Propellant

A propellant is a material that is used to move an object by applying a motive force. This may or may not involve a chemical reaction. It may be a gas, liquid, plasma, or, before the chemical reaction, a solid. Common propellants are gasoline, jet fuel and rocket fuel.

Table of contents

1 Aerosol sprays 2 Solid fuelled rockets and projectiles 3 Liquid fuelled rockets 4 See also

Aerosol sprays

In aerosol spray cans, the propellant is simply a pressurized vapour in equilibrium with its liquid. As some gas escapes to expel the payload, more liquid evaporates, maintaining an even pressure. (See aerosol spray propellant for more information.)

Solid fuelled rockets and projectiles

In ballistics and pyrotechnics, a propellant is a material which burns very rapidly but controllably, to produce thrust by gas pressure and thus accelerate a projectile or rocket. In this sense, common or well known propellants include, for firearms, artillery and solid fuel rocketss:

• Gunpowder
• Nitrocellulose
• Cordite and other smokeless powders
• Special fuels made from ammonium perchlorate and synthetic rubbers

Liquid fuelled rockets

Common propellants for liquid fuelled rocketss include:

• RFNA and kerosene or RP-1
• RFNA and UDMH
• Dinitrogen tetroxide and UDMH, MMH and/or Hydrazine
• Liquid oxygen and kerosene or RP-1
• Liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen
• Hydrogen Peroxide and alcohol or RP-1

See also

• Spacecraft propulsion
• Specific impulse
• Fuel

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