Building A Rocket Essay Example

Building a spaceship at home is easy and cheap. Reach, supersonic speeds, and thousands of feet in altitude with a little bit of work. With PVC and some chemicals from a local store, it is possible to build a rocket. Anybody can complete the process of putting one of these motors together. Building a working rocket includes making the rocket fuel and constructing the rocket's body.

The motor is the most crucial and complicated component of a rocket. A rocket propellant needs two things to function: fuel and an oxidizer. A specific ratio of these two ingredients is imperative. Too much fuel and the motor burns too slow, causing too little thrust to get the rocket off the ground. Too much oxidizer and the rocket motor will explode, and nobody wants that. The rocket motor will use powdered sugar as fuel and potassium nitrate as an oxidizer. Every grocery store has powdered sugar. Also, every hardware store has potassium nitrate marketed as a stump remover. These ingredients need a container to hold them when they are in the rocket. A six-inch length piece of three-quarter-inch diameter schedule forty PVC is perfect for casting and securing the fuel. The pressure from the burning fuel will melt and burst the PVC if it is thinner than schedule forty PVC. To get the most thrust without exploding, mix the fuel and oxidizer in a 35:65 ratio. A hundred grams of propellant will roughly fill the six-inch piece of PVC. It is best to ground the potassium nitrate into a powder because it comes clumpy from the store. Blend thirty-five grams of sugar and sixty-five grams of potassium nitrate together. Put the mix into a pan. Now that these two ingredients are together, it is paramount to treat the mixture with care. Make sure to keep it away from any ignition sources like a flame because it is now ignitable. Heat the pan at low-medium heat over a stovetop. The sugar caramelizes at 366.8 F (186 C), potassium nitrate melts at 633.2 F (334 C). 

The goal is to caramelize the sugar while the potassium nitrate stays solid. The caramel will hold the potassium nitrate particles in suspension. Since this is a sensitive process, there is a chance the sugar is not caramelizing and is burning. In this case, add two grams of glycerin to the pan. The glycerin will make the mixture stick to the pan less and become more liquid. If this is necessary, buy glycerin for cheap at Walmart or many other stores. A light brown mixture of potassium nitrate, sugar, and sometimes glycerin should remain in your hot pan. This goop is your rocket propellant. Treat the fuel with prudence.