Presenting the no-gasoline, no-pollution, no-engine personal flier
February 22, 2001 11:57 AM Subscribe
Presenting the no-gasoline, no-pollution, no-engine personal flier Hydrogen peroxide is used to fuel individual rocket motors at the tips of helicoptor like rotors.... James Bond eat your heart out :)
Cool, except for the scary bit about the hydrogen peroxide fuel being highly volatile and potentially explosive... Sigh.
posted by kokogiak at 5:07 PM on February 22, 2001
posted by kokogiak at 5:07 PM on February 22, 2001
Right, that hydrogen peroxide is dangerous stuff; it's a lot scarier than that other highly volatile, potentially explosive fuel, "gasoline"...
-Mars
posted by Mars Saxman at 5:18 PM on February 22, 2001
-Mars
posted by Mars Saxman at 5:18 PM on February 22, 2001
I just mention the volatile hydrogen peroxide, because in the article, they mention that it has a pretty bad rep (much worse than gasoline - doesn't need a fire to start a reaction, just an "impurity")
Quoted from the article: "Hydrogen peroxide is so unstable that a slight coax from a silver catalyst breaks it down catastrophically into oxygen and steam. Concentrated solutions of hydrogen peroxide— more than 30 percent, mixed with water— have acquired a risky reputation because they can start runaway reactions if exposed to impurities in the wrong kind of container. "It's not something you want people playing with in their backyards," says Michael Wallis, president of the Experimental Rocket Propulsion Society of northern California. One of his members had a minor blowup when he stored H2O2 improperly during the society's ambitious program to build a single-stage-to-orbit rocket. "
posted by kokogiak at 9:40 PM on February 22, 2001
Quoted from the article: "Hydrogen peroxide is so unstable that a slight coax from a silver catalyst breaks it down catastrophically into oxygen and steam. Concentrated solutions of hydrogen peroxide— more than 30 percent, mixed with water— have acquired a risky reputation because they can start runaway reactions if exposed to impurities in the wrong kind of container. "It's not something you want people playing with in their backyards," says Michael Wallis, president of the Experimental Rocket Propulsion Society of northern California. One of his members had a minor blowup when he stored H2O2 improperly during the society's ambitious program to build a single-stage-to-orbit rocket. "
posted by kokogiak at 9:40 PM on February 22, 2001
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posted by Optamystic at 12:37 PM on February 22, 2001