Sodium Water Hybrid Rocket?

What happens when I make a rocket that uses sodium and water as propellent?
Help me make videos by donating here: / codyslab
Find me on:
Instagram: / codydonreeder
Threads: www.threads.ne...
Reddit: / codyslab
̶T̶w̶i̶t̶t̶e̶r̶ X: / codyslab

[@omegaflameZ]

Calculating the integral by just cutting the paper and weighing it is hilariously clever. Bravo

[@DryW4t3r]

If only i knew about this in my highschool math exam... I would've just brought a scale with me.

[@Paksusuoli95]

This used to be common practice and I am sure Cody is aware. He seems to have a chemistry background, and NMR signals used to be integrated by weighing the paper.

[@jmpattillo]

@@Paksusuoli95 I remember hearing about it back in college in the early 90s. It’s amazing how clever people were when they had to be.

[@TheBackyardChemist]

It is still used to this day in some undergrad chemistry labs, where "math is hard but we have milligram scales".

[@bobweiram6321]

At first I was like, don't tell me this incredibly brilliant guy somehow skipped calculus.

[@naominekomimi]

From an engineer- weighing the paper of the area below the curve of the graph and then taking into account the per-square weight of the paper is one of the most ingenius methods of doing a definite integral that I have ever seen. The rocket is an extremely cool idea, but I'm almost too distracted by that wonderful old school integration technique to appreciate the rocket.

[@braedenfischer6018]

Im in the same boat lmao, saw that and was so mindblown

[@tenns]

classical technic! before numerical integration and quantized data

[@braedenfischer6018]

@tenns thats awesome. You gotta love when nifty math tricks pop up every once in awhile

[@Corndog1]

Yeah its crazy how many people arent told this is how it was done back in the day!

[@kazsmaz]

​@@Corndog1counting the squares would do the same job

[@TheManlol12]

I haven’t watched Cody in years. The fact that he’s still wearing the chain mail makes me so happy

[@teeanahera8949]

Wow, I watched him make that chain mail, I think his old gf was there at the time. I think this is the first I’ve seen since then too. Take note of the increase in subscribers, ‘very impressive’ (to quote Project Farm channel). As a piece of steam punk art the “rocket” would make a great ornament on his wall.

[@whattheblah8773]

you just brought to my attention that it has been YEARS PLURAL i feel old

[@eamonia]

Yup, he hasn't taken it off even once...

[@notexactlyrocketscience]

he has. i always thought he wears it when it needs to@@eamonia

[@rockclimbinghacks9222]

Why does he wear the chainmail?

[@xzendon]

The fact that you weighed the graph instead of doing a ton of math is amazing.

[@MetaDecker]

I chuckled at first until I realized that Cody actually just did a genius level hack - Impressive! One of the reasons I love this content.

[@Corndog1]

Yeah its really cool, thats how analytical scientists used to do it back in the day. Tons of stories from my older colleagues of weighing their analytical paper lol

[@matsv201]

back before there was computer there was loads of hacks like this used. This is not even close from being the most amazing. I was just a bit to late to use most of them

[@ІгорАлієв]

I'va heard of this approach, and it was used say 40-50 years ago.

[@allesklarklaus147]

While it is pretty cool.. simply entering the numbers into a computer, letting it draw the graph and do the integration would be a bit faster.

[@calebrobinson3144]

Cody still being active makes me so fucking happy. Thankyou for years of great organic content :D

[@MrMilarepa108]

You and me both brother.

[@GeorgeStyles]

and me :) @@MrMilarepa108

[@Bjawu]

There's not even an ad (or worse, a sponsorship). This is peak youtube.

[@OldManBOMBIN]

Three cheers for Cody! HIP-HIP!

[@grebulocities8225]

Mostly inorganic content actually.

[@dabeamer42]

I worked in a pesticide research lab in the 70's, and we used the same weigh-the-paper method to calculate the parts-per-million (or billion) of whatever pesticide we were testing for. We had a PDP-11 and a PDP-12 available to us, but weighing the paper was easier, and just as accurate.

[@bazooka93]

Blessed be those who gave us modern HPLC.

