How To Make Sugar Rockets (Powder Fuel) 

How to make a fuse video⬇️ ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-uVLotjV9cdY.html

Before I said anything my wife said stay the hell away from her blender 😂

I made one, I called it Diabetes 2

When I was in 2nd grade I went to my local good neighbor pharmacy and asked Rick for some potassium nitrate and he said.... “Jeasus Christ kid! Are you building a bomb?!?” Then he showed me where they kept the potassium nitrate and sulfur. Thanks Rick the pharmacist from Wheatland Ca. I later joined the 82nd airborne division field artillery. I like the boom stuff.

Excellent, I used to make Gunpowder Rockets when younger. Now 76 years old and still interested.

*This Project Is inspired by the Late, Grant Thompson, The King of Random.* I decided to do my own spin on sugar rockets and in no way mean to discredit Grant

Don't ask for potassium nitrate if you're planning to manufacture pyrotechnics without a license. Ask for "stump remover" and check the label to be sure. Use sorbitol, not common sugar, to get a less brittle propellant grain. Since sorbitol burns slower, add 1% - 5% red (Fe-III) iron oxide to speed it back up.

Wonderful! I used to make these when I was a teenager but I love your surface area/burn rate examples. Very intuitive and even a third grader could comprehend what that means for acceleration.

Clear, crisp and concise. Most importantly this video shows how easy it is.

Some safety recommendations include ensuring no one bangs on a steel rammer with a steel hammer, and to wear leather gloves, long sleeve cotton clothing and eye protection, and never ram rocket motors indoors. Also PVC will shoot shrapnel if the motor CATOs, so you want distance after you light the fuse. All in all great video, you got really good results without having to use a spindle.

Well, I've been using KNO3 since the early 1970s and combing with sugar to make smoke bombs. We would buy it in the pharmacy - it was called "saltpeter." Combine with sulfur and some ground up charcoal, and, well, you make things that go boom. Great video, well explained.

I am from Gaza, thank you very much.

I've been launching 3D printed rockets with Estes F motors. I'm getting ready to try sugar fuel. This is the best video I have found on the topic. Good work.

Thanks Ethan.. this brings back good memories! Like many of us I use to use the same mix. I used it for for my airfix jets. They would take off after maybe 10 feet and fly 25/30ft up or down the garden before wings or tail would melt! The first time I showed my Dad I was about 10/11.. By the look in his eyes he was terrified and impressed at the same time.. .... He had no idea I was bunking school to make them..

It's really cool to see them start up and then run for a few seconds before lifting off, just like the big rockets at Cape Canaveral.

I really enjoyed your description of the surface area effecting the thrust. I'd always wondered why firework rockets start of slow. Nice explanation!

We used to make our own bangers ( well over half a century ago now!) Pop to the chemist, buy saltpetre, mix with water, soak newspaper in solution. Allow to dry properly. Cut up, roll skinny tube for fuse, bigger tube for charge. Then overwrap with plenty of brown paper and sellotape. Hey presto, bangers!

Awesome.. Don't think Dad would let me use the blender for this though! 😂👍

I was making 'sugar rockets' with sugar and potassium nitrate back in the early 60's using cardboard tubes from BB gun ammo . My dad always told me not to burn the house down .

I really enjoyed your descriptions and walk thru on the make of these. Extremely well executed and concise. 5/5 ⭐️

Awesome 👍 I got a rocket kit for my birthday about 20 years ago. My Dad and I made the rocket which consisted of a cardboard tube, some plastic fins, a wooden nose cone and a long stick to launch it. We even coloured it red and black with felt pens to match the fins. It had 3 small rocket motors and some electric matches to set them off. They were quite optimistic that it would fly 3 times, but the first time we set it off the rocket made a satisfying "whoosh" and then proceeded to spin out of control and landed in the woods at the far end of the field never to be seen again. Lol.

Excellent instructional video. I'll be doing this with nephews. Thank you! Hoping for that fuse video, since it wasn't covered here - I'd planned to use CVA waterproof cannon fuse, since Ive used it in fireworks (and fishing "lures") for decades.

outstanding, brings back memories from the 60's and growing up near Cape Canaveral...we were inspired......cheers from Orlando , Paul

Your paper example made perfect sense. Excellent vid.

