Make a launchpad that holds the bottle with the neck downwards, lets you attach the pump and stand behind the bottle. One good method is to plant a spade or garden fork in the ground at a low angle ...

The problem with a lot of these water bottle rocket projects is that they leak where the bottle meets the launcher. In most cases this is a good thing as it’s almost impossible to build up ...

But now a teacher has gone and ruined all that by making an air-water rocket launching pad for his ... to pump air into the partially filled water bottle and then release it cleanly.

Making a hole through the cork using a drill ... Oh, and an apple may have fallen on his head. The water bottle rocket demonstrates two of his laws. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.