If you heard a loud “boom” coming from outside of the pool entrance on Tuesday, it was the AP chemistry students launching their rockets.

The rocket experiment shows students the chemical reactions caused by mixing certain gases.

“We want to see a synthesis reaction between hydrogen gas and oxygen gas. What we end up doing is collect hydrogen gas from the reaction of HCL (hydrochloride) and zinc and then we collect oxygen gas from the reaction of hydrogen peroxide and potassium iodide,” AP chemistry teacher Anna Fulmer said. “What we see is if we react those in a two to one ration, it gives us the biggest bang. It’s the best combination we can get.”

Although the experiment was created to teach students about chemical reactions, it was also created so that students could have fun.

“At the end of the year, we have worked so hard to learn just a staggering amount of content, and this year in particular, in a very short amount of time so sometimes the labs that might be more fun or exciting get cut due to time,” Fulmer said. “I like to do things still related to chemistry, but that are a little bit more fun, just to remind people why they take chemistry.”

The experiment only takes two days to conduct.

“It’s one solid day to fill and decorate the rockets and another to launch. Filling it up is definitely a messy day. It’s not as glamorous as they might expect it to be. It’s a lot of having your arm submerged in water,” Fulmer laughed.

This year, all the rockets launched successfully.

“They all worked this year, which is good because I’ve had a couple duds in years past and nothing is more depressing than seeing someone launching one 50 feet up in the air and the next person goes up and it only goes 3 feet,” Fulmer laughed. “We actually got one stuck in a tree.”

The rocket experiment is a tradition in AP chemistry.

“It was passed down to me by Ms. Hollinger. Her students in the past have really enjoyed it and so I wanted to keep up the tradition,” Fulmer said.