Heat energy and mass balance determination for the combustion of potassium nitrate based model rocket fuels.A method for determining the products of the combustion of potassium nitrate and sugar based rocket fuels is proposed. Six mass ratios ranging from 50/50 to 75/25 of potassium nitrate to the sugars sucrose and fructose fructose (frŭk`tōs), levulose (lĕv`yəlōs'), or fruit sugar, simple sugar found in honey and in the fruit and other parts of plants. were studied to determine the identity of the products of the reaction as well as the effect of varying concentrations of reactants upon the products. Approximately .3g samples from each of the ratios were pressed into pellets using a standard 10 ton hydraulic press and combusted in a bomb calorimeter bomb calorimeter see calorimeter. to determine the heat energy of the reaction. Gas chromatography gas chromatography (GC) Type of chromatography with a gas mixture as the mobile phase. In a packed column, the packing or solid support (held in a tube) serves as the stationary phase (vapour-phase chromatography, or VPC) or is coated with a liquid stationary phase using a 6' molecular sieve column was then employed to separate and identify the products of the combustion reactions in an attempt to determine the mass balance for each of the various reaction mixtures. Twenty milliliter milliliter /mil·li·li·ter/ (mL) (-le?ter) one thousandth (10-3) of a liter. mil·li·li·ter n. Abbr. samples of the gases given off by the combustion of the fuels were injected and resulting peaks were compared to known standard gases [O.sub.2], [N.sub.2], C[O.sub.2], CO, and C[H.sub.4]. From the comparison of the products to the standards it was possible to determine the concentrations of some of the gases produced from the combustion of potassium nitrate based model rocket fuels. * Sherrill, W. M., R. B. Siebert, R. Holden and K.E. Garrison. Department of Chemistry, College of the Ozarks Enrollment is 1,500 to 1,600, and all tuition costs for students are covered by a workstudy program. Students put in 15 hours a week throughout the semester at a workstation, and one 40-hour work week is required outside of the semester. . |
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