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Adventures from the Technology Underground: Catapults, Pulsejets, Rail Guns, Flamethrowers, Tesla Coils, Air Cannons, and the Garage Warriors Who Love Them, by William Gurstelle
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About the Author
William Gurstelle is the author of Backyard Ballistics, Building Bots, and The Art of the Catapult. He lives in St. Paul, Minnesota.
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Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
1. high-powerROCKETSYour finger hovers over the red button, and you move the microphone close to your mouth. You test the public-address system and are relieved to find that it works: When you speak, your voice is clearly heard all over the firing range.Several hundred feet away is the launch pad, and on it stands the culmination of many hundreds of hours of labor and many thousands of dollars of your hard-earned discretionary income. It is your rocket, a 15-foot-tall accurate scale model of an American early 1960s solid-fuel Pershing I nuclear ballistic missile. It is a machine that you designed and built from scratch.Your rocket is loaded with two stages of powerful chemical engines. Like the original Pershing, your motive power comes from two stages of precisely packed chemical fuel arranged in solid form. Each rocket engine is designed such that after it ignites, the gas from the burning chemicals will issue rearward in a high-velocity, high-temperature stream from the ceramic nozzle and propel the rocket up toward the stratosphere. Your rocket will reach empyreal heights, tens of thousands of feet--if all goes well.You pay rigid attention to the preflight checklist. So far, everything looks like a go. There are small indicator lamps on the firing controls that signal launch status, and the ignition lamp shows green. This means that you have a working circuit, and so when the Fire button is pushed, enough current will be sent through the thin metal wire rammed into the motor to heat it red hot and thereby initiate the self-sustaining chemical reaction that occurs within the main motor's combustion chamber.The countdown begins. Ten. Nine. Eight . . . At zero, you push the button and instantly great plumes of white smoke surround the base of the rocket. For a moment, the rocket doesn't move, and you too hold your breath. Then suddenly it leaps toward the sky with neck-jerking acceleration. The noise from the launch comes a split second after you see it leave, and when the noise does come, it is nearly deafening. The rocket climbs 100, 200, 500, 1,000 feet, its speed escalating logarithmically as it ascends. It climbs and climbs, and it becomes difficult, then nearly impossible, and then totally impossible to see the rocket itself, although the smoke and nozzle fire remain visible.Everyone congratulates you on a successful launch. There is applause and backslapping, high fives all around.But the celebration is cut short by the sound of the range safety officer's warning horn: Whoop! Whoop! Whoop! The RSO's voice is plainly heard over the public-address system. "Attention! Look up! Look up! We have a rocket coming in hot!" This is not good for you. This is not good for anybody. In fact, this is trouble with a capital T.What has happened is this: your rocket has two stages. The first stage consists of several large chemical rocket engines that lift the entire rocket for the initial or "booster" phase of the flight. When expended, the booster rocket falls away, and a second engine, mounted above it, is supposed to automatically ignite and continue powering the remaining components upward.But the second stage, powered by its own very large engine, has ignited later than it was supposed to. In fact, it ignited after the rocket reached apogee and had already turned and begun to head back to earth. So the engine is not powering the rocket to fly up higher. Your rocket is being driven back down to earth not only by gravity, but also by the second-stage engine. There is a real danger that the rocket will reach the ground and your launch area before this engine is burned out and triggers the timed ejection charge that deploys the recovery parachutes.The current situation is this: There is a very large and heavy rocket coming your way on an unpredictable descent path, and not just in free fall, but pushed by the thrust of a high-impulse, high-velocity, solid-fuel rocket engine.>>>This is LDRS, the country's--and probably the world's--largest annual gathering of high-power amateur rocket enthusiasts. From all over the world, eager rocketeers come for a long weekend's worth of home-brewed acceleration and conversations about rocketry.LDRS is an acronym for Large Dangerous Rocket Ships. It's the place where the people who started out as boys and girls experimenting with Estes and Centuri model rockets go when they want to build really, really big rockets of their own.LDRS is sponsored by a group called Tripoli, which is the largest organization of high-power rocket makers. There are scores of local chapters or "prefects" in locations across the world. This year, Tripoli has chosen the Panhandle of Texas Rocketry Prefect to host the big event. The local leadership has been busy