[@jamiecurran3544]

😁👍

[@johnnychang4233]

@@bazooka93 You can always have a slide rule and tables of logarithms as with NASA Apollo engineers 😉

[@bazooka93]

@@johnnychang4233 I used Chemstation in the past and right now I'm not going below Chromeleon level

[@randomnik70]

The best of OG KZbin. Rusty metal, cracked containers, duct tape all over, dodgy camera work... what more could we want? So happy Cody's still going strong!

[@breadtoast1036]

my man cody has been through some rough shit and still to this day has never dropped effort or quality in videos, he will always be one of the few old youtube legends

[@SansFilet]

I don't know much of it, what kind of rough shit?

[@lordbored2706]

Cody and LA Beast are the OGs

[@user93237]

​@@SansFilet AFAIK: Unfairly expelled from university for "misusing" equipment, investigation from feds for "misuse" of chemicals and explosives (went nowhere AFAIK), permanent demonetization by KZbin due to explosives, breakup with girlfriend, lung disease, hernia.

[@Lensr]

Breakup, government interventions, doxxing, depression, etc.

[@SlothWolfen]

@@Lensr if the feds arent after you, you arent trying hard enough!

[@SomethingSyncopated]

It’s been years since I’ve watched Cody‘s lab. Something I used to watch daily and I got immense pleasure out of this. It’s good to see you’re doing well man.

[@MurkyDizZ]

Watching Cody build things from random pipe pieces makes me feel like I'm on a watch list

[@jazzdirt]

It's a pipe and it might explode, that doesn't make it a pipe bomb... Eh wait 🤔

[@jameslast3192]

I was thinking the same thing!

[@rvaughan74]

Well of course you are. Now.

[@johnladuke6475]

Well it's interesting that you feel that way, because as his viewers we're all on some level of watch list.

[@nustada]

The fundamental nature of power is that it can be used for both good and evil. We will never leave the crib of earth until we develop a culture of responsibility, bravery and trust.

[@MalcolmCooks]

weighing the paper was a clever idea, but subtracting the negative piece by using it to tare the scales was a stroke of genius. you truly have the mind of an engineer

[@16m49x3]

That's just common baking tactics

[@GeomancerHT]

Weighting 101.

[@adriansaidan1736]

​@@GeomancerHTRight but when you weigh during baking, you're not using the mass of the object to calculate an area, which is what cody is doing.

[@simonmaverick9201]

I should add, Cody is a bright and intelligent man - being able to muddle these projects together on a budget is inspiring.

[@Nighthawkinlight]

That worked way better than I thought it would! I figured you would have melting problems. I wonder if it would be better to inject both the water and the sodium as a liquid. Or you could fiber reinforce the sodium with something like steel wool. In any case I'm interested to see more!

[@Misack8]

That's actually a sound idea! Maybe some kind of mesh. Would the steel wool react with the melting sodium in the pouring step?

[@lynndonbarr3153]

I'm also curious as to the implications of reducing the nozzle diameter. It seems to me that the smaller hole would force the water and sodium to react longer before exiting the nozzle

[@adondriel]

@@lynndonbarr3153 only issue is that it increases the pressure in the chamber, and im not sure how much pressure those pipes he is using is rated for.

[@ilyaholt8607]

At the moment it's a solid fuel rocket, whereas injecting both water and sodium as liquids would turn this into a liquid fuel rocket. That complicates things a LOT. I don't think there's a single model rocket enthusiast or professional experimenting with liquid fuels, so it's better to instead focus on optimising the solid rocket system. There's a huge number of things that could be improved here.

[@felixar90]

Hasn’t Thunderfoot been working on something like this recently? Using NaK (sodium-potassium alloy) cause it’s already liquid. I think he tried both automotive injectors and some kind of ultrasound nebulizer. (That got shorted by the liquid metal)

[@Georgewilliamherbert]

Cody, for flying rockets there’s what’s called the Amateur Exception in the FAA regulations and people regularly build large metallic VTVL and ascending liquid (sometimes hybrid) rockets and fly them. At Black Rock in Nevada the airspace is under a quirky uncontrolled category where the paperwork is particularly easy. The folks at Friends of Amateur Rocketry site in California are great supporters and a launch site as well.

