Nitroglycerine as a space fuel?

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pberrett

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<p>&nbsp;</p><p>Hi all</p><p>Has nitroglyerine ever been considered as a fuel for propulsion? I am not sure how you would use it in practice but it does seem to have the advantage of generating&nbsp;a great deal of power for a small amount of fuel. This in turn would mean that less fuel would be needed for propulsion.</p><p>Of course the stuff is highly unstable but maybe there is a way to&nbsp;safely handle it?</p><p>Regards Peter&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
 
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mako71

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<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>&nbsp;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>
 
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qso1

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Nitroglycerine probably does not have a high enough Isp to be competitive with current rocket propellants such as LOX and LH2 or even hypergolics such as nitrogen tetroxide and unsymetrical dymethyl hydrazine. If nitro were competitive, I'm sure it would be the propellant of choice. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>
 
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bearack

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Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>&nbsp;Hi allHas nitroglyerine ever been considered as a fuel for propulsion? I am not sure how you would use it in practice but it does seem to have the advantage of generating&nbsp;a great deal of power for a small amount of fuel. This in turn would mean that less fuel would be needed for propulsion.Of course the stuff is highly unstable but maybe there is a way to&nbsp;safely handle it?Regards Peter&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br />Posted by pberrett</DIV><br /><br />I know it was attempted for combustion engines which failed miserably. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><br /><img id="06322a8d-f18d-4ab1-8ea7-150275a4cb53" src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/6/14/06322a8d-f18d-4ab1-8ea7-150275a4cb53.Large.jpg" alt="blog post photo" /></p> </div>
 
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willpittenger

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<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Nitroglycerine probably does not have a high enough Isp to be competitive with current rocket propellants such as LOX and LH2 or even hypergolics such as nitrogen tetroxide and unsymetrical dymethyl hydrazine. If nitro were competitive, I'm sure it would be the propellant of choice.</p><p>Posted by qso1</DIV><br />Not in its pure form.&nbsp; Perhaps as dynamite, it could work as a solid fuel.&nbsp; But pure, it is just to unstable.&nbsp; Give it a slight bump and boom.&nbsp; Not what I want in a rocket fuel. </p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Will Pittenger<hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Add this user box to your Wikipedia User Page to show your support for the SDC forums: <div style="margin-left:1em">{{User:Will Pittenger/User Boxes/Space.com Account}}</div> </div>
 
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qso1

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<p><font color="#000000">I hear you there, not what I'd want in a rocket fuel either. Do you by chance know what the Isp on something like that might be?</font></p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>
 
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josh_simonson

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<p>Nitroglycerine can produe ISP of 395 - assuming it could be controlled.&nbsp; The above link shows that stable mixes including it have much poorer ISP.</p><p>Explosives and rocket fuels have different requirements, explosves are all about the energy you can get out of a given volume of material and weight is unimportant (IE how much bang do you get out of a 2" diameter quarry hole), while rocket fuels require high energy but low weight to get a high exhaust velocity.&nbsp; It's not surprising that there isn't much overlap between the two given that fundamental difference in application.&nbsp; Of course nuclear (fusion/fission) devices, anti-matter, ect, would be dandy explosives and rocket fuels. &nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>I hear you there, not what I'd want in a rocket fuel either. Do you by chance know what the Isp on something like that might be? <br /> Posted by qso1</DIV><br /></p>
 
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scottb50

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<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Nitroglycerine can produe ISP of 395 - assuming it could be controlled.&nbsp; The above link shows that stable mixes including it have much poorer ISP.Explosives and rocket fuels have different requirements, explosves are all about the energy you can get out of a given volume of material and weight is unimportant (IE how much bang do you get out of a 2" diameter quarry hole), while rocket fuels require high energy but low weight to get a high exhaust velocity.&nbsp; It's not surprising that there isn't much overlap between the two given that fundamental difference in application.&nbsp; Of course nuclear (fusion/fission) devices, anti-matter, ect, would be dandy explosives and rocket fuels. &nbsp;&nbsp; <br /> Posted by josh_simonson</DIV></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I keep thinking abou Edgar Montrose on thr old Red Green Show. Kabbooom!</p><p>It also worked for the the aliens in Spaced Invaders.&nbsp;</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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qso1

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<p>Thanks for the Isp info. 395 isn't bad actually but like you said, the stuffs not real easy to control.&nbsp;</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>
 
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willpittenger

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<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Nitroglycerine can produe ISP of 395 - assuming it could be controlled.&nbsp; The above link shows that stable mixes including it have much poorer ISP.Explosives and rocket fuels have different requirements, explosves are all about the energy you can get out of a given volume of material and weight is unimportant (IE how much bang do you get out of a 2" diameter quarry hole), while rocket fuels require high energy but low weight to get a high exhaust velocity.&nbsp; It's not surprising that there isn't much overlap between the two given that fundamental difference in application.&nbsp; Of course nuclear (fusion/fission) devices, anti-matter, ect, would be dandy explosives and rocket fuels.</p><p>Posted by josh_simonson</DIV><br />Oh yeah.&nbsp; Lets use anti-matter explosions to mine coal. </p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Will Pittenger<hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Add this user box to your Wikipedia User Page to show your support for the SDC forums: <div style="margin-left:1em">{{User:Will Pittenger/User Boxes/Space.com Account}}</div> </div>
 
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