BOYNTON BEACH -- Sir Isaac Newton's Laws of Motion sat on the launching pad on Tuesday in the form of Carrie Cwynar's model rocket. -- First Law: An object at rest stays at rest, and an object in motion will stay in motion unless acted upon by outside forces. -- Second Law: Force equals mass times acceleration. -- Third Law: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Carrie pushed the ignition button on a box that had wires leading to her rocket, which sat 10 yards away. Carrie's rocket was a Patriot, painted bright red and made from a kit. "My dad helped me build it," she said. There was a hiss like when a warm bottle of soda is opened. The engine spit out enough force to overcome the mass of the rocket. The engine's thrust pushed down on the pad. That created an equal and opposite action -- the rocket lifted into the air. Newton's Laws of Motion headed for the blue sky. But then part two of the first law became evident. Outside forces, in the form of gravity and friction, were grabbing hold of the rocket. First, the vapor trail from the engine disappeared. Out of fuel, the rocket was now completely in gravity's strong grip. But just when its arc was heading down, there was a pop and the parachute fluttered out. Students chased it down trying to catch it before it became an object at rest. These lessons in motion were sent up again and again on Tuesday morning on the football field at Congress Middle School in Boynton Beach. That is where Pat Knowles' eighth-grade physical science class completed its hands-on experiment with motion and rockets. Most rockets made it 500 feet above the school before their engines ran out of fuel and parachutes opened. Knowles said getting away from books and out on the field to send rockets into the atmosphere is an effective way to teach. Her students spent two days making the rockets and two days applying enough force to overcome mass and set their objects in motion. Fred Fletcher did not use a kit to build his rocket. He made one out of plastic foam and cardboard tubes from rolls of paper towels. "I'm going to be an aerospace engineer," he said after his Red Devil made a successful return to earth. Washburn Johnson did not have his rocket on Tuesday. On Monday, it had stayed in motion too long, clearing a fence at the far end of the field. "It just kept going," he said. Next for Knowles' class is simple machines. She is thinking of having them build a device that can lift a soda can 3 feet off the ground. Newton's laws will again be on hand to test the students' work.