What do you do with your empty plastic bottles? Do you recycle them? Do you turn them into adorable craft projects? Do you shoot them across the yard using a homemade bazooka? That is exactly what William Gurstelle from Popular Science did when he built his plastic bottle bazooka.
According to Gurstelle: "My design for a bazooka looks a lot like the real McCoy. For the barrel, I used a 3-inch-diameter heavy paper tube I found at a local packaging store. My projectile is an uncapped plastic beverage bottle, filled with a mixture of air and evaporated alcohol. I position it in the tube so that the bazooka’s trigger—a modified grill igniter—fits inside the bottle. When a spark sets off the alcohol, it forms a hot gas that gushes out of the bottle’s mouth, propelling the plastic out of the tube. My bottle bazooka sports a distinctive and tough look. Even better, it packs a heckuva wallop."
About the Author
Alexis GajewskiAlexis Gajewski
Senior Content Strategist
Alexis Gajewski is a manufacturing writer and editor with nearly 20 years of experience covering the people, practices, and technologies that keep industrial facilities running. For more than a decade, she served as Senior Content Strategist for Plant Services, creating content for plant managers, engineers, and maintenance professionals on a variety of industrial topics.
During her tenure, Alexis worked to develop the brand’s digital strategy and helped launch and produce Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast. She also created The Lighter Side of Manufacturing, a weekly blog that explored the inventive and sometimes humorous side of the industry.
Alexis co-founded Influential Women in Manufacturing, a recognition program that honored 49 women in its first two years, earned an industry award for Best Product Launch, and received a proclamation from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and a commendation from U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth.
She also led newsroom operations and development at a large media company where she set editorial standards, developed training curriculum, and helped support AI adoption for more than 150 editors across 80+ brands spanning manufacturing, industrial processing, automation, and more.
Additionally, Alexis works as a freelance writer and editor, and her areas of interest include continuous improvement, the skilled workforce, and the role of emerging technology on the plant floor.
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