Re: chilled fuel

From: Henry Spencer (henry_at_spsystems.net)
Date: 01/19/05

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    Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2005 04:20:53 GMT

    In article <-fGdnW87VbFyNHDcRVn-2g@comcast.com>,
    Christopher M. Jones <christopher.m.jones@gmail.com> wrote:
    >A mixture of Nitrous Oxide and Hydrocarbons is pretty much a
    >non-molecular analogue of any of the old-school, traditional
    >explosives.

    Kind of, sort of... but even with those, there's a range of explosive
    behavior from "nothing short of a blasting cap upsets it" (or better) to
    "detonates if you look at it cross-eyed" (or worse), and the difference
    matters.

    >For example, ... nitro-cellulose is just nitrated
    >cellulose/glucose, nitro-glycerin is just triply nitrated glycerin.

    And oddly enough, if you mix nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin -- each of
    which, by itself, is temperamental and dangerous -- you get a wide range
    of benign, docile, and quite non-explosive gun propellants, the double-base
    smokeless powders.

    The hope of people who come up with this particular idea is that N2O is so
    stubbornly inert at (or below) room temperature by itself that maybe, just
    maybe, it would stay that way if you mixed it with a non-aggressive fuel.

    The idea is *not* obviously ridiculous. There are, for example,
    hydrogen-peroxide/fuel/water mixtures which are definitely, positively
    non-explosive. The water content typically has to be significant, but
    then, peroxide is a lot less stable than N2O.

    Unfortunately, while the idea is not obviously ridiculous, apparently it
    doesn't actually work, at least not with any of the usual fuels. Notably,
    even surprisingly small amounts of hydrocarbons turn N2O into a dangerous
    explosive. 

    -- 
"Think outside the box -- the box isn't our friend."    |   Henry Spencer
                                -- George Herbert       | henry@spsystems.net
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