for months turning a large patch of cow pasture into the nation's most active rocket launching area.Rocketeers both need and love wide-open spaces--the wider the better. Amateur rocket builders, especially those who specialize in building the largest and most powerful rockets, want only a couple of things: a lot of flat, open, unpopulated land in which to recover their rockets after flight, and clear, sunny skies. This makes places such as Texas, Kansas, and the Canadian prairie provinces ideal spots for LDRS gatherings.The launch site is south of Amarillo, straight down the Interstate to the tiny hamlet of Happy, Texas. At that point, the route to LDRS follows Texas Ranch Road 287 east, a long, straight, and uncrowded chunk of pavement that goes through territory so flat you can practically see the curvature of the earth.At the end of the long drive is the LDRS launch site, a sprawling temporary compound of tents, launch pads, electronics, and people. The level, open venue is perfect for facilitating the retrieval of the hundreds of rockets that will eventually drift back to earth during the event, attached by elastic shock cords to large white parachutes. This particular site has the additional and highly valued quality of being well outside all commercial air lanes, so the airspace above it has no scheduled flights. Even so, the Tripoli organizers had to apply for a certificate of special clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration, allowing very-high-altitude rocket flights during the three days of the event.Central Texas can be brutally hot and bright in July, and the tents and E-Z Ups set up by the rocketeers and vendors provide the only shade. This meet has the air of a large crafts fair, except that the vendor booths contain recovery chutes, rocket engine casings, altimeters, and launch towers instead of decorated ceramic pots and fabric wall hangings. The east side of the area is dominated by rows and rows of missile launching pads.In this heat, people are not inclined to exert themselves if they can help it, so most simply wander around the dusty field, working on their projects, talking to one another, and pointing. Spectators at a large-scale high-power rocket launch do a lot of pointing--always toward the sky, arms extended at about 70 degrees to the horizon. Their fingers trace out the rocket's acceleration skyward and then fall back down to their sides as they watch it float down on the end of a parachute or two.Temperature notwithstanding, for a few days the formerly sleepy area becomes an energetic beehive of activity: smoke plumes and contrails constantly hanging like puffy ropes over the ranch, rockets roaring up, then silently floating down.The great number of participants keeps several launching pads active. The pads with the biggest rockets are placed the farthest away from people, for it is not unusual for a rocket to blow up, or in rocket lingo, "CATO," on the pad, producing a shrapnel rainstorm.*On the afternoon of the second day, a really big rocket, two and a half stories tall, stands erect on the far launch pad. It is a gracefully proportioned and aerodynamically shaped rocket and it is beautiful, at least to a high-power rocket enthusiast. Spectators and rocketeers alike press toward the safety fence to get into position for the best view.This is the Athos II rocket, built by the Gates brothers of California. Athos II is a very large rocket with high-specific-impulse engines and will likely attain great heights. This launch is obviously going to involve significant velocity, complexity, and power. Athos's launch has been anticipated for quite some time, so the crowd near the safety fence is thick. People reach for their binoculars and position their cameras on tripods. Over the facility's loudspeaker, the launch control officer begins the countdown for one of the highlights of LDRS-21.THE TECHNOLOGY OFHIGH-POWER AMATEUR ROCKETRYIn the typical solid-fuel rocket, the rocket maker builds a fiberglass shell that houses the motor, the recovery system, and whatever sensors, cameras, or other payload is placed within.* But the bulk of the rocket's weight is contained in its powerful chemical engines. In and of themselves, rocket engines are marvelous things. Their most basic form goes back to first-millennium China, when crude black powder was stuffed into bamboo rockets and used to frighten the enemy's horses. A simple rocket engine is straightforward and easy to understand. There is chemical propellant packed inside a metal casing. The chemicals inside the motor burn, and as they do so, hot, expanding gas is produced. This gas rushes out the back of the motor through a nozzle and, as described in Isaac Newton's Third Law of Motion, the backward gush of the gas results in an equal and opposite forward thrust of the rocket body. Simple, yes. But hey, this is rocket science, and things get complicated quickly.Small, commercially available model rocket motors consist of black-powder propellant pressed under tons of pressure into a hard, dense matrix called "grain." When the grain is ignited, the motor starts burning linearly, like a very fast-burning cigarette, from its back to its front. As it does so, it pushes hot gas out through a clay nozzle, and the