Improvement of sugar-chlorate rocket demonstration

Abstract

The sucrose and potassium chlorate demonstration has been modified to provide a safer ignition method and to increase its spectacular nature. Ignition is best accomplished by placing a safety match head in the mixture and igniting the safety match with a butane lighter of the type used for outdoor grills. A brilliant rocketlike flame can be produced by carrying out the reaction in a short piece of capped plumbing pipe. The plumbing pipe is concealed in a sand bath, which has the advantages of limiting any suggestion of a pipe bomb to the audience and catching any ejected material. We determined that reaction mixtures corresponding to stoichiometric molar amounts of the reactants produce the least ash. Brightly colored flames also can be produced by mixing the appropriate colorizing salts and powdered polyvinyl chloride with the reaction mixture. Recipes for reaction mixtures and for colorizing salt mixtures are presented.To assess the degree of exposure to colorizing salts by an audience, the percent of metal salt that is vaporized was investigated. Mixtures containing barium chloride were analyzed using the standard sulfate precipitation method. It was determined that 23 percent of the barium ion was vaporized during the combustion reaction. This means that the demonstration must be conducted in a hood.

Sweet, Sweet Science: Addressing the Gender Gap in STEM Disciplines through a One-Day High School Program in Sugar Chemistry

“…49 In this experiment, we made rockets using sugar as the main fuel source, demonstrating the highly oxidizable nature of sugar. 50 To make these rockets, the participants combined sugar and potassium nitrate, and packed the mixture into a plastic tube with kitty litter at both ends. Inserting a fuse, mounting the rocket on a launcher, and igniting the fuse completed the activity and allowed for successful rocket launches by nearly all program participants.…”

“…Many different chemicals can be used as rocket fuel, including gunpowder, alcohol, and kerosene . In this experiment, we made rockets using sugar as the main fuel source, demonstrating the highly oxidizable nature of sugar . To make these rockets, the participants combined sugar and potassium nitrate, and packed the mixture into a plastic tube with kitty litter at both ends.…”

An efficient composition for bengal lights

“…The literature presents various formulations to make bengal lights (6 ), but frequently those mixtures do not give spectacular results. Recently, Eliason et al (7 ) suggested the well-known sucrose-potassium chlorate mixture as a "basic composition". A new efficient basic composition has been obtained with potassium chlorate and thiourea.…”

Ignition of Thermite Using the Potassium Chlorate “Rocket” Reaction: A Systematic Demonstration of Reaction Chemistry

“…G. W. Eastland had previously used thermite to ignite such a KClO 3 mixture for effect . Indeed, the KClO 3 reaction itself has been used to great effect in its own right as a tool for demonstrating reaction dynamics …”