My physics students have been working on a project we like to call "Cutthroat Water Propelled Rockets." The project forces students to apply physics concepts, all while using critical thinking and design skills. This is not your normal rocket challenge. Students were given a set amount of money ($10,000) and a 2 L bottle. They were required to have a nose cone and fins. They came up with a design, but the design was subject to change...that's right, there's a sabotage element to this project. Students were given a chance to bid on 13 sabotage items. Items consisted of: (1) not being able to use their dominant hand to build the rocket (2) only being able to use glue sticks (3) having to add 50 pennies to their rocket (4) decreasing the psi of the rocket, etc, etc, etc. Each sabotage item determined the fate of their rocket. For instance, one team could not have a nose cone and another team had to completely build their fins and nose cone out of paper. It was challenging, sometimes frustrating, but always fun! They actually spent a majority of time talking smack about other peoples' rockets. Check out our @SciencePCHS Twitter page to see their first round results, the rules, and their Tweets of their designs and hashtag smack talk. It's quite humorous. Below are pictures and videos from the first round of rockets. Only 6 out of the 7 rockets made it out of this round...and they all learned a valuable lesson: Less is more! We shall see how this knowledge helps in round 2.