rocket zips forward until the propellant is all burned up.The world of high-power rocketry is different and much more complicated. Instead of using a simple black-powder chemical rocket motor, the experienced flyers most often use engines made out of "composite propellant"--a combination of an oxidizer chemical such as ammonium perchlorate (AP) and a synthetic rubber binder material to hold the oxidizer in a desired shape and provide fuel. In addition, the rocket engine maker may mix in plasticizers, catalysts, and crosslinkers, all of which can make the propellant burn stronger, longer, slower, or hotter, depending on the goals of the rocket designer. Composite motors are formed into various shapes with voids and holes precisely designed into the motor in order to shape the direction and velocity of the exiting gas. Such complex contours and figures are complicated to fabricate, requiring great quantities of heating, molding, curing, machining, and, above all, attention to detail.The most extreme rocket makers spend days on end experimenting with rocket designs and motor formulations. There are so many variables that the maker can adjust to affect the performance of the rocket. A quick list of their concerns includes the shape of the rocket body, fin design, the shape of the nozzle, the geometry of the motor's core, the combination of various chemicals that make up the propellant mixture, the rate of burn, and the ignition method. It takes a lot of scientific, mechanical, and seemingly alchemical knowledge to become a really good rocket maker. There is also an element of danger working with toxic and flammable chemicals such as ammonium perchlorate, potassium nitrate, and liquid oxygen.*> > >What rocket makers care about most is the physics quantity called "total impulse." Total impulse is the product of the force acting on a rocket (the thrust) multiplied by the amount of time the thrust is applied. Expressed mathematically, it is:Total Impulse = Average Thrust ´ Burn TimeAn engine that applies a lot of thrust, for a long period of time, is a high-performance engine. To a rocket engine maker, the goal is lots and lots of impulse.The size of a rocket motor and the amount of total impulse it produces are described by assigning the motor a letter of the alphabet. The smallest rocket motor is an A and is commonly sold in hobby stores without need for a permit. The B motor is twice as big as an A, and a C is twice as big as a B. Each increase in letter size denotes a doubling of the engine's rocket-lifting ability, or total impulse. The total impulse of an A-motor is about 2.5 newton-seconds (N-s), which is enough to lift a small rocket a few hundred feet. A B-motor provides 5 N-s, C-motors provide 10 N-s, and so on. The largest commercially produced rocket motor available to certified amateur flyers, the mammoth N motor, provides a muscular 41,000 N-s. Custom engines are available from a number of boutique rocket engine designers. Some of these go into the O and P range and even beyond. They are large and energetic enough to power a half-ton rocket to jet-fighter altitudes. (Using this scale, the NASA space shuttle's 8.3 million Newton-second booster rockets are about two letters beyond a Z-motor.)Although there are many variations in the design and construction of homemade rocket engines, one of the clearest differentiating factors is the type of chemicals used to provide the energy and hence the impulse. The two most common general categories of chemicals are those involving variations of black powder and those that use composite propellant. Composite engines are, pound for pound, significantly more powerful than black-powder engines, that is, they have a higher specific impulse.Every rocket engine, from black powder to solid fuel composite to liquid fuel to hybrid systems, works in similar fashion and is subject to the same basic physical laws: The propellant is ignited. It burns. Hot and expanding gases are produced and then stream out of a nozzle. Thrust is produced and the rocket and whatever is attached to it goes forward.*The force produced by the gas issuing out of the nozzle is called "momentum thrust." Imagine that a rocket engine builder constructs an engine with a burn rate of 10 pounds of fuel per second. Now further assume that the builder's rocket engine handbook tells him that his choice of rocket fuels will result in the gases leaving the rocket nozzle at a velocity of around 3,000 feet per second.The thrust produced is equal to the propellant burn rate multiplied by the exhaust velocity. So the momentum thrust is:Momentum Thrust = Propellant Burn Rate ´ Exhaust Gas VelocitySo, in the example above,Thrust = (10 lbs/sec) ´ (3,000 ft/sec)/(32.2 ft/sec2)*Momentum Thrust = 932 pounds of forceSo far, so good. But momentum thrust is only part of the reason rockets go up. The other reason is pressure thrust.Inside a rocket engine, there are unbalanced forces at work. The rocket engine has an open end (the nozzle where the gases come out) and a closed end. During the burn time, the combustion of rocket engine chemicals results in a pressure buildup inside the engine. But since one end is closed and one end is open through the exit nozzle, there is a net force pushing against the closed end.