[@16m49x3]

I'm sure he got burnt when the fbi came to take all his heavy water

[@scottj273]

I thought he drank all of the heavy water.. 😆

[@-danR]

I believe Cody is misunderstanding the "Contains no substantial metal parts" part of the regulations, which would pertain to casing, motor-proper, etc. elements, not the propellant composition. In a working sodium rocket, I (if not Cody) would use mostly ceramic elements, and carbon-fiber-wound, casings and high-pressure components (air chamber and water chamber and lines).

[@hvip4]

​@@-danRthe metal pipe seems pretty metallic though 😀

[@TheAechBomb]

​@@hvip4sounds like you only read half of the comment

[@shipwreck9146]

Making a rocket out of spare parts in a cave. Absolute legend.

[@stinkyfungus]

TONY STARK WAS ABLE TO BUILD THIS... IN A CAVE! WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS!

[@mastershooter64]

@@stinkyfungus "Well I'm not Tony Stark sir"

[@joes2359]

Idk if youre talking about al qaeda or cody 😂

[@alnicospeaker]

Bad timing, gives hamas-y vibes :x

[@timoleary92]

​@@stinkyfungustttt5tt

[@calmestgames1352]

"Now, just because it's made out of pipe, and will probably explode, does not mean it's a pipe bomb. Intention matters." -Cody's Lab 2023. Thank you, Cody, for another amazing video. Not completely done with the video, and I don't know how to suggest this, but I think the optimal setup would have a minimal amount of water come into contact with as much sodium as possible. I'm not sure how this can be achieved.

[@saulsavelis575]

14:23

[@chemistryofquestionablequa6252]

It's actually a really good point. It's the difference between an experiment and a constructive intent/destructive device case.

[@battlesheep2552]

Technically, a rocket is just a bomb used for fast

[@Surdalegacy]

Maybe misting it instead of spraying it? Smaller nozzle for the water to increase its surface area while using less actual water. Also increasing the surface area of the sodium would help but idk what to do about the sodium melting from the combustion. Maybe make a Cement with sodium and like sawdust

[@aserta]

@@Surdalegacy Could be a chamber that both contains (holds) and mists the sodium chunk. Initially air pressure could be used to put enough pressure on a water jacket that surrounds this chamber, but then you could siphon an amount of pressure from the chamber itself to pressurize the water (kinda like how guns use a specific amount of gas from the barrel to cycle the action). The chamber would have tiny little holes all over it for a full coverage of the sodium chunk. If possible, i'd build the sodium on a heat resistant metal, which would both hold the sodium in place and keep it in "focus"' for the misting process. I'd shape the thing into a sphere, and the misting chamber and the pressure vessel for the water would also be spherical and have (thus) the best method to contain the pressure before exhausting them to the nozzle.

[@yutub561]

cody is sitting in front of a computer that could have done that for him in seconds and instead chose to draw it on graph paper, cut it out, and weigh it haha. this is why we love watching this channel. dudes way of doing things is always so creative

[@filonin2]

You'd have to learn excel or something first though.

[@pvic6959]

uh... he 100% would pick that up super fast if he didnt already konw@@filonin2

[@sneakythumbs9900]

Is it a bit? I thought so at the start

[@8paolo96]

Paper weighting was the "official", or at least the common way, to find area of the graph. Some of my old Uni professors often recall this as an anecdote.

[@GeomancerHT]

@@filonin2 learn excel? any scientist will have already learnt that.

[@dynamite6507]

So good to see cody back in good spirits. Seems like he got a new helper

[@wardyosh]

The computer next to Cody whilst he is doing paper based integration is just a paper weight, whilst the paper weight is the computer. Love it

[@DavidLindes]

under-rated comment!

[@heroslippy6666]

We have technology, scissors are great for cutting paper. Best technological innovation since sliced bread.

[@alexanderberg1553]

I didnt even notice it at the moment, hillarious indeed 😂

[@DavidLindes]

@@heroslippy6666 wait, do scissors post-date sliced bread?!?? ;)

[@heroslippy6666]

@@DavidLindes no ;(

[@RottingFarmsTV]

I like how Cody goes from hand soldering pipes together, to owning a lathe, back to hand soldering. Fits this channel so well.

