Word: liquidizer
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Viking's inner works are much like the V-2's: it burns alcohol and "lox" (liquid oxygen) in a single combustion chamber. Chief improvement is in the control mechanism. When a big rocket first takes off, the air is not moving past its fins fast enough to provide steering control. The Germans got around this difficulty by putting small, movable graphite vanes in the blast of hot gas from the combustion chamber. By deflecting the gas stream slightly when the rocket wobbled, the vanes kept it upright until it was moving fast enough for the outside fins...
...cockpit was barely big enough for him. Behind him, cramming most of the fuselage, were thick-walled tanks of "lox" (liquid oxygen) and alcohol. Tucked away in odd places, even under his feet, were heavy flasks of nitrogen gas compressed to 4,500 Ibs. a square inch. The windshield (of glass, rather than plastic, so it would not melt from air friction) was too small to give much visibility. From all sides, and above and below, a bristle of controls, dials and warning lights pressed on the pilot's seat...
...stomach, drawn tight and smooth as a sphere, rests on strong legs . . . that end in large feet pointing outward in an obtuse angle as if to take in all the earth ... He sleeps in a fetal position and when awake moves with elegant slowness as if he lived in liquid . . . Women . . . would like always to have him in their arms like a newborn baby...
There are plenty of propellants that burn when brought in contact with water, e.g., metallic potassium, sodium, white phosphorus, various metallic hydrides. Some of these can be used in convenient liquid form. When such fuels hit water, they decompose it violently by uniting with its oxygen, giving off heat and a large volume of hydrogen gas. The combustion chamber is shaped so as to make the expanding water-and-gas mixture shoot out the rear opening as a high-speed jet. The reaction from this drives the engine (and the torpedo) forward...
...airmen will grant an "airplane climbing record" to the Bell X-1, which is hardly an airplane. It might be more accurately described as a winged, piloted rocket. It carries four tons of fuel (alcohol and liquid oxygen) and burns it all in 2½ minutes of full-power flight. With its heavy construction, straight wings and negligible payload, the X-1 is considered a sort of dinosaur among fast-flying aircraft. But it is still useful as a laboratory testing device...