What could this have been?

Discussion in 'Chemistry' started by kevinalm, Sep 1, 2008.

  1. kevinalm Registered Senior Member

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    993
    Please bear with me, there is a chem question at the end.

    Some background. I was watching a tv program on ufo's earlier ("Dateline" i think.) and got to thinking what was the weirdest thing I've ever seen in the sky. I've been into amatuer astronomy since about age 10 so a lot of the things most people get excited about make me chuckle. Familiarity with the sky allows me recognize many 'strange' things at a glance. There was one occasion many years ago that still has me puzzled, though I don't think it was anything extaordinary. I just don't know precisely what it was.

    I was maybe 14 in the backyard playing badmitton with my siblings. (What can I say, we lived on a farm so it was just us and it was something to do.

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    ) Late afternoon. I threw the shuttlecock up for an overhand serve... and just stood there mouth gaping.

    It was bright and pointlike, or very small. It left an distinctly orange smoke trail which slowly dispersed. It moved across the sky fairly quickly but I don't think I was very high up. As it passed, I could hear a 'flickering' sound, like a flame almost being blown out. I was able to keep it in veiw as it passed over our pasture, and dropped down _in_front_of_ some trees perhaps 300 yards away, split in two, and went out just before it hit the ground. We searched the area, but the grass was too tall and never found anything. There were no sounds from aircraft.

    So the chem question. What burns brightly with orange smoke and can drop out of a clear blue sky? It has always bothered me not to know what it was.
     
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  3. Read-Only Valued Senior Member

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    Hi, Kevin,

    Not be vague, but there are many amateur rocket fuels that burn with and orange flame and leave a trail of orange-colored smoke. Far to many me to list here. You might want to try a Google on them but be prepared for a long list.

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    That was also a favorite thing to do at about the time I'm guessing you saw it. I was into it myself - but one event put a premature end to it. I was sort of a chemist even as a early teen, had an accomplice who's dad was a pharmacist (handy, yes?)

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    and we had many, many test flights using various mixtures I came up with. Unfortunately, one such consisted of a combination of a liquid-type and a solid mix. It flew VERY well but sputtered small flaming embers that landed on a neighbors clothes she had out on a line.

    So two budding rocket scientists went off into less destructive hobbies.

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  5. kevinalm Registered Senior Member

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    I've thought about pyrotechnics and the like (I played with them as well. Ever make NI3. _Don't_

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    ), but I knew everyone for miles around, and the only people living in the right direction were an old childless couple and another couple whose kids had already grown up and moved away. That was about 3/4 mile. After that the next nearest farmstead was about 2 mi.
     
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  7. Read-Only Valued Senior Member

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    All I can think of at this point is that I knew people doing it who were a bit sharper than myself and my "accomplice." Due to the likely possibility of property damage, they'd go FAR from home for their test launches.

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  8. kevinalm Registered Senior Member

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    993
    That's a possibility. Ever try sugar and KNO3 as a propellant? Works pretty good and safer that many mixs. That was the one that ended my little groups experiments. Works best if you melt the mix with controlled heat and pour it into the rocket. Too much heat. About 100 ml of the stuff went up in my buddies basement. Wasn't confined so it didn't explode and we didn't set anything on fire, but the basement was like a London fog. About that time his mom comes down asking "Why's the house smell like burnt sugar?"

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    Last edited: Sep 1, 2008
  9. Read-Only Valued Senior Member

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    Heh!

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    Got the t-shirt - and it had a definate carmel smell to it.

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  10. Cannon Registered Senior Member

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    What burns bright green at 40,000 or so. I have some understanding of flight and distance and I could estimate that I was between 40,000 and 65,000 feet above ground. I could conclude that I was at burning temperatures but it was almost as bright as magnesium burning 10 feet away. It left a green luminecent glow behind it.
     
  11. Read-Only Valued Senior Member

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    Not sure how altitude figures into it but barium compounds are often used to produce green in pyrotechnics. Particularly the chloride and sometimes the carbonate. Other chloride compounds are also frequently employed.
     
  12. kevinalm Registered Senior Member

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    993
    Copper compounds as well, iirc.
     
  13. Read-Only Valued Senior Member

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    Ah, yes - absolutely right.

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