Spyman Posted December 23, 2010 Posted December 23, 2010 Discovery of new molecule can lead to more efficient rocket fuel Trinitramid – that's the name of the new molecule that may be a component in future rocket fuel. This fuel could be 20-30 percent more efficient in comparison with the best rocket fuels we have today. The discovery was made at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Sweden. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-12/src-don122210.php
michel123456 Posted December 23, 2010 Posted December 23, 2010 (edited) Wikipedia is instantaneous! "This page was last modified on 22 December 2010 at 20:42." Quicker than the own site of KTH. Edited December 23, 2010 by michel123456
Mr Skeptic Posted December 23, 2010 Posted December 23, 2010 Bet its still worse than hydrogen and oxygen. 1
mississippichem Posted December 23, 2010 Posted December 23, 2010 If that's the structure I think it is, nitrogen surrounded by three nitrate groups that should be somewhat unstable (good for a rocket fuel I would imagine). I wonder if they had to isolate it in a solid argon matrix or something. I would also like to know what the hybridization on the central nitrogen is, there might be some highly hyperconjugated [math] \pi [/math]-system stabilizing the compound if the central nitrogen isn't purely [math] sp^{3} [/math]. I would kill to see an X-band EPR (electron paramagnetic resonance) spectrum of this. There are probably very unique hyperfine splitting patterns. Not many compounds have a radical that can bounce between four equal Z nuclei in such a high symmetry environment, not because it is difficult, because this situation just doesn't arise much.
CaptainPanic Posted December 23, 2010 Posted December 23, 2010 Does anyone know what state this material is in at ambient pressure and temperature? What kind of rocket can be powered by it? Solid? Liquid? Monopropellant? I admit that I haven't been able to read too much of the articles. Some links didn't seem to work.
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