Thermite rocket.

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Modderxtrordanare
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Mon Jun 04, 2007 7:32 pm

fatcat wrote:you can buy iron oxide from unitednuclear.com

would thermite really be powerfull enough to power a rocket? Wouldn't the nozzle melt from the high heat?
You can buy pre-made thermite there too.

It's good quality stuff....*shifty eyes*


Oh, you can also buy thermite ignition powder there so you can light it with a lighter/blowtorch without magnesium.
Last edited by Modderxtrordanare on Mon Jun 04, 2007 7:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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mark.f
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Mon Jun 04, 2007 7:33 pm

There's an old article on one of the encyclopedias, (from 1959, so some of these articles may be outdated enough to be significant), on producing black iron-oxide. It says to mix bleach with vinegar, (in specified amounts, but I'm too lazy to go look right now), add steel wool to react with oxygen released by the low-percentage chloric acid formed to form red iron oxide. Then, you add the product to a spoon and heat over a candle, which further oxidizes the oxide into black-iron oxide, (which, unlike red iron-oxide, is magnetic).
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ammosmoke
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Mon Jun 04, 2007 7:33 pm

Didn't rmich just say that?

EDIT: Oh woops, I was talking to locksmith
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zeigs spud
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Mon Jun 04, 2007 7:37 pm

Hotwired wrote:Iron oxide as a catalyst is one thing but this is about packing a rocket with thermite as the fuel.

I have no idea if it produces enough gas to provide the thrust but I do know that I'd hate to be underneath something like that.
ha ha ha know..molten metal hurts, trust me i have had it on me....blah >.< but thats why i stand FAAAAAAAAAAR away.
Da Pneu Kid wrote:Good luck fining a casing strong enough to withstand the heeat produced my thermite, yet light enough to actually get off the ground. Thermite is not a good fuel mainly because, like hotwired said, molten iron will be spraying from the nozzle. And, on top of that, thermite is pretty heavy... don't use it.
i have managed to get it to work before. it is not so muc the height and thrust i am looking for as the effect, lik how it looks as it goes. which i like ^_^

Oh and casing usualy more tha ever is melted in the process lol.



But i have come to the conclusion that i will just buy the stuff for the $4.30 a Lb from the first site refered in this topic. and that is why I am lazy. lol :D


markfh11q wrote:There's an old article on one of the encyclopedias, (from 1959, so some of these articles may be outdated enough to be significant), on producing black iron-oxide. It says to mix bleach with vinegar, (in specified amounts, but I'm too lazy to go look right now), add steel wool to react with oxygen released by the low-percentage chloric acid formed to form red iron oxide. Then, you add the product to a spoon and heat over a candle, which further oxidizes the oxide into black-iron oxide, (which, unlike red iron-oxide, is magnetic).
OMFG U SERIOUSE?!?!?! i had an A$$ load of that stuff then not too long ago but my mom threw it out -.-.....dang..
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Mon Jun 04, 2007 7:45 pm

Dont you find it kind of ironic that the add under your post is stoprust.net ? :lol:
EDIT: I just noticed that th adds change :oops:
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benstern
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Mon Jun 04, 2007 8:13 pm

RUST SUCKS!!!!
Rust: aka red iron oxide is terrible for termite.
Not only is it expensive, it has bad preformance.

Use black iron oxide. It is the magnetic black sand that a magnet pics up in sand.
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mark.f
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Mon Jun 04, 2007 8:38 pm

Alright, I got off my ass and grabbed World Book 69, (HUSH!), edition. The wording is a little nineteenth century but you'll get it.
World Book '69 wrote: A World Book Science Project

A SIMPLE CHEMICAL EXPERIMENT
This experiment shows that iron and oxygen can combine in different ways to form two compounds. One compound is a reddish, nonmagnetic powder, and the other is a blue-black magnetic powder.

MATERIALS

Steel wool rusts slowly in water, but quickly in a solution containing hypochlorous acid. You can make such a solution by mixing bleach and vinegar. The Hypochlorous acid (HClO) in the solution reacts with the iron (Fe) in steel wool to form hydrated ferric oxide (Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>*H<sub>2</sub>O). By heating this oxide, you can change it to magnetic oxide of iron (Fe<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub>).

Two small jars
One-inch ball of steel wool
Bleach
Vinegar
Measuring spoons
Water
Paper napkin
Old spoon
Candle
Magnet

PROCEDURE

* Place the ball of steel wool into one of the jars and add enough water to cover the ball. You see no change in the steel wool because water affects iron slowly.
* Add four tablespoons of bleach and two tablespoons of vinegar to the water and stir. The steel immediately begins to turn red as the iron in it reacts with hypochlorous acid.
* In about five minutes, the liquid is full of red powder. This powder is hydrated ferric oxide (rust). Remove the steel wool from the jar and wait for the powder to settle.
* After the powder has settled, carefully poor off the clear solution. The powder and some liquid will remain in the bottom of the jar.
* Wash the powder by filling the jar with water and stirring. Once again, allow the powder to settle and pour off most of the water.
* Place a paper napkin over the mouth of another jar and pour the mixture of powder and liquid into the napkin. Wait for all the liquid to filter through the paper.
* Spread out the napkin and allow the powder to dry. Then test it by touching a magnet to it. Hydrated ferric oxide is not magnetic.
* Place the powder on an old spoon and heat it in the flame of a candle. The red powder slowly turns blue-black as it changes to magnetic oxide of iron.
* After the color of the powder has changed completely, test it again for magnetism. The blue-black grains will cling to the magnet.
Good old forty year old encyclopedias... encouraging kids to play with household chemicals and fire. :twisted:

