I know that when we start working on a project, we usually try to research the topic straight. We look at how it is made, what materials are required for it, the tools needed, and so on. And I can tell from experience that the most frustrating part is when you don't have all the resources and the tools necessary to make the project. When the whole world has a similar approach to make the project, what do you do in such a case? The easiest answer is…be creative and find an alternative. My team tried numerous ways to make a rocket with alternatives to the fuse, nozzle, and nose cone, and one method finally worked.
I am going to walk you through numerous things that I wished I knew before starting my project. First, I would usually start by getting a grasp of what is going behind the combustion of the rocket. The simple chemistry is that oxygen burns hydrocarbons, giving out carbon dioxide and water. This process happens everywhere where energy is required: a car, our body, and so on. The food we eat is made up of carbon, the air we breathe is oxygen, and the waste we give out is carbon dioxide.
The same analogy is applied in rocket fuel. In our specific case, we use sugar as fuel. Sugar is a complex hydrocarbon. This nature of it being so is its qualification to be used as a fuel for our rocket. The only missing component is the oxygen for it to burn furiously. The main problem with this is that there is not enough oxygen in the air. Hence, we need an oxidizer: potassium nitrate. These two chemicals are used because first, they are cheap, and second, they are found in our house as table sugar and a stump remover. With the intuition behind the fuel, let us start to explore the ways to make them fly a rocket.
The first step to make a rocket fuel is to start by grinding the chemicals to a very fine particle. We did it with the help of a coffee grinder. Then measure out each with the ratio of 66:34. We found this ratio by qualitatively observing the burn rate and ferocity of the mixed batch. After you have these two components ready, you can pour any amount to water in an electric pan then mix all the chemicals together. Stir until the water is clear. The main purpose of this step (mixing in water) is to ensure that the fuel is mixed as properly as possible. This increases the surface contact of sugar with the oxidizer, which results in a furious burn.
Then, slowly evaporate all the water. This is a dangerous step because by overheating the fuel might burn in the pan itself. Hence, by keeping an eye over the boiling fuel, evaporate all the water by just leaving the residue. The trick to prevent the fuel to burn is to keep the temperature below the point where the sugar starts to caramelize. Once you have the crumps of fuel, beat them with a hammer to make them finer. With this fine fuel mixture, you can shove it into a PVC pipe and make a homemade rocket.
This was the main method our team used to make the fuel. The main improvement we had done is that we did not leave a single drop of water in the final fuel. This ensured maximum thrust. And just to recap, we used the water in the first place for a proper mixture. If you want to know more about how I made the nose cone, nozzle, and the fuse without using kitty litter and a market available fuse, don't hesitate to contact me. I can share you a whole paper I wrote with more details and pictures!
