Jump to content

Paraffin propulsion


vincent4e

Recommended Posts

Then what about butane or the lighter fliud? I amthinking of spraying a few sprays into a rocket body and then ignite it using a electronic igniter.

 

My question is whether can the rocket go up?Or will it just cause a meltdown of the body or even an explosion?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It may explode, or it may work like a rocket for a very short time, but it definitely will not be a very good rocket. Normally, rocket fuel is solid or liquid. What you are talking about is a gas mixture. Density of gas mixtures is 100 ... 1000 times less than density of solid and liquids, so the amount of energy, available for driving the rocket upwards is very small. If it lifts, it will only do so for a fraction of a second.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

iirc, you can use NO2 or other liquid oxidiser. nasa is using liquid oxygen, they get a very impressive thrust (enough to consider retiring the old shuttle boosters)

i've seen a film of a no2 / parafin rocket fly. it had a fairly hard wax to begin with, plus powdered carbon. they set that into a tube and pumped NO2 through it. they just straight lit it.

i think they had a steel pipe as the fuselage (plumbing grade) and a tank of NO2 inverted to give a liquid flow.

 

one way of making parafin combust quickly is to heat it up till it burns like butane. if any water gets into that, you get a lot of combusting surface area plus the intense expansion of water.

 

how you'll contain the combustion while allowing air to the flame is beyond me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...
lol...i feel ur pain vincent4e in singapore chem and stuff are too well regulated

 

chem and stuff?

Apologies, but this is a science forum... and I think that "chem and stuff" should be pretty illegal if you call it "chem and stuff".

 

Hi guys, I was just wondering whether if I can use ordinary paraffin wax to burn and create thrust?

Thts because I am looking for an alternate method to making rocket fuel..

KNO3 I cant find it anywhere in my country(Singapore)..

So any clues?

 

Give it up for now.

STUDY first, then try. Ok? Like everybody else... STUDY FIRST.

 

You're trying to replace the oxidizer with a fuel.

You cannot replace KNO3 by some hydrocarbon... and if you don't understand this, please, please give up, before you hurt yourself.

 

Then what about butane or the lighter fliud? I amthinking of spraying a few sprays into a rocket body and then ignite it using a electronic igniter.

 

My question is whether can the rocket go up?Or will it just cause a meltdown of the body or even an explosion?

Nope. Still, after 2 examples given by experienced forum members, you're still trying to replace the oxidizer (KNO3) by a fuel (lighter fluid).

 

In a rocket, you need BOTH the oxidizer and fuel... otherwise it's a jet (for example a ramjet)... you cannot take away the oxidizer, and replace it with another fuel... that's like having diesel and gasoline in 1 car, but no air to burn it with.

 

Apologies if you already knew all this - the quality of the posts was not such that I concluded that this explanation was not necessary.

 

If this was new to you - STUDY FIRST.

Edited by CaptainPanic
Link to comment
Share on other sites

is that what it's called? hehe

 

no i wouldnt advise it, i guess


Merged post follows:

Consecutive posts merged

actually it's not a cheddite until you add a nitro-organic as well. Nevertheless it could be fairly dangerous stuff... perhaps it'd ignite TOO fast

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sometimes it contains the nitro compounds, but not always, and it Will undergo DDT quite easily too, esp as a rocket setup when it hits certain harmonics of resonance *BOOM*

 

 

Cheddite:

"Since the 1970s, the commercial name for an explosive compound used as an explosive primer for shotgun cartridges. It contains 90% potassium chlorate, 7% paraffin, 3% petroleum jelly, and traces of carbon black."

 

from:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheddite

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Am I the only one who finds it hilarious that you're all responding to a 2 year old post?

 

confused apparently felt it necessary to necro the thread for a one-liner with no content.

 

Anyway, it should be possible to use a solid cast or machined paraffin block with some additives as a fuel source, using a separate chamber of liquid or gaseous oxidizer. Nitrous oxide could certainly work and perhaps the canisters sold for whipped cream could be utilized in some way. The rate at which the oxidizer is released into the combustion chamber would be critical, making this a far more advanced project (and much more interesting in my opinion) than a rocket using KNO3 and sugar.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

*sigh*

Thanks for pointing that out UC... I hadn't noticed.

 

Anyway, it doesn't hurt to remember people that fireworks and rocketfuels are dangerous... And I think we should not encourage complete newbies (people who don't even understand basic chemistry) to make anything that can self-combust.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.