I love the sound of rockets...great video 👍👌

As far as the *fuse* is concerned, I have had a ton of questions concerning where I got the fuse, or how I made it, and how do I attach it to the sugar rocket. I will have a fuse video coming soon, so hang tight and I will be showing you some fuse options.

I have found that by adding a small amount of ammunition nitrate to the mix, with the right"nozzle" you will get almost 2 times the lift, a bit faster burn. It doesn't take much to achieve this effect. Also Lactose instead of sugar is a much better"fuel", and sorbitol is even better as it's melting point is very low, as is the ammonium nitrate, the potassium nitrate never really dissolves, it just mixes intimately with the melted sugar. What you are doing works well, but for that extra push, a nozzle/ head at the end of the engine will give you more lift, as will the addition of a small amount of ammonium nitrate(like 2gms for every 20gms of potassium nitrate.) I think if you try this method with just the added ammonium nitrate, you will see a major difference between the amount of time it takes to get up there, and how much thrust you can generate in a very short time without explosion. The end of these"engines" are very important, there are a lot of great vids on RU-vid to show just how much the end "nozzle", which is made of carbon fiber or graphite, and the difference between have a directed thrust that is a bit bigger than the end of the engine itself, effectively catching all the energy that escapes from the engine in an almost 180° radius to be directed tore of a 90° radius of energy all being directed towards the ground instead of the ground and all directions in the 360° radius of air under the engine, which is basically a 180° out, with the right"nozzle" you can achieve 90° thrust towards the ground, which adds up to a massive difference in the altitude achieved by the same amount of fuel and oxidiser. Thanks for the video, I hope you follow up with the actual chemistry involved, the difference between the added Ammonium nitrate, and the difference between a rocket engine as shown here and one with a"nozzle" that will give you almost twice the downward trust. Also by melting all the fuel together into rocket candy, you will not have to deal with any uncontrollable reaction after the engine is lit and burning, a packed powder will never achieve the level of power and reliability as a solid rock engine would, I have no clue what would happen if you do add ammonium nitrate and not turn the whole thing into a "rocket candy". Thanks for the video!!!

That explanation was SO helpful! i really enjoyed this!

That was absolutely brilliant

Good remake of the KoR video. I had some success with 3d printing a cap that goes over the nozzle end. The temporary cap has an conical extrusion that helps with focusing the thrust and providing a perfect center for the drill. It gets removed once the final packing of clay is finished. Yes, An extra step, but once you have the basics, it's fun to tweak the design bit by bit.

Well presented. Especially liked the illustration of burn area via the paper representations.

RU-vid truly is the king of recommending me the best things. Now I know how to make sparklers and sugar rockets.

Thank you so much! I used to build rockets back when I was a kid and I happened to walk by a rocket department the other day and could not believe what kids have to pay for rocket engines now so thank you thank you thank you for this really great video!

This is crazy awesome!!😜🤯 Definitely want to try this someday😁👌🏻

I love how you explained everything in such a straightforward manner. I wondered why you drilled all the way through, and then you read my mind and explained it perfectly. I’m subscribing, thanks!

I love this. Thank you. My son will greatly appreciate your video!

Here after watching this vid 1 year ago, thanks for this, i finally got the chance to make these myself!

Great video but for those trying to repeat this video for themselves, keep in mind that if you live in an area with high humidity, the water in the air can get in your mixture and cause it not to ignite. In my area there is high humidity and I was forced to melt the mixture down and then place it in the PVC. Once it hardened, it worked perfectly.

