plonk

So I'm a rocket geek. Just like it says under occupation. This is not (yet) a job, just a really expensive hobby. And for the most part it's really, really cool. I've met some of the most interesting people I have ever known through it. You can meet the group I work with at http://www.erps.org. Look at the mailing list archive for the latest news, since we'd rather build rockets than websites.

But like anything worth doing, it's hard. And there is lots and lots of scutwork. In particular, I am a member of the propellant team. Since we're a liquid rocket organization, this means I get to work with fun chemicals, like hydrogen peroxide. This is not your hairdresser's hydrogen peroxide. This is the rocket grade stuff... it behaves like water... except that it starts fires... remarkably quickly. And even otherwise undetectable amounts give you little white burns on your skin.

Since it's so remarkably dangerous, it's a bit hard to lay hands on. So I'm working on a system to make the rocket grade stuff from slightly less dangerous stock. The rig I am working on is called a sparger. If you want to know what this means, email me and I'll tell you more than you ever wanted to know.

We made a sparger. However, it has to be cleaned in order to be suitable for use with peroxide, as peroxide reacts, generally violently, with almost everything, especially the sort of things that are in dirt and grease. After soaking it in nitric acid solution for several days, an unbelievable amount of crap came off. So I'm taking it on Wedneday to be bead blasted clean. And then we get to repeat the bit with the acid. And then we pour peroxide in to figure out whether that did any good. If not, lather, rinse, repeat.

And then, we get to find out whether my design worked. Sometimes I wish I had normal geek/gearhead hobbies... and realize that my life wouldn't be nearly as much fun that way. Being a freak among freaks is cool .