[@technovikingfan]

Excellent observation man!

[@rohrertech8882]

Use the simplest tool that gets it done. I have a small machine shop, but i'm not ashamed to reach for a hammer, if that's all the precision that's required. If at first you don't succeed, get a bigger hammer, unless the reason you failed was overshoot. Then get a smaller or more precise hammer. Make it as simple as it can be, and no simpler.(ave)

[@trevorjaster4072]

Probably just using someone else’s I don’t believe he has one him self maybe at the ranch he does

[@RottingFarmsTV]

@@rohrertech8882 good to hear advice from someone with the means to back it up

[@RottingFarmsTV]

@@trevorjaster4072 I am not sure either. I recall him having a bunch of equipment like 6 years ago though haha.

[@ConnorSinclairCavin]

Although somewhat dangerous in atmosphere, this would be an amazingly good idea for galactic fuel. In the vacuum of space it becomes a very stable and renewable resource that can easily be shaped for various purposes

[@raa6504]

I love how Cody greets more and more energetically with every new video. We're super happy to see you too, man.

[@noxabellus]

he seems like he's really doing well. great to see

[@LarryKidkil]

so excited for that codyslab notification

[@raa6504]

I know he had one or two rough years. Hearing his new girlfriend helping him in videos is also nice. I'm so happy for them.

[@Jefferson-ly5qe]

​@@raa6504they look like a cute couple, good for him

[@jokalary]

Cody is now becoming a "not technically a rocket" rocket scientist.

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

The phrase "It's not exactly rocket science," can now be said with a different intonation.

[@sakesaurus]

​@@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721hm hm I mean it just is rocket science. The part where you test the drive instead of launching the rocket up. But for legal reasons you might clain otherwise.

[@Mrminecraftdudee]

Hey that’s me! Thanks for the autograph Cody!!

[@s.stella6344]

I feel like i've gone back in time six years or so. Great Job Cody! Jack Parsons would be proud.

[@martys9972]

Something to try next time would be to melt the sodium (or NaK) onboard, and inject it with water *and air* (or oxygen) into the reaction chamber. The reaction of water and sodium produces hydrogen, which if ignited would produce much more thrust than the expansion of hydrogen (and byproducts) alone, so an igniter may be prudent. I think you could get in excess of 50 seconds of specific impulse this way. Also, please note that N/s is newtons per second, whereas impulse has units of newton-seconds (N-s). Good luck, and I look forward to your next attempt!

[@SuperStruct]

We found the rocket surgeon

[@johndododoe1411]

Agreed except I don't have the knowledge to calculate the potential efficiency . Another mistake is that the water only rocket produced thrust, specifically the opposite of the thrust applied to the exiting water and argon . This is the principle behind both water rockets, cold gas thrusters and ion thrusters, none of which burn or react the fuel .

[@donjud1]

The world needs more people like Cody.

[@jeremyocassan]

I'm glad I read your comment before making my own. Back to guns.

[@karolstopinski8350]

Could it also be that sodium is elastic enough that a motor driven screw pump could squeeze a thin noodle into the reaction chamber at a steady rate to burn it more efficiently? Maybe just warm it a bit with a melting tip for easier squeezing? Or pre-shape it like a rod and feed it like a TIG welding wire? :)

[@CIubDuck]

The whole "cutting out the traces of the paper and weighing it" to calculate Newton Seconds genuinely blew my mind. It makes total mathematical sense, but I've never seen it used this way. Cutting paper and weighing it is such a nice transmission between mathematics and physics. Perhaps it's a know thing, but it's the first time I've ever seen it, and it just made me understand these types of graphs so much more.

[@shadesoftime]

This was actually the more common method before computers were a thing. Otherwise you'd have to perform complex calculations and stuff

[@SeanZ482]

Maybe I'm just really dumb but Cody breaking down the math in the charts by weighing the physical object depicting them and interpreting it in real time actually broke my brain

[@alexandermolberg5577]

That was simply a lazy calculus

[@NGC1433]

The area under the graph is all we need!!!

