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Re: [Phys-l] rocket car -- detailed story



MythBusters did a show on this.
They occasionally do some good researching.


On Mar 12, 2009, at Mar 12(Thu) 12:38 , Hugh Haskell wrote:

At 12:41 -0700 03/11/2009, John Denker wrote:

Comments, anyone?

Still reads like well-polished fiction. All the loose ends neatly
tied up and almost everything worked as advertised. Maybe, but I
doubt it.

It's been many years since I had any experience with JATO, but my
recollection is that solid propellant rockets needed to be ignited
near the forward end of the fuel slug and the jet exhausts down a
channel in the center of the fuel. I also vaguely remember something
about a star-form shape for the fuel, which keeps the surface area
burning approximately constant. This serves to keep the thrust
approximately constant. They may have been able to ignite the unit
successfully from the tail end, but I have a feeling that doing so
would have caused the rocket to explode rather than burn. After
almost 50 years, my memory may be faulty, but ...

Hugh
--
Hugh Haskell
mailto:hugh@ieer.org
mailto:hhaskell@mindspring,.com

So-called "global warming" is just a secret ploy by wacko
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