For electric igniters I use a an electric burner and a throw away dollar store pan. Same mix as the rocket fuel except, keep separated. You will need 0000 steel wool and some wire leads. Solder the wire leads to each end of a small piece of steel wool little bigger that a Jasmine rice grain. Enough that when you apply 9v battery it will glow red. Melt sugar low temp "high temp may ignite the oxidizer" I use a double boiler. I liquefy the sugar slowly adding the oxidizer Potassium Nitrate KNO3 or Potassium Permanganate

dude like your way of elucidate simple rocket knowlwdge... as a kid i used to recycle those firework rockets, yes the black powder fuel tube was all hallowed out

A great video! I was using a mixture of potassium chlorate, sulphur and powdered charcoal. However, I would never ram this mixture down with a mallet. If not, it would blow up. So, the next time I make a rocket engine I'll use the potassium nitrate/sugar mixture you showed. Thanks a lot.

Great video, nice and concise without repetition or digression. One problem. It's been a year and still no fuse video

Pretty sweet!

thanks for all the info put forth in a simple way!

Hi, Ethan, cool stuff. I worked for a couple of years as a technician in the Propellant Development lab at Atlantic Research back in the early 80's mixing up all manner of different propellants, then transferred to Rocket Test and got to shoot a bunch of them off. I miss that stuff. So, sorry but I have to call you out on your safety gear. An accidental ignition would wreck your day and when you have the propellant mixture confined, the pressure rise in the vessel causes the burn rate to rise in a quick feedback loop that can turn into an explosion quickly. Same as gunpowder. So, when I do this for the kids, I'll be wearing safety glasses under a full face shield. For the compression process I'll build a plywood box with one open side, a hole in the top to put the bolt through, and a mount to hold the motor inside. That way if I do get a bang my hands and face are protected against flying PVC shards, which will just fly out the open side of the box. Watch out for dusting up the kno3 and sugar mixture and protect it from static. THis is gonna be *really* fun.

The best explanation on RU-vid, good job and yes you made it 100% clear. Only 1 question is dry mix as good as when others melt ? Cheers

Have you tried Hydrocal "used to medical casts" I have a jig using a nail. Pour the hydrocal, dries in minutes. Use a steel rod, load fuel and then pour some Hydrocal to cap. Great video!

Awesome! Gonna build these with my boy. Thanks for the video 👍

I mailed away for 5 cent sugar rocket “plans” from an add in the back of Modern Science magazine when I was 11 years old. So many great times were had. I filled the core hole with black powder and taped the fuse at the bottom. I could vary the acceleration by filling the core halfway with black powder. Think of a slow moving Apollo rocket taking off.

Great..good idea, thanks for sharing..😎👍

Nice video👌

the most comprehensive explanation

Oh yeah, this is something I need to try.

Great video. Well done. kudos to giving props to thekingofrandom

Interesting fact about the hole going all the way up the fuel... In big solid rocket boosters like SLS' (almost the same boosters as the shuttle used), they can make the hole shape different than a circle. They can make it a star patter, a "+" pattern, etc. These different patterns will change how the thrust changes over time. For example, the "+" pattern reaching the edges of the booster, leaving 4 quarters of a circle of fuel will give you immense thrust at launch but will burn out VERY quickly.

Like the little detail of explaining why we must drill that far.. thanks for the video

Nice video on sugar rockets Great explanations. No you didn't loose me on the surface area thing! Good job.

Hey Ethan can you do a video of making a sugar rocket by Heating the composition up and pouring it into the tube.

Awesome now I just need to add black powder at the top to make it go bang 💥

Your video was definitely the most enlightening! I love you man, I'm recently starting my channel here in Brazil, and the good part is that the materials are cheap here!

one best small rocket fuel videos ive seen so easy to do cheers

Awesome!

Actually, seeing what you have explained. This looks like a viable fire starting system for avid backpackers and campers instead of the standard magnesium starters. Just a thought (for any back woods people out there).

I dont know how this ended up in suggested video's but 👍 thats cool i never knew !!!

great recipe and appreciate the clear explanation of circular tube surface area expansion explanation , really hit home in a simple clear way whats going on with the burn process and why thrust increases due to expanding surface area ,, cheers mate

you could also use a plug of wood with a drift pin to tamp and make the cavity and not worry about friction whilst drilling, see poor man's james bond volume one. fun vid, man.

Cooooooooool!

Hey mr. Your the one God bless you.

Wow you done all the science on this one, so cool.

Excellent video.. rip Grant. Ethan can I use regular table sure and grind to a finer powder??

