Thousands of students across the United States are set to participate in Arm & Hammer's second annual Baking Soda Rocket Day on October 9, 2025. The nationwide event, held during World Space Week, aims to set a new record for the most baking soda rockets launched in a single day while promoting interest in science and technology.
Science communicator Emily "The Space Gal" Calandrelli has partnered with the initiative to guide students through the hands-on project, which uses a simple chemical reaction to launch custom-built bottle rockets.
Key Takeaways
- Arm & Hammer will host its second annual Baking Soda Rocket Day on October 9, 2025.
- The event aims to break the record for the most baking soda rockets launched in a single day.
- Science communicator Emily Calandrelli is partnering with the initiative to promote STEAM education.
- Approximately 14,000 schools and over 180,000 students are expected to participate nationwide.
A National Initiative for STEAM Confidence
The primary goal of Baking Soda Rocket Day is to encourage student confidence in the fields of science, technology, engineering, art, and math, collectively known as STEAM. The event provides an accessible and engaging way for children to interact with scientific principles firsthand.
Emily Calandrelli, an aerospace engineer and science television host, is a key partner in the event. She is known for making complex scientific concepts understandable for younger audiences. According to Calandrelli, the bottle rocket experiment is an ideal educational tool.
"I think the fact that it is just so explosive and easy to make ā those two in combination make for the perfect science experiment," Calandrelli stated in an interview with Space.com.
The initiative seeks to create a sense of community around science. By participating in a nationwide event, students can feel connected to a larger movement of young inventors and scientists.
"It's events like this that create that community, because all of a sudden you have a friend who has a shared interest, which is science or space or creating things with your hands," Calandrelli explained. "And I think when you have this nationwide event like Baking Soda Rocket Day, that can be the launching point of your community in this field."
The Science of a Bottle Rocket
The experiment at the heart of the event relies on a classic acid-base chemical reaction. Participants combine baking soda (a base) with vinegar (an acid) inside a sealed two-liter bottle.
How It Works
When baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and vinegar (acetic acid) mix, they react to produce carbon dioxide gas. In the confined space of a bottle, the gas pressure builds rapidly until it is strong enough to propel the bottle upward, demonstrating Newton's third law of motion.
Students build their own rockets by adding a nose cone and fins to a standard two-liter plastic bottle. This allows them to learn basic principles of aerodynamics and engineering design as they customize their creations for flight.
The activity is designed to be simple and safe, using common household materials to illustrate powerful scientific concepts. The hands-on nature of building and launching the rocket helps solidify these lessons in a memorable way.
Expanding the Event in its Second Year
Following a successful inaugural event that reached over 180,000 students, this year's Baking Soda Rocket Day is expanding its scope. In addition to the thousands of participating schools, three main flagship events will be held in key locations across the country.
World Space Week
Baking Soda Rocket Day is part of World Space Week, an international celebration of science and technology held annually from October 4 to 10. The week commemorates key milestones in space history and aims to inspire students globally.
The flagship events will provide enhanced experiences for local students:
- New York: Emily Calandrelli will lead an event at a school in Queens, where she will also release an instructional video to guide participants nationwide.
- Texas: Former NASA astronaut Mike Foreman will join students near Houston. He will share his experiences of flying on actual rockets and assist with the bottle rocket launches in partnership with Space Center Houston.
- Florida: Students at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex will participate in the rocket launch and have access to additional STEAM-focused activities at the iconic space hub.
These larger events are designed to generate excitement and provide students with access to experts in the aerospace field. The collaboration with institutions like NASA and Space Center Houston adds a layer of professional context to the classroom activity.
Building a Community Through Science
Beyond the scientific lessons, organizers emphasize the collaborative aspect of the event. Calandrelli noted that one of the most positive outcomes from last year was seeing students work together.
"Last year for Baking Soda Rocket Day, the coolest thing I saw were friends working together to launch their rocket," she said. "It was like they had pride in the rocket that they built, and they were just friends creating something together."
As a parent, Calandrelli also highlighted the importance of fostering a shared interest in science from a young age. The nationwide scale of the event helps create a sense of belonging and shared purpose among participants.
The initiative provides resources for teachers, parents, and students who wish to join. A step-by-step instruction guide is available for download on the official Baking Soda Rocket Day website, allowing anyone to build and launch their own rocket and contribute to the national record attempt.