[@colibrimecatronic9922]

That's basically how analogue computing works.

[@TheBeaker59]

I did my Chemistry degree in the early 1980's this technique was actually taught and relatively commonly used in an analogue world.

[@itoibo4208]

also useful for determining the center of pressure for your rocket.

[@lexinexi-hj7zo]

I LOVE HOW CODY EXPLAINS ALL THE MATHS AND HARD PARTS!! I hate most documentaries on youtube because they completely skip over the important stuff, figuring their target audience is both dumb and lazy. Cody explains it how you can recreate it.

[@DigitalJedi]

The combination of night time POV footage and the fact it's a homemade rocket in an old mine makes this whole video feel like some proper mad scientist stuff from the days of old KZbin. Excellent and exactly what I've come to expect from Cody.

[@stardustjustlikeyou]

Cody, I want you to know that this is truly one of my favorite KZbin channels in existence. just a man and his curiosity. So genuine compared to some popular channels that are around today. Really happy to see you still being so excited to make videos for us. Thanks.

[@Just_Sara]

Cody is pleasantly absurd, and it's why we love him so. Of course, I mean it as the highest compliment.

[@johnfrian]

"just a man and his curiosity." And sometimes his chickens :D

[@AliasDrakes]

The rocket design looks like something from Fallout. I'd like to see this done with a reaction chamber and a pressure chamber, then the nozzle. Thank you for the video, this was fun!

[@liyifenn]

Seeing Cody genuinely smile again warms my heart. Keep on keeping on!

[@retroloungemusic]

Cody strikes me as a guy who does exactly what he wants. Don't ever change, Brother.

[@ValDominator]

naw man

[@andybaldman]

That’s how you be single forever.

[@Verrisin]

the only limitations is government permissions XD

[@teeanahera8949]

I really must disagree, Cody is pretty strict about abiding by the law and this video is a prime example. I am sure he is mindful of presenting himself as working within the law so that his viewers don’t get anarchic and do stupid illegal shit ‘because Cody did it”.

[@grekygrek]

​@@teeanahera8949are you dumb? Doing what he wants doesnt mean breaking the damn law

[@aapjeaaron]

I'd advise on using a steam injector that uses the chamber pressure to feed water into the reaction chamber. It will be much more scalable then having to force in water using a compressed gas.

[@fall3n245]

So refreshing to see Cody doing these insane science experiments with common everyday materials seemingly for his and our enjoyment alone. No flashy production or top of the line fancy gear. Just a child like fascination for all to share

[@kght222]

metallic sodium isn't exactly common, but it certainly is easy to make with common salt.

[@electroninja8768]

If you want to increase thrust consistency you could use a backsplash approach for the water, and pour the molten sodium in the "combustion" chamber and let it cool around some threads.(Put big beefy threads in the combustion chamber to ensure the sodium doesn't fall out). As the sodium reacts, it should make a "good-enough" splash cone to help it maintain thrust until it is nearly spent. TLDR: Inject water from below(but just above the neck of the rocket nozzle) and aim the injector at the middle. This would likely also reduce the total mass of the engine by reducing its length.

[@WolfganGt3]

In the current design, what about putting a "grate" or a "sodium catch" right before the exit of the nozzle, and at one or 2 spots up the rocket to catch the salt?

[@OperationDarkside]

Wanted to suggest the same, but you worded it better. The basic principle should be to use the rapid creation of gas to push the sodium further into a reaction chamber and not out the nozzle.

[@erinmac4750]

Wow. My non-scientist self was visualizing something similar, but I couldn't begin to explain it. Thanks for the explanation!

[@hubrisnaut]

That a great idea. Also the trust could be adjusted to some degree by metering the water. There will be a curve as the sodium gets farther from the jets which could be compensated for, to some degree, by increasing pressure. I don't know if you follow a channel called "Breaking Taps". He is working on a hydrogen peroxide rocket motor and has done some work on atomizing injectors. In particular in regard to the atomization that occurs when two solid streams intersect. We are talking tiny ports in an array (In his case a flat plate for injecting the peroxide onto silver mesh.). So, among other ideas, why not have a water port ring array? The ring injector ports could be designed to intersect at a an optimal angle in the chamber, atomizing the water. I think the sodium could be poured in such a way as to present the optimal surface area at any given time. Strategic voids which vary the surface area could be incorporated. The surface of the sodium would be the only thing reacting at any given moment. There is a lot of research and patents about atomization online.

