[Default] I missed the Staff meeting, but the Memos showed that Steve
Hix wrote on Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:41:26
-0700 in soc.history.what-if :
>In article ,
> pyotr filipivich wrote:
>
>> This is the "problem" in a nutshell. Something works well in
>> trials, or under certain conditions, but not always. Or not reliably.
>> I had a prof who in his youth, had attempted to make "Carmel"
>> rocket fuel. Basically a solid booster made of sugar and aluminum
>> powder.
>
>Uhhh. Where was the oxidizer?
I dunno, I'm relating a "war story". Tom had a tendency to leave
out manufacturing details, either for safety, or because "you either
know this or you don't". (Kids, don't try this at home. Try it at
someone else's house!)
Important thing is that the one time he gets the formula right, it
wasn't the right formula for what he wanted it to do.
> We used to use potassium perchlorate, carefully.
>Worked pretty well for smokes.
>
>> He'd never got it right, but he did produce some impressive
>> smoke bombs. When a friend asked him to make one for a prank at
>> college, he did. And this time, got it right. The entire coffee can
>> lit off and produced a massive flare, and burned out very quickly. Too
>> bad the can was "aimed" down, or who knows what kind of altitude he's
>> have reached.
--
pyotr Filipivich
"Bother," said Pooh, "Eeyore, ready two photon torpedoes and
lock phasers on the Heffalump. Piglet, meet me in transporter
room three. Christopher Robin, you have the bridge." |
