If you need assistance, please send an email to forum at 4hv dot org. To ensure your email is not marked as spam, please include the phrase "4hv help" in the subject line. You can also find assistance via IRC, at irc.shadowworld.net, room #hvcomm.
Support 4hv.org!
Donate:
4hv.org is hosted on a dedicated server. Unfortunately, this server costs and we rely on the help of site members to keep 4hv.org running. Please consider donating. We will place your name on the thanks list and you'll be helping to keep 4hv.org alive and free for everyone. Members whose names appear in red bold have donated recently. Green bold denotes those who have recently donated to keep the server carbon neutral.
Special Thanks To:
Aaron Holmes
Aaron Wheeler
Adam Horden
Alan Scrimgeour
Andre
Andrew Haynes
Anonymous000
asabase
Austin Weil
barney
Barry
Bert Hickman
Bill Kukowski
Blitzorn
Brandon Paradelas
Bruce Bowling
BubeeMike
Byong Park
Cesiumsponge
Chris F.
Chris Hooper
Corey Worthington
Derek Woodroffe
Dalus
Dan Strother
Daniel Davis
Daniel Uhrenholt
datasheetarchive
Dave Billington
Dave Marshall
David F.
Dennis Rogers
drelectrix
Dr. John Gudenas
Dr. Spark
E.TexasTesla
eastvoltresearch
Eirik Taylor
Erik Dyakov
Erlend^SE
Finn Hammer
Firebug24k
GalliumMan
Gary Peterson
George Slade
GhostNull
Gordon Mcknight
Graham Armitage
Grant
GreySoul
Henry H
IamSmooth
In memory of Leo Powning
Jacob Cash
James Howells
James Pawson
Jeff Greenfield
Jeff Thomas
Jesse Frost
Jim Mitchell
jlr134
Joe Mastroianni
John Forcina
John Oberg
John Willcutt
Jon Newcomb
klugesmith
Leslie Wright
Lutz Hoffman
Mads Barnkob
Martin King
Mats Karlsson
Matt Gibson
Matthew Guidry
mbd
Michael D'Angelo
Mikkel
mileswaldron
mister_rf
Neil Foster
Nick de Smith
Nick Soroka
nicklenorp
Nik
Norman Stanley
Patrick Coleman
Paul Brodie
Paul Jordan
Paul Montgomery
Ped
Peter Krogen
Peter Terren
PhilGood
Richard Feldman
Robert Bush
Royce Bailey
Scott Fusare
Scott Newman
smiffy
Stella
Steven Busic
Steve Conner
Steve Jones
Steve Ward
Sulaiman
Thomas Coyle
Thomas A. Wallace
Thomas W
Timo
Torch
Ulf Jonsson
vasil
Vaxian
vladi mazzilli
wastehl
Weston
William Kim
William N.
William Stehl
Wesley Venis
The aforementioned have contributed financially to the continuing triumph of 4hv.org. They are deserving of my most heartfelt thanks.
Registered Member #2028
Joined: Mon Mar 16 2009, 08:13PM
Location: Norway
Posts: 319
Hi. Today my teacher told us stories from his youth, when they used to make rockets out of newspapers dipped in a saltpetre/water solution. Then he went on to write up saltpetre's chemical formula; NaNO3. But from what i can recall saltpetres chemical formula is KNO3, not NaNO3. A quick google search and 4hv site search revealed that the two salts are often mentioned in the same sentence, but i failed to find the real difference between them. What they are used for, where they are found and such.
Which one of these substances is known as saltpetre, and what is the main difference between them?
Registered Member #2123
Joined: Sat May 16 2009, 03:10AM
Location: Bend, Oregon
Posts: 312
From my childhood memory, both potassium nitrate and sodium nitrate were lumped together as salt peter. These days postassium nitrate is thought of as salt peter.
I remember buying sodium nitrate from a hobby shop when I was a kid, and it would have the words "Salt Peter" in parenthesis on the bottle.
the original moniker "Salt Peter" is just a medieval name for the salt seperated out from the processing of urine and feces back in ye goode olde days. They didn't know there were two different salts in there.
If you want to have some real excitement, soak a roll of newspaper in sodium chlorate solution and light that after it drys.
Registered Member #193
Joined: Fri Feb 17 2006, 07:04AM
Location: sheffield
Posts: 1022
"f you want to have some real excitement, soak a roll of newspaper in sodium chlorate solution and light that after it drys." carefully and outside on something that wno't burn.
Sodium nitrate is the chemical compound with the formula NaNO3. This salt, also known as "Chile saltpeter" or "Peru saltpeter" (to distinguish it from ordinary saltpeter, potassium nitrate), is a white solid which is very soluble in water. The mineral form is also known as nitratine or soda niter.
So, there is a distinction according to Wikipedia.
Registered Member #2028
Joined: Mon Mar 16 2009, 08:13PM
Location: Norway
Posts: 319
So, KNO3 is saltpeter and NaNO3 is "Chile" saltpeter. It seems to me that these two substances are used in the same way, and performs nearly identical. Is that correct?
Registered Member #2123
Joined: Sat May 16 2009, 03:10AM
Location: Bend, Oregon
Posts: 312
Potassium nitrate generally produces a faster deflagration in home made black powder than sodium nitrate.
Sodium nitrate will produce an intense orange flame, potassium nitrate produces a lavendar-ish colored flame, useful in colored pyrotechnics.
Good thing the country of Chile came into existance and included the Atacama desert, otherwise it might be tough figuring out which salt peter was which.
Registered Member #1408
Joined: Fri Mar 21 2008, 03:49PM
Location: Oracle, AZ
Posts: 679
The toughest thing about any rocket is getting the thrust to "focus" it's direction. Both NaNO3 and KNO3 (and some fuel materiel like sugar, etc) is capable of thrust. The issue is what is known as a nozzle. This is generally a non-burnable materiel that directs the thrust of the burning propellant to a point wherein it lifts the device as a whole.
Basically they are made from clay or in some more sophisticated concepts a plug of graphite with a hole. The design of the propellant is also a factor. It must burn at a rate that allows maximum push. This is more complex than it may seem at first. I have actually seen a little rocket made from a match! The nozzle CAN BE part of the fuel but the start of the combustion is primary to a nozzle-less rocket design. In many rockets, designers use tooling to compress the propellant this alters the burn rate. The fuel itself alters the burn rate. many factors come into play when making rockets and it can be a Hell of a lot of fun!
This site is powered by e107, which is released under the GNU GPL License. All work on this site, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License. By submitting any information to this site, you agree that anything submitted will be so licensed. Please read our Disclaimer and Policies page for information on your rights and responsibilities regarding this site.