Chemistry > Chemistry in Everyday Life > 9.0 Rocket Propellants
Chemistry in Everyday Life
1.0 Chemicals In Medicine And Health Care
2.0 Drugs And Medicines
2.1 Analgesics
2.2 Control of microbial diseases
2.3 Antibiotics
2.4 Broad spectrum antibiotics
2.5 Sulpha Drugs
2.6 Antihistamines
2.7 Antiseptics and Disinfectants
3.0 Dyes
4.0 Cosmetics
5.0 New High Performance Materials
6.0 Ceramics
7.0 Chemicals In Food
8.0 Detergents
9.0 Rocket Propellants
10.0 Insect Sex Attractants (Pheromones)
9.2 Liquid propellants
2.2 Control of microbial diseases
2.3 Antibiotics
2.4 Broad spectrum antibiotics
2.5 Sulpha Drugs
2.6 Antihistamines
2.7 Antiseptics and Disinfectants
Liquid propellants are usually classified as either storable or cryogenic. The cryogenic systems generally show high performance.
However, on the basis of number of liquid used in the fuel. The liquid propellants are usually classified into the following two types
(i) Monopropellants
Liquid propellants in which a single chemical substance acts both as a fuel as well as an oxidizer are called monopropellant. These propellants on ignition or decomposition produce a very large volume of gases. Some examples of monopropellants are:
Methyl nitrate$\left( {C{H_3}ON{H_2}} \right),$, nitromethane $\left( {C{H_3}N{O_2}} \right)$ and hydrogen peroxide $\left( {{H_2}{O_2}} \right).$
(ii) Biliquid propellants
These consist of two liquids one of which acts as a fuel while the other acts as the oxidiser. Most commonly used liquid fuels are kerosene, alcohol, hydrazine, monomethyl hydrazine (MMH), unsymmetrical dimethyl hydrazine (UDMH) or liquid hydrogen while the most commonly used oxidizers are liquid oxygen, liquid nitrogen tetraoxide $\left( {{N_2}{O_4}} \right)$or nitric acid.