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Product details
Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Clarkson Potter; Reprint edition (January 23, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0307351254
ISBN-13: 978-0307351258
Product Dimensions:
5.2 x 0.5 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review:
3.5 out of 5 stars
34 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#1,275,869 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
First, this book is not something you can let your kids read unsupervised--> There is a section on some seriously questionable behavior at the burning man ("Camp Pump" and vacuum enhancement). I guess that is why I am giving it a couple of stars less than max. Although the book can function as light reading for an adult, I was hoping to give it to my kids. Also "Camp Pump" didn't really add anything to the book for me, and could have been omitted. I am not a prude, its just that I don't consider those 5 pages to be that relevant to the technology underground. I would have rather seen a section on land speed records, or computer piloted land vehicles.The reason that I wanted to give it to my kids is because the book is written at the 'primer' level in regards to the topics is covers. The diagrams are great for the middle school level, and the writing is also 5th-9th grade or so. Most of the material in the book can be found on the web (in more depth), but the book is a nice way to bring a bunch of the topics together and relate them as components in the technology underground. Not to mention that, on the web, the more 'fringy' the website, the more likely it will be that there are links leading to places you don't want your kid going. On the other hand, I want my kids to be excited about science and technology, to feel like there is some fun stuff there, instead of just endless number crunching. This book would certainly generate the interest and 'how do I' questions that lead to true learning. I feel as if school in the US is getting increasingly watered down and topics that have some of the most interest to kids ( topics that are the "coolest") are strangled due to the focus on political correctness. Even science fairs seem to be super-carefully controlled to over-emphasize safety and stay 'in the box'.There is a section on pulse jets squarely in the middle of the 'Camp Pump' section, so it may be hard to take a sharpie to the book and 'redact' the material I am less-then-thrilled-with and leave the pulse jets intact. I will probably try that and let my kids have a look at it afterwards.
I found this book on a shelf in my high school library half a decade ago, and it inspired me to become the engineer I am today. I'm buying a copy now out of nostalgia. When you read the negative reviews about this book I urge you to consider the average intelligence of the lay person today and why they are dissatisfied... People should READ the title! The cover says "adventure" and not "instruction," since most 3 syllable words perplex folks these days..."rumination" is defined as a deep thought(as in the author's inner most thoughts on the tech). If someone expected there to be detailed schematics with specific build instructions...they're horribly wrong(they should use what brain power they do have and realize the legal/liability issues).This book was meant to inspire, and it'll likely do so with an intellectual whom has an interest and open mind.
I've enjoyed all of William Gurstelle's books so far and ordered "Adventures from the Technology Underground" as soon as it popped up on my radar. In the last week I've read the book a couple of times and give it a hearty recommendation.In a society that is frequently more and more out of touch with an enterprising spirit of scientific exploration this book makes it clear that all is not lost yet. (Who would have guessed that the Virginia Military Institute may be the foremost seat of siege warfare in the modern world?) It's best to sum this up as a celebration of ingenuity, curiosity and the limitless imagination of the human mind.I agree that some of the topics in the book aren't for the youngest of the curious and scientific but the book certainly isn't aimed at a younger audience. This is more of an introduction to topics that may or may not have crossed the path of the casual reader, not the hardcore enthusiast. With handy links and references the truly curious will easily be able to follow up on what the book offers. The mildly entertained will simply "wow" their friends at the next neighborhood block picnic or office water cooler round up.A great book by any practical measure.
I really wanted to like this book, but it's written in such a simplistic and unfocused way as to leave me very disappointed. The author barely scratches the surface of the many technologies/projects/events he covers, and I always felt cheated after finishing each chapter... thinking "That's IT?!"Underground tech IS a very cool subject to write about, but the lack of information about the inner motivations and passions of these "garage warriors" leaves a glaring hole in the text. If you have a short attention span and hate to read long books, this book is easily absorbed in a few hours. This is NOT a deep exposition on underground tech; it is a quick overview for newbies. Considering that the audience for this subject would be (I assume) more literate that the national average, it's a shame that the writing seems to be limited to what a sixth-grader could easily digest.I notice now that the price has now dropped to 10 bucks. At that price, it's more in line with the quantity/quantity of content provided, and could now be considered an "okay" value... just don't set your expectations too high. I know this was a fairly harsh review, but I really was disappointed that the amateurish quality of the writing didn't live up to the slick cover design. Don't judge a book by it's cover!
If you're interested in information about "Catapults, Pulsejets, Rail Guns..." just Google the word, and you'll get far more information than this book contains...even in its "The technology of..." sections. If your current technology knowledge base doesn't exceed what is contained in this book, you've been living under a rock.So what's in this book? Stories of people who had their rockets explode upon takeoff, who lost their fingers building contraptions, and a gratuitous section on how a penis pump works. Wow. What a technology adventure.Why was this book written? In hopes of having schleps part with their money. Don't.
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