From: tomswift@cruzio.com   
      
   In article <1152206392.894426.194530@j8g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,   
    deletethis@taiga.ca wrote:   
      
   > I read that the Kassam rockets are fueled by a combination of sugar and   
   > fertilizer.   
   >   
   > Anyone know how good a fuel it is?  ISP numbers?   
   >   
   > How does it compare to other solid fuels?   
   >   
   > Have amateur rocket builders used this fuel in the past?   
   >   
   > Seems like a cheap way to make a solid rocket.   
      
   Yes KNO3 and sugar has been used as an amateur rocket propellent.  It is   
   also called caramel candy propellent as the sugar is first melted then   
   the KNO3 added slowly and mixed.  The propellent is then cast into the   
   motor casing or a mold.  It is not used today because of several   
   disadvantages. (1) It provides little improvement over black powder as   
   far as ISP.  (2) You have to heat it to the melting point of the sugar   
   to cast it. (3)  It is brittle, and grains larger than one or two inches   
   tend to crack, and the rocket CATOs on firing.   
      
   --   
   Mike Swift   
      
   Two things only the people anxiously desire, bread and circuses.   
                                         Decimus Junius Juvenalls   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)