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Flaming Bottle Rockets - Tales from the Prep Room

submitted by Aard Vark

(oritteropo)
9 years 3 months ago

YouTube description:

A beautiful, explosive science experiment. Andy takes to the prep room to make a whoosh rocket with a water bottle and some ethanol.
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Andy investigates how much thrust his water cooler rocket can generate. He finds out how to make a rocket with ethanol, propanol, and methanol and a large water container. But how powerful is the rocket? Can a bottle rocket propel a person? Or can it only make its own weight move? Andy experiments in the lecture theatre.

The blue flame you see at first is a sign of complete combustion – when abundant oxygen reacts with the fuel, producing just the classic combustion products of carbon dioxide and water. As the oxygen supply is consumed, carbon particles start to be released, which cause the yellow flame. The pulses of flame that appear in the bottle towards the end of the reaction are probably created as fresh oxygen is drawn in from the top, and mixes with the remaining fuel. Watch amazing slow motion footage of the explosion.

This beautiful experiment is also a great example of a simple rocket; a device for creating force by pushing the products of fuel combustion in one direction. Andy takes to the lecture theatre to investigate whether the force is enough to push him on a swing. He tries to determine how much force is being generated, and experiments with different fuels. He experiments with ethanol, methanol and propanol to find out how to make the best bottle rocket.