It would be fun to make a multistage rocket. Just use longer fuses for the later stages.

thank you so much for your wisdom, i finally know what iv been doing wrong. NOT GOING DEEP ENOUGH and also maybe not using a blender but a pastel and motar to grind the fuel.

This looks fun! Thanks!

Great video! But one question. Can you use the containers and blender for other foods after putting the stump remover in them?

does this mixture also work if i take a smaller pvc pipe because i dont want it to go that high as i'll be making firecrackers to the end of them and when they go that high you wont be able to hear the explosion anymore. And will a normal blender also work instead of a nutri bullet?

You explained it very clearly

I made suger rockets in the late 80s. Mine were core burners too. But I didnt drill the hole I made tools too do so. worked well good video

What made you go with a 3:1 ratio vs Grant's 65/35 mixture? Do you suppose adding some iron oxide to the mix might give it a bit more juice or does that only help in the cooked version? I experimented with Grant's mixtures of the sugar rocket fuel from a different video and found that the version he cooked up with iron oxide burned faster and produced more thrust. The problem of course with this mixture being cooked into a thick frosting-like paste is that it's hard to work with and it solidifies too fast to fill a pipe with it. I tried and ended up with an air pocket in the middle of a 2x12 PVC pipe and it went boom 10 seconds after ignition. lol

This is what we should have in 8 gathered physics and chemistry.

I was thinking they were smaller like a party trick or mini bottle rocket I do not believe that I will blow myself up today thank you 😆

Great explanation of the "surface area" subject!

You smarty pants!🤓 Those are cool😎 I love seeing your excitement when something you make goes just how you want it to😘 You can show how to make a giant heart in flames with fireworks going off😉😉😉 for ideas for Valentine's day❤️💕

It would look neat at night, we used to cut off CO2 cartridges at the base pack and full of match heads and then stick rubber bands up in there and then lite them he had to watch out they weren't packed too tight or they would blow up,

Yay! Now I can build that RPG that ive wanted!

Hi Ethan, thanks for Your video, I tried to build the same sugar engine like You 3 times but all the time engines explode quickly after lunch (around 20 meters altitude) I have also read that it is better to use sorbitol than sugar (it prevents from explosion) but as I suppose it is less powerful. Did some of your sugar engines explode? Did You tested sorbitol ?

The rocket has 3x more potassium nitrate than sugar, but they give all the glory to the sugar & name the rocket after it. Sad day for potassium nitrate. Great video tho, I just have weird thoughts, lmao.

When I was a kid, we used copper tubing. Straighten out the copper tube & pound one end closed with a hammer. We used a combination of sugar, saltpeter, and sulphur for fuel. Sometimes we'd steal one of his dad's shotgun shells and mix the gunpowder in to make it pretty. Don't remember what we used for a fuse but if we were in town, we'd use a train transformer. The fuel burned very hot and left a residue that looked like welding slag. We had a V-shaped launch pad like you'd use for fireworks. Those rockets would go so high, we'd lose sight of them.

Very clear explanation God bless you

Great place to start in this hobby, but, it is additive.

Lots of explanation on the way it burns which was great. Zero explanation on attaching a fuse or the stick. What can be used for a fuse. Do you have to buy fuses? Little more explanation on that would be nice.

Excellent explanation on the build and the burn.

Didn't have a blender like that as a kid .... used the hammer and an anvil method to powder stuff up. Had potassium nitrate, ammonium nitrate, carbon powder and magnesium powders to improve boost, but there was a limit beyond which they just exploded.

Wish you would have shown how you put the fuse in and what material the fuse was.

If I remember my high school chemistry, gun powder is something like 15% potassium nitrate, 10% sulfur, and 75% charcoal.

yes that looks very powerful . I like your project

It's good i saw this video as grown up. We used melting down NO3 in water impregnate newspapers 📰🗞️, dry it out, and cover the 🗜️ fuel body with aluminium foil. The model above is much more robust, potent, and easier to make.

5:22 so how did you get it from where you made them out into the desert?

Hamas tecnology

pretty cool little project to do with the kids.

Cool! Thank you!