If your geek flag flies high, this is the ebook for you

[jmowreader]

http://www.sciencemadness.org/library/books/ignition.pdf

John D. Clark's Ignition! is his personal history of liquid rocket propellant research, and it is a joy to read if you have even a little knowledge of chemistry. It includes such delights as his reminiscences about chlorine trifluoride (yes, you should be quaking in your boots right now):

Chlorine trifluoride, ClF3 or "CTF" as the engineers insist on calling it, is a colorless gas, a greenish liquid, or a white solid. It boils at 12° (so that a trivial pressure will keep it liquid at room temperature) and freezes at a convenient -76°. It also has a nice fat density, about 1.81 at room temperature.

It is also quite probably the most vigorous fluorinating agent in existence - much more vigorous than fluorine itself. Gaseous fluorine, of course, is much more dilute than the liquid ClF3, and liquid fluorine is so cold that its activity is very much reduced.

All this sounds fairly academic and innocuous, but when it is translated into the problem of handling the stuff, the results are horrendous. It is, of course, extremely toxic, but that's the least of the problem. It is hypergolic with every known fuel, and so rapidly hypergolic that no ignition delay has ever been measured. It is also hypergolic with such things as cloth, wood, and test engineers, not to mention asbestos, sand, and water - with which it reacts explosively. It can be kept in some of the ordinary structural metals - steel, copper, aluminum, etc. - because of the formation of a thin film of insoluble metal fluoride which protects the bulk of the metal, just as the invisible coat of oxide on aluminum keeps it from burning up in the atmosphere. If, however, this coat is melted or scrubbed off, and has no chance to reform, the operator is confronted with the problem of coping with a metal-fluorine fire. For dealing with this situation, I have always recommended a good pair of running shoes.

[hunter]

1. I love that book. The edition I remember had a powdered aluminum fabric cover.

[eppur_se_muova]

2. Thanks! But let's not forget there's a chlorine PENTAfluoride !

Made by fluorinating ClF3 with elemental fluorine at high temperatures ...

In a highly exothermic reaction, water hydrolyses ClF5 to produce chloryl fluoride and hydrogen fluoride:[6]

ClF5 + 2 H2O → FClO2 + 4 HF

It is also a strong fluorinating agent. At room temperature it reacts readily with all elements except noble gases, nitrogen, oxygen and fluorine.[2]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorine_pentafluoride

[tblue37]

3. My daughter is (among other things) an aerospace doctor with direct involvement in

certain aspects of spaceflight. She had math and chemistry minors as an undergraduate (in addition to her biology/premed major).

I just sent her the link. She will be so excited!