastics, or else the glue will chemically "eat" away the bottle, which may then fail catastrophically and can harm bystanders when the rocket is launched.
Read more about this topic: Water Rocket
Famous quotes containing the word safety:
“The Declaration [of Independence] was not a protest against government, but against the excess of government. It prescribed the proper role of government, to secure the rights of individuals and to effect their safety and happiness. In modern society, no individual can do this alone. So government is not a necessary evil but a necessary good.”
—Gerald R. Ford (b. 1913)
“A lover is never a completely self-reliant person viewing the world through his own eyes, but a hostage to a certain delusion. He becomes a perjurer, all his thoughts and emotions being directed with reference, not to an accurate and just appraisal of the real world but rather to the safety and exaltation of his loved one, and the madness with which he pursues her, transmogrifying his attention, blinds him like a victim.”
—Alexander Theroux (b. 1940)
“If we can find a principle to guide us in the handling of the child between nine and eighteen months, we can see that we need to allow enough opportunity for handling and investigation of objects to further intellectual development and just enough restriction required for family harmony and for the safety of the child.”
—Selma H. Fraiberg (20th century)