chrissw

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned it before, but does anyone have any
idea as to exactly what the fuel/oxidiser mixture was "implied" in the rocket
design used in the TV series "Rocket Man"?

I assume the actual rocket flight-scenes involved large solid-fuel model
rockets available commercially and fired under controlled conditions for the making of
the film, but although they were rather subtle in that no actual chemicals were ever mentioned
(apart from a vague reference to Potassium Permanganate as some form of initiator) it did
look to me like they were trying to hint at something like the liquid oxidiser/solid fuel pellet
type system which has recently become popular where nitrous oxide is passed down a hole in the centre of a solid plug of something like rubber or pressed cardboard and a small pyrotechnic charge is used to
effectively 'start a fire' in the hollow part of the fuel plug to start the process off?

Does anyone know if there are any legal restrictions in the UK for
private citizens to be in possession of laboratory chemicals at home
in small quantities (say up to 2 litres for liquids and 1kg for solids) for
private experimentation/study purposes?

I don't mean Category 1, 2 or 3 restricted chemicals that could be used for nefarious purposes such as drug manufacture, etc, but I do mean things like concentrated mineral acids (nitric, hydrochloric, etc), alkalies,
salts and the usual stuff one would find in grammar school chem labs.

The sad truth is that Bill Tyman's "Bill" is the inevitable result of folks getting fed up with ass-holes living nearby going down to their local cash-and-carry on friday afternoon to get a large box of the noisiest fireworks they can find, getting a few mates around for drinks so if anyone complains they can say it's a "party" and setting the fireworks off.

Now these bozos have got more cash than common sense so what do they do on saturday morning? yes you've guessed it, off down to the c-and-c for another load of fizz-bangs so they can repeat the exercise over drinkies on saturday evening.

We've got pillocks doing this nearly every weekend in summer in Coventry and a lot of people are understandably fed up with it, and this inevitably results in...yes you got it, someone like Bill Tyman to the rescue with a "Bill" limiting public access to fireworks!

Incidentally, these same idiots are often the ones who buy powerful display fireworks then fail to read, let alone follow, the user instructions on the side, with the inevitable accidents/injuries, etc which we hear about every year!

Does anyone know what the fuel for the old Jetex model aircraft motors was made out of?

Chris.S.

Can anyone tell me how to find the ChemDATA site?

Many Thanks,

Chris.S.