From: Alan Hall <oldeddoc**At_Symbol_Here**GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Rocket Fuel Incident
Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2017 10:37:42 -0500
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
Message-ID: CALDugaYbGMhhhPeDvTZ3LNvggcdNmzeUqSAcury0BGgJQr5NmA**At_Symbol_Here**mail.gmail.com
In-Reply-To <15b7c7aa9f6-5857-213f5**At_Symbol_Here**webprd-m23.mail.aol.com>


Et al,

One of the original rocket fuels was an hypergolic mixture of Arozine-50 (50% monomethyl hydrazine and 50% dimethylunsymmetrical hydrazine (a known animal carcinogen). The oxidizer was Nitrogen Tetroxide (which got lost at Kennedy Space Center once and got me involved with NASA). Not that I didn't want to be an astronaught; every kid who was a civilian private pilot and flew helicopters for the Army did.

Goddard from Colorado used something similar.

The last Space Shuttles (STS - Surface to Space) used external tanks with liguid hydrogen and oxygen. Derned hypergolic. I invented a car once with these, but there were no motors that could withstand the blast force.

Don't know if that helps. A pipe bomb might have been something very different.. Dynamite or even black powder? Various explosives? Unfortunately, these are all too readily available to the bad guys.

Alan
Alan H. Hall, M.D.
Meddical Toxicologist

On Mon, Apr 17, 2017 at 10:14 AM, Monona Rossol <0000030664c37427-dmarc-request**At_Symbol_Here**lists.princeton.edu> wrote:
I'm so suspicious, I assumed on first reading that that was a cover story for trying to make a bomb.


Monona Rossol, M.S., M.F.A., Industrial Hygienist
President: Arts, Crafts & Theater Safety, Inc.
Safety Officer: Local USA829, IATSE
181 Thompson St., #23
New York, NY 10012 212-777-0062



-----Original Message-----
From: Michael <mabuczynski**At_Symbol_Here**HOTMAIL.COM>
To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
Sent: Mon, Apr 17, 2017 11:01 am
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Rocket Fuel Incident

What you have described is a typical pipe bomb and that is why is might have exploded. Many years ago when I was a fledgling un-eductaed aspiring chemist I was quite interested in rocket and fuel and the like. I remember one particular "test" where we used a paper towel roll tube and fashioned a nozzle out of clay. Upon ignition the clay nozzle was blown out and the fuel proceeded to burn at an accelerated rate and completely consumed in just seconds. Yes we did have face shields but were quite distant from the "Rocket Motor"!!!! What did I learn? Don't fool with this stuff. We then proceeded to spend $ on Estes rockets and then enjoyed the hobby!!!!

My surprise here is why did this team not realize that they were Making a "Bomb" in the first place and as reported that this group was sanctioned by the school- there was an obvious lack of "understanding of the principles" and "supervision"??????

Mike



From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU> on behalf of Tadeusz Wysocki Jr. <tswysocki**At_Symbol_Here**GMAIL.COM>
Sent: Monday, April 17, 2017 9:23 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Rocket Fuel Incident

No details on the mixture that was used.

The "rocket sounds like a galvanized pipe,...maybe threaded at both ends with screw on caps.
small hole in one of those caps for the ignition of the " rocket fuel".

If the fuel is "loose", or hole is too small or gets plugged, then the rocket becomes very dangerous.

Our Elementary School "Show and Tell" classes, we used only Commercial Model rocket engines, and the class was protected by thick LEXAN Blast shield.
Never attempt making your own rocket fuel,....trace contamination has been known to speed things up a little bit.


On Sat, Apr 15, 2017 at 9:52 AM, Chance, Brandon <bchance**At_Symbol_Here**mail.smu.edu> wrote:
Does anyone have any further details on this? I am curious as to the formulation of the fuel. We have a project starting up in preparation for a 2018 competition that will require formulation testing.

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