[@regorschneid5245]

I thought that the engine would explode since the burn started at the top rather than at the nozzle. Fortunately the sodium was ejected and didn't plug the nozzle. This was a lot of fun to watch and your calculating was bliss.

[@Gin-toki]

A solenoid valve would propably be a good idea for ignition. Could even be pneumatically operated, if you want to avoid electricity at all.

[@Crushnaut]

Jank is the name of the game

[@user2C47]

A solenoid valve won't have nearly as much flow as a ball valve operated by a sufficiently powerful spring.

[@Gin-toki]

@@user2C47 Just a matter of speccing the correct type of automatic valve.

[@TastyBusiness]

Yes! Always down to watch fresh Cody's Lab! Glad to see you back.

[@Fourwheeldriveslides205]

It says it was posted 18min ago

[@saulsavelis575]

one of the most interesting ytubers

[@Science-Vlog]

he is original

[@TheDarklingWolf]

​@@Fourwheeldriveslides205Cody releases videos for early access on Patreon, sometimes we get early drafts of videos and he refines them based on feedback too.

[@AndrewAhlfield]

I love seeing the ingenuity and rigor that you use in the concepts, build, measurement, and explanation of the setup! Weighing the paper is so great, it gave me a visceral sense for what an integral actually is that I never got from all my calculus courses!

[@joshbeaulieu7408]

It is literally the area under the graph. Technically he didn't do calculus because he did not mathematically figure out the area. Granted, if you are just tinkering it is a decent quick and dirty method.

[@coloradoing9172]

@@joshbeaulieu7408 He did do it mathematically by calculating the weight ratio.

[@Elizabeth-no9vq]

Only Cody would wear chainmail as a safety measure 😂

[@chitlitlah]

Gotta disagree with you there. Any guy would wear chainmail if he could. Only Cody has the diligence to actually make a set of it.

[@Greendawn-di3dl]

Better than a flesh wound

[@pfinton]

Arrows are just rockets with string motors and small stone payloads. So the same armor should work.

[@madeintexas3d442]

Do not stop on this project. This was really cool and I hope to see more. I wonder if you could use a sleeve around the motor and fill it with liquid nitrogen to keep the sodium solid and maybe machine a different center post with channels that the water could be forced into to provide a more efficient burn?

[@DirtmopAZ]

I love how you get curious about something and just do it. Then you show us! And measuring the paper weight!? Come on! This is why I’ve been following your channel since 2017. Amazing

[@sqeeye3102]

Thank you for always being there for us, Cody. I know life hasn't always played fairly with you but you've always been there for us and especially us old timer viewer have noticed and appreciated your effort. I hope you are able to continue pursuing AND sharing your hobbies with us for as long as you wish to and are able. Thank you for all the work you do in front of and behind the camera.

[@nikolaikostka7632]

I got to meet Cody at Opensauce, I had the honor of being in his creator discussion and it was surreal. Cody is 100% genuine and as humble as they come. You can tell a lot of the creators in the KZbin science area look up to him.

[@antibull4869]

He’s gotta be one of the oldest. He was the first person i subscribed to and I’ve been on youtube for 10.5yrs lol.

[@davidtruelove5022]

Yep

[@jamiecurran3544]

The guys legendary!😁👍

[@covodex516]

Ah man I loved that you used the olden, golden method of just weighing the paper inside your curve to calculate the square area! I always sucked at maths; curve discussions were the last thing I really understood, as soon as it got to integrals I just tapped out - not within my realm of abilities I'm afraid, so I turned to chemistry as my profession - most of the math you gotta do as chemist that works in production is hilariously easy. But once in a while you do have to calculate stuff like this and I absolutely love this clever and super easy method for calculation. It has a long history and it can be surprisingly precise, too.

