Propellant
Origin
Middle English propellen, from Latin propellere, from pro- before + pellere to drive
Definition
1: a substance used to drive forward or onward by or as if by means of a force that imparts motion
Description
A propellant is a chemical which is used in the production of energy and pressurized gas that is used to create movement of a fluid or to generate propulsion of a vehicle or projectile or other object. Common propellants are energetic materials and consist of a fuel; like gasoline, jet fuel, rocket fuel, and an oxidizer. Propellants are burned or otherwise decomposed to produce the propellant gas. Other propellants are simply liquids that can readily be vaporized.
In rockets and aircraft propellants are used to produce a gas that can be directed through a nozzle, thereby producing thrust. In rockets, rocket propellant produces an exhaust and the exhausted material is usually expelled under pressure through a nozzle. The pressure may be from a compressed gas, or a gas produced by a chemical reaction. The exhaust material may be a gas, liquid, plasma, or, before the chemical reaction, a solid, liquid or gelled. In aircraft, the propellant is usually a fuel and is combusted with the air.
In ballistics propellants fill the interior of an ammunition cartridge or the chamber of a gun or cannon, leading to the expulsion of a bullet or shell (gunpowder, smokeless powder, and large gun propellants). Explosives can be placed in a sealed tube and act as a deflagrant low explosive charge in mining and demolition, to produce a low velocity heave effect (gas pressure blasting).
Cold gas propellants are used to fill an expansible bag or membrane, such as an automotive airbag (gas generator propellants) or in pressurised dispensing systems, such as aerosol sprays, to force a material through a nozzle. Examples of can propellants include nitrous oxide that is dissolved in canned whipped cream, and the dimethyl ether or low-boiling alkane used in hair spray.
Technically, the word propellant is the general name for chemicals used to create thrust. For vehicles, the term propellant refers only to chemicals that are stored within the vehicle prior to use, and excludes atmospheric gas or other material that may be collected in operation.
Amongst the English-speaking laymen, used to having fuels propel vehicles on Earth, the word fuel is used. In Germany, the word Treibstoff—literally "drive-stuff"—is used; in France, the word ergols is used; it has the same Greek roots as hypergolic, a term used in English for propellants which combine spontaneously and do not have to be set ablaze by auxiliary ignition system.
In rockets, the most common combinations are bipropellants, which use two chemicals, a fuel and an oxidiser. There is the possibility of a tripropellant combination, which takes advantage of the ability of substances with smaller atoms to attain a greater exhaust velocity, and hence propulsive efficiency, at a given temperature.
Although not used in practice, the most developed tripropellant systems involves adding a third propellant tank containing liquid hydrogen to do this.[1]
