
Ignition: An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants (1972) [pdf] - rfreytag
http://library.sciencemadness.org/library/books/ignition.pdf
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nkurz
Apparently in the same way that computer scientists worry about "bugs", rocket
scientists have to be concerned with "rats":

    
    
      But here an unexpected complication showed up. The peroxide 
      was to be stored aboard airplane carriers in aluminum 
      tanks. And then suddenly it was discovered that trace 
      quantities of chlorides in peroxide made the latter 
      peculiarly corrosive to aluminum. How to keep traces of 
      chloride out of anything when you're sitting on an ocean of 
      salt water was a problem whose solution was not entirely 
      obvious.
    
      And there was always the problem of gross pollution. Say 
      that somebody dropped (accidentally or otherwise) a 
      greasy wrench into 10,000 gallons of 90 percent peroxide in 
      the hold of the ship. What would happen—and would the ship 
      survive? This question so worried people that one 
      functionary in the Rocket Branch (safely in Washington) 
      who had apparently been reading Captain Horatio Horn- 
      blower, wanted us at NARTS to build ourselves a 10,000-
      gallon tank, fill it up with 90 percent peroxide, and then 
      drop into it—so help me God—one rat. (He didn't specify 
      the sex of the rat.) It was with considerable difficulty 
      that our chief managed to get him to scale his order down 
      to one test tube of peroxide and one quarter inch of rat 
      tail.
    

Brilliant short book, thanks for posting!

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rfreytag
This submission came from smaddox's comment on an earlier thread about
hydrofluoric acid:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10683134](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10683134)

Thank you to the editor who massively improved on my submission title. :-)

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WalterBright
It's going for two grand on Amazon [http://www.amazon.com/Ignition-informal-
history-liquid-prope...](http://www.amazon.com/Ignition-informal-history-
liquid-propellants/dp/0813507251/)

Yikes!

~~~
monochromatic
Maybe an example of this:
[http://www.michaeleisen.org/blog/?p=358](http://www.michaeleisen.org/blog/?p=358)

~~~
jonah
It's actually just rare and out of print.

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monochromatic
This is a great book that lots of people should read, and it is out of
print... however, this is a copyrighted work. It probably shouldn't be shared
like this.

~~~
HarryHirsch
Heh. Here's a story. The book is long out of print but sought after - the non-
microfilm version from Rutgers University Press retails for several hundred
dollars in the second-hand trade.

You call up Rutgers, and RUP tells you that they have _no idea_ who owns the
publishing rights. Copyright protection lasts far too long, and something
really needs to be done about orphan works.

~~~
monochromatic
Totally agree, the length of copyright protection is absurd. Doesn't mean we
should use HN to pirate stuff though.

~~~
icebraining
Yes, yes we should. When HN even has a feature made to bypass paywalls, it's
absurd to then subscribe to a strict legalistic position which provides no
benefit to anyone.

~~~
monochromatic
HN has a feature for bypassing paywalls? Well, it could at least be _argued_
(I don't know how persuasively) that that isn't copyright infringement. This
pretty clearly is.

~~~
ethbro
Isn't this more or less what the DMCA safe harbor was actually intended for?

If a website that is not primarily engaged in massive copyright violation
posts a link to a questionably copywritten work, then the onus is on the
rights holder to notify.

It would seem like cases where the rights holder is unknown or has lost
interest in the work (aka ophaned works) should be tailor made for this. HN
has safe harbor, the rights holder has the possibility of protecting their
work if they choose, and the public has access to a work that would otherwise
be buried in a strictly pre-legally cleared system.

~~~
monochromatic
I'm not suggesting that HN should get sued over this, so the safe harbor seems
irrelevant. I'm saying that we shouldn't post things like this.

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vermontdevil
I read the book from the library. Great read though can be a bit technical
with chemistry.

These chemical engineers were really courageous and inquisitive. They have
tried so many different combinations to find the right propellant.

I would laugh thinking the book is worth more than my iPhone.

If I stole the book, I doubt I would find a buyer for the price you see on
Amazon but for sure I would be asked to reimburse the library for that price!

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pavelrub
This is one of the books that Elon Musk recommended
([http://www.adweek.com/galleycat/the-science-fiction-books-
th...](http://www.adweek.com/galleycat/the-science-fiction-books-that-
inspired-elon-musk/68213?red=as))

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vpribish
This is a really fun and informative read for the history, the chemistry, the
humor, and for the depiction of the arc of a technology from obscurity - to
frantic exploitation - to exhaustion. The latter most of all.

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CarVac
I love that the introduction is by Isaac Asimov.

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hans
Another great book on this subject:

The Nazi Rocketeers by dennis piszkeiwicz

