Kno3 rocket
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Clayton Matheson experimented with making solid-fuel rocket engines from potassium nitrate (KNO3), sugar, and other ingredients. He tested different ingredient mixtures and preparation methods. The rockets initially performed poorly but improved as he refined his cooking process. The best performing engine contained a mixture of KNO3, sugar, corn syrup, and black powder. This composite fuel design provided the most powerful and successful rocket flight.
Kno3 rocket
- 1. KNO3 Rocket by Clayton Matheson
- 2. Outline of Project My goal was to make a solid-fuel rocket engine from scratch. I wanted it to be powerful enough to give a small rocket flight. I researched what ingredients might work and how to prepare them. I went through quite a few different recipes trying different ingredients and ratios of the mixture. I also had to experiment to find the safest and easiest way to make these engines. I tested these engines first in the fume hood and then outside and then finally in small rockets that I made.
- 3. Recipes These are listed in order of when I tried it: 10/5/2.5 parts of KNO3, Sugar and Corn Syrup 15/5/2.5 parts of KNO3, Sugar and Corn Syrup 10/5/2.5/1 parts of KNO3, Sugar, Corn Syrup and KClO3 10/5/2.5 parts of KNO3, Sugar and Corn Syrup plus Black Powder which i made myself as well. * All of the recipes used water equal to the amount of KNO3, but the water was boiled and dried out of it.
- 4. Results The rockets had varying results, but basically the first rockets performed very poorly which was mostly due to bad cooking processes, then the rockets started to get better as i cooked them cleaner. The KClO3 rocket had almost no improvement over the ones without it, and finally the ones with black powder performed best. Our first test we let it sit on the ground when we lit it resulting in it flying through the air along a random path. We then put it in a rocket which flew a little. However, it was the design of the test rocket that seemed to be at fault and not the engine.
- 5. Conclusion In conclusion this experiment went quite smoothly. I did not suffer any unexpected explosions and I eventually got a rocket to lift off. For the most part my engines got better with each one and I learned from each one as well. In the end the composite engine worked the best and this makes complete sense too. Model rocket engines which have been in production for a long time also use a composite fuel and so it makes sense that this would perform best.