[@waynestock300]

Wow, that episode was epic. I love the real hand to hand science going on here.

[@OlSmokey304]

This video has an energy I haven't seen from you in years dude. I could be reading to much into stuff but it seems like you've been in a slump and are finally out the other end. Glad to see it😁

[@loofy530]

It will never stop being strangely satisfying to me how much soudium looks like Blu Tack when twisted.

[@cberge8]

Great test. I would recommend reducing the argon pressure and using a sintered bronze pneumatic muffler for the injector to both better atomize the water stream and also give a longer impulse time to limit the unreacted sodium.

[@up4open]

At this point Argon is driving a Ferrari on a go-cart track. Just use pressure atmosphere and save the money for more serious test.

[@cberge8]

@@up4open Argon is fairly inexpensive and removes the possibility of any unwanted side reactions.

[@topsecret1837]

@@up4open We’re talking about sodium fuel here. Any oxidizer at great pressure, nonetheless the explosive nature of exposing it to water will cause it to ignite.

[@up4open]

@@cberge8 like?

[@Ugly_German_Truths]

@@up4open "pressure of the Atmosphere".

[@johnwheatley231]

Cool content. Thanks it was very entertaining, I like your authentic personality. The problem I see is that by adding the water to the top of the sodium tube your introducing a lot of uncertainties in the burn. One clog and... boom. Solid rocket engines always burn from the bottom up. Not top down. I'm thinking about using a sodium rod instead of a tube and introducing the water at the bottom of the thrust pipe. The sodium rod would sit on a metal grid stopping it from falling down onto the nozzle opening. As the sodium rod burns it will continuously fall introducing more sodium into the water contact area at the bottom. Just an idea from an engineer from a completely different field. But I have always been interested in rocket design. would love to hear your take on this idea.

[@arespectableaccountname4481]

I'm not super familiar with rocketry but I bet you could probably cast the liquid sodium into something porous, like a carbon sponge (carbonized white bread, etc depending on ideal density) which would ideally burn away with the sodium but not before it, allowing some level of control on the loss of liquid fuel via wicking. That being said there may be unforeseen interactions between trace chemicals in charcoal that may make other materials preferable. Good luck!

[@canadiangemstones7636]

Cast it in orbeez!

[@reed560]

I love rocket physics, and am extremely excited for this project. I hope you continue it even though the first run wasn't as great as was hoped. I see a lot of folks suggest essentially a structure for the fuel to hold on to, but I worry what kind of weight that adds while also removing possible fuel mass. I think one idea I liked was having the reaction take place with some space before the nozzle. That way any sodium that comes loose into the exhaust still has time to react with some excess water. I think my favorite part of the video is the measuring set up. I would say finding the right damping coefficient would be best though. As if the rocket is shaking up and down it might cause the fuel to shake loose even more. Thanks for a great video Cody

[@T_Zubaro]

I hope what I think makes sense, but could he not extend the water injector nosel further into the “fuel” tank similar to the rod he first placed in to fill the tank, just long enough to ignite the bottom part of the sodium, giving the sodium first of all no chance to ignite at the top of the tank first and also making it start at the bottom and not just make it fall out from the top. The question with this would be if the sodium can burn all the way from the bottom to the top if the water injector nosel pretty much keeps it airtight inside. But if this theoretically works it would also lead to a more constant reaction rather than a random reaction inside the tank. But theoretical and practical obviously highly vary so it’s hard to predict what would actually happen.

[@InATreeOrInTheSea]

Awesome! I love the concept. It seems to me your most immediate need for improvement is in regards to fuel mixing. Ideally the only fuel present in the reaction chamber is that to be immediately reacted i.e. the amount of gasoline in a combustion chamber suitable to drive a piston. When you first explained your concept, I assumed you would be using granularized sodium. Seeing the sodium at normal or whatever your ambient temperature was, I can see how this could be difficult, but I think it's your best bet. In my mind the ideal engine would have the fuel mixture entering the reaction chamber in a volatilized state with maximum surface area at a controlled rate that matched that of reaction. I'm thinking two nozzles, one spraying powdered sodium and the other water. Anