UA Students to Engage in ‘Rocket Wars’ Thursday

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Five teams of University of Alabama students will turn a campus lab into a friendly “Rocket War” battleground Thursday, April 30 as they square off in a competition combining the launching of small foam rockets with physics equations.

The 28 students, using computer controlled rocket-launchers, will fire 1.5 inch foam rockets at a target from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. in Shelby Hall, room L107. The competition, part of Dr. Patrick LeClair’s Physics 125 course, requires each team to have developed its own computer codes to launch their rockets, using physics equations to improve accuracy by calculating things like velocity, air resistance (drag) and angles.

The students, who have prepared for the competition during the past two months, are all either physics majors or members of UA’s Honors College.