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Challenge Team Interim Report

Team Number: 002 School Name: Sandia Prep Area of Science: Chemistry Project Title: Oxygen Content and Combustible Materials

What is the optimum oxygen content in the air for certain materials to combust with optimum power and efficiency? We hope to answer this question by compiling information about specific chemicals. This information would include attributes of chemicals such as their combustion temperature, their rate of combustion, and the amount of energy produced from the material's combustion, among others. To compile this information, we hope to obtain access to chemical tables that contain this information. We may also conduct our own lab experiments to achieve our needed results.

Using a computer program, we will simulate differences in air temperature, wind speed, and air pressure to observe its affects on the material in question. Using this program, along with our gathered information, we hope to discover the optimal conditions of combustion for several materials. Our information may prove useful to many people. Rocket scientists could use our information to develop a more efficient rocket fuel. Pyrotechnic companies could use our information as well, to develop lighter and brighter fireworks.

The knowlwdge of the exact oxygen content needed for the most efficieny liquid and dry fuel. This efficiancy could easily mean lighter rocket fuel for space missions that are promising to be very apparent in this world's twenty-first century. This advantage would make a world of difference in the wight in other items of importance one would be able to carry. Thus, Space Missions would be able to be more directed towards the process of the collection of important information as we reach out beyond the boundaries of our ozone layer.

In this direction, we are in the process of researching the oxygen levels in certain fueling chemicals and attempted to figure out ways to perfect and modify the fueling chemicals in use.

We are attempting to get in contact with several scientists and pyrotechicians to obtain chemical data tables and other information. After we obtain this data, we are going to program a simulation that adjusts variables and compare probable combustion rates.

Our attempts to get this information will prove our project a worthwhile endeavor and will inevitably increase the abiity to take more frequent and precise excersises in space with lighter fuel and the 4th of July will be better with every passing minute spent on this project.

Team Members

Team Mail

• Nick Aase
• Ben Slade
• Rajeev Rao

Sponsoring Teachers

• Neil McBeth
• Jori Bowen

Project Advisor(s)