What is a matchstick rocket?
Matchstick rockets are actual fully functional rockets that you can build in minutes from common household materials. They are also quite safe since each rocket is constructed from just one solitary little paper match. There just ain’t enough propellent to explode no matter how badly you go wrong in construction. To turn an ordinary paper match into a matchstick rocket, the head of the match is encased in a small wrap of aluminum foil, leaving a narrow nozzle for the hot exhaust gases to escape. The matchstick rocket is ignited simply by holding another lit match beneath the aluminum-wrapped region of the rocket until the match head inside ignites. The rapidly burning match head generates a fraction of a second’s worth of powerful thrust. This impulse propels the matchstick rocket up off the launch pad and off into space (relatively speaking). A matchstick rocket is typically launched from a little paper clip launch pad. The paper clip can be easily bent and adjusted to allow you to ex
