SpudFiles

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?

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.

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.

markfh11q wrote:There's an old article on one of the encyclopedias, (from 1959, so some of these articles may be outdated enough to be significant), on producing black iron-oxide.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).

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 (Fe₂O₃*H₂O). By heating this oxide, you can change it to magnetic oxide of iron (Fe₃O₄).

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.

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 (Fe₂O₃*H₂O). By heating this oxide, you can change it to magnetic oxide of iron (Fe₃O₄).

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.

EDIT: and yes, black iron-oxide, a.k.a. magnetic oxide of iron, magnetite, Fe₃O₄ is better for thermite, and has many natural sources with an easy way of filtering, (it is magnetic).

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.