Chemguy Posted November 14, 2006 Posted November 14, 2006 October skies is a film about a boy who learns and tries to make rockets. It is interesting, some parts are unrealistic, for example he tips a mixture of potassium chlorate and sugar down the sink with water in science and flames come out of all the other sinks. But i thought it was very good. Has anyone else seen it. His first rocket blew up the fence outside his house, that was quite funny. But at the end they were making some very nice rockets. They didn't have headers but they went high. For some reason I cannot remember the fuel they were using for there succesful rockets, but I remember it used alcohol, strange ay? SO has anyone else seen it, is it realistic even?
pa_pyro Posted November 14, 2006 Posted November 14, 2006 I have seen many different formulas on the propellant they used. In the movie they used KClO3 and sugar, while in the book I think they used Zinc/sulfur. The alcohol was used to bind the mix and prevent CATOs
BigBang Posted November 14, 2006 Posted November 14, 2006 Yes, the book was good, better than the movie. If you listen in the movie, one of their "propellants" was KClO3 and S, made me laugh. I know the guys who actual made the rockets in the movie, and the first few are BP, then APCP. The final rocket landed in a tree. If you liked the movie, read the book "Rocket Boys." It is the book which the movie was based from.
Frozentech Posted November 14, 2006 Posted November 14, 2006 Yes, the book was good, better than the movie. If you listen in the movie, one of their "propellants" was KClO3 and S, made me laugh. I know the guys who actual made the rockets in the movie, and the first few are BP, then APCP. The final rocket landed in a tree. If you liked the movie, read the book "Rocket Boys." It is the book which the movie was based from. Yeah, Homer Hickham is an occasional poster on rec.pyrotechnics. He's cleared up a few inaccuracies from the movie, but the book 'Rocket Boys' and the follow-on 'The Coalwood Way' have more info. Their best zinc/sulfur/alcohol rockets hit altitudes of over 6 miles. ( Zincoshine they called that mix ) I imagine the ATFE and several other 'alphabet' agencies would have an absolute fit these days.
styropyro Posted November 15, 2006 Posted November 15, 2006 Yes, the book was good, better than the movie. If you listen in the movie, one of their "propellants" was KClO3 and S, made me laugh.Yeah I saw that movie in school 2 years ago and I feaked when they said using KClO3 and Sulfur as a propellant. Now if that was a realistic movie there would be a gigantic hole in the Kitchen floor and the basement would be destroyed if they were unlucky. Now some idiot kids out there are going to find a way to get chlorates and sulfur a ram it in a tube and discover the chlorate/sulfur incompatability. But I still liked that movie more than most people in my grade at that time.
DeAdFX Posted November 15, 2006 Posted November 15, 2006 I thought it was chlorate and sugar they were thinking of not chlorate and sulfur.... Then their chem teacher recommended that they use nitrate and sugar because it is much more stable.
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