<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'> Hi all</p><p>Has nitroglyerine ever been considered as a fuel for propulsion?<br /> Posted by pberrett</DIV></p><p>I'm pretty sure that almost every known fuel has been considered. AFAIK, you may evaluate the possible fuels with a wide variety of characteristics; (1) mass efficiency (how much energy you get from mass unit, like 1 kilogram), (2) volume efficiency (how much energy you get from volume unit, like 1 liter), (3) storability, availability, price, safety, and such.</p><p>AFAIK, H2 + O -reaction gives one of the best mass efficiency, but since even liquid hydrogen is not very dense, it gives not the best results when comparing volume efficiency. For conventional space rockets this is not a big problem, since they climb very fast above the thick atmosphere before starting to accelerate horizontally, but e.g. for aeroplanes volume-efficiency is more important (smaller size = smaller aerodynamic friction).<br /> </p><p>Storability is one important issue for example to ICBMs, since it would be good that they could be stored as fueled. I think that's one of the main reasons to use solid propellants in ICBMs, although they may not give the best mass or volume efficiency.</p><p>Do you have any links, that would show the burning energy (per mass, per volume) of nitroglyserine, compared to other fuels/explosives?</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p>________________ </p><p>
reaaliaika.net </p> </div>