Making Liquid Hydrogen/Oxygen Rocket?

[ksaves2]

When I was in college we used to amuse ourselves by doing just that, you'd have to use a glass 1/2 liter bottle in a bucket of ice water though because the reaction is highly exothermic. We'd put a balloon over the mouth of the bottle and wait for it to fill up, tie it off, put a piece of string around it soaked in lighter fluid, light it and let it go. Nice airburst.

It's a wonder we didn't all kill ourselves... you just don't think of those things when you're young.

Or.............. dropping a chunk of sodium metal (yeah elemental sodium is a metal) in a sink with a little a little "wetness" in the bottom of it, watch it "flammably" dance around reacting with the H2O to form sodium hydroxide and hydrogen gas. If it was the right size chunk of sodium, the hydrogen forming above it would explode with a bang. Kurt

 

[dave carver]

This thread has become hazardous.

I caught myself getting dangerous thoughts when I saw my bottles of hydrogen-peroxide and IPA in the cabinet.

Heh The Hydrogen Peroxide must be much more concentrated. The System Solare motor uses 50% dilution, for a rocket you want more like 90% and usually the IPA you get off the store shelf is diluted as well, 70% alcohol. However, I was at Rite-Aid drug store picking up a prescription when I saw theirs was 90%, unusually pure for drug store alcohol.

 

[Nytrunner]

Heh The Hydrogen Peroxide must be much more concentrated. The System Solare motor uses 50% dilution, for a rocket you want more like 90% and usually the IPA you get off the store shelf is diluted as well, 70% alcohol. However, I was at Rite-Aid drug store picking up a prescription when I saw theirs was 90%, unusually pure for drug store alcohol.

Yep. Whats in my bottles shouldn't allow me to get in too much trouble with the landlord.

 

[mjennings]

Store H2O2 is a few percent and 90% IPA is pretty available have a bottle of target brand in my basement right now. The Hydrazine song was fantastic!!

 

[mccordmw]

Now you have me thinking about IPA.

 

[Nytrunner]

Now you have me thinking about IPA.

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During one of my internships, my roommate and I worked with techs on our team, and they used IsoPA for cleaning parts and stuff (killing the occasional black widow, etc..)

I forget why, but we're talking about hazardous stuff at the shop and one of us says "but the IPA is safe as long as you don't drink it", when another intern roommate (different team) walks in and is confused "I drink IPA all the time, y'all are lame!". Of course be was thinking along the same lines as Mccord.