On Sun, 11 Mar 2001, David Honig wrote:
Yeah, the problem is the fire marshall/BATF when they learn you're storing 70% H202 in your garage :-) And the neighbors when they ask why their cat is a bleached blonde now..
Um, there's a problem with 70%. Actually a couple problems. First, if there are impurities, they can eat your catalyst. Specifically, if you have that much water, you'll run into problems with the platinum oxidizing/eroding at high temperature. Second, impurities add weight and don't add to your "bounce per ounce" of fuel. With a thousand kilos of fuel at takeoff (and actual orbital rockets are lots bigger than that) your casually-included 30% water winds up being 300 kilos of dead weight holding you back at liftoff. That's the place where it hurts most in terms of reaching high velocities. And as to bleached cats... Well, if some rocket-fuel grade peroxide spills on a cat, bleaching fur will be the least of its worries. Bear