EDIT: and yes, black iron-oxide, a.k.a. magnetic oxide of iron, magnetite, Fe<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub> is better for thermite, and has many natural sources with an easy way of filtering, (it is magnetic).
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Mon Jun 04, 2007 8:51 pm

markfh11q wrote:Alright, I got off my ass and grabbed World Book 69, (HUSH!), edition. The wording is a little nineteenth century but you'll get it.
World Book '69 wrote: A World Book Science Project

A SIMPLE CHEMICAL EXPERIMENT
This experiment shows that iron and oxygen can combine in different ways to form two compounds. One compound is a reddish, nonmagnetic powder, and the other is a blue-black magnetic powder.

MATERIALS

Steel wool rusts slowly in water, but quickly in a solution containing hypochlorous acid. You can make such a solution by mixing bleach and vinegar. The Hypochlorous acid (HClO) in the solution reacts with the iron (Fe) in steel wool to form hydrated ferric oxide (Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>*H<sub>2</sub>O). By heating this oxide, you can change it to magnetic oxide of iron (Fe<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub>).

Two small jars
One-inch ball of steel wool
Bleach
Vinegar
Measuring spoons
Water
Paper napkin
Old spoon
Candle
Magnet

PROCEDURE

* Place the ball of steel wool into one of the jars and add enough water to cover the ball. You see no change in the steel wool because water affects iron slowly.
* Add four tablespoons of bleach and two tablespoons of vinegar to the water and stir. The steel immediately begins to turn red as the iron in it reacts with hypochlorous acid.
* In about five minutes, the liquid is full of red powder. This powder is hydrated ferric oxide (rust). Remove the steel wool from the jar and wait for the powder to settle.
* After the powder has settled, carefully poor off the clear solution. The powder and some liquid will remain in the bottom of the jar.
* Wash the powder by filling the jar with water and stirring. Once again, allow the powder to settle and pour off most of the water.
* Place a paper napkin over the mouth of another jar and pour the mixture of powder and liquid into the napkin. Wait for all the liquid to filter through the paper.
* Spread out the napkin and allow the powder to dry. Then test it by touching a magnet to it. Hydrated ferric oxide is not magnetic.
* Place the powder on an old spoon and heat it in the flame of a candle. The red powder slowly turns blue-black as it changes to magnetic oxide of iron.
* After the color of the powder has changed completely, test it again for magnetism. The blue-black grains will cling to the magnet.
Good old forty year old encyclopedias... encouraging kids to play with household chemicals and fire. :twisted:

EDIT: and yes, black iron-oxide, a.k.a. magnetic oxide of iron, magnetite, Fe<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub> is better for thermite, and has many natural sources with an easy way of filtering, (it is magnetic).
wow, they sure dont make em like they used to...
way cool. Im might try this
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iPaintball
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Mon Jun 04, 2007 9:05 pm

If it's the efect you're looking for, why not jaus make a rocket with TI and AL flakes? It will probably give an even better spark effect than thermite...
Summer Projects:
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zeigs spud
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Mon Jun 04, 2007 9:18 pm

Modderxtrordanare wrote:
fatcat wrote:you can buy iron oxide from unitednuclear.com

would thermite really be powerfull enough to power a rocket? Wouldn't the nozzle melt from the high heat?
You can buy pre-made thermite there too.

It's good quality stuff....*shifty eyes*


Oh, you can also buy thermite ignition powder there so you can light it with a lighter/blowtorch without magnesium.
that ignition powder needs and adult signature...-cough- parents wouldn't allow it -cough-

but i forgot about lighting it, last time i made it my cuz helped so i might of missed somthin. do i need to add magnesium to the thermite misture to make it easyer to ignight?
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homedepotpro
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Mon Jun 04, 2007 9:33 pm

just use Mg as the fuse, not part of the mix
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ammosmoke
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Mon Jun 04, 2007 9:48 pm

Yep, Pretty much just need magnesium priming.
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benstern
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Mon Jun 04, 2007 10:23 pm

Just use a sparkler!
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subterranean
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Mon Jun 04, 2007 11:06 pm

i hate to post this link because its not exactly what you wnat to make, but hey its the only effective, and semi-safe, type of homemade rocket engine i have found online

http://members.aol.com/ricbnakk/pvcmot1.html

earlier you were saying that ur cuz had made thermite before....were you talking about me? we made kno3 + sucrose mixtures, but i dont evan remember if we did that together...any way if you want to make a rocket engine go with the link.
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ammosmoke
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Mon Jun 04, 2007 11:20 pm

On that note, you can also go to jamesyawn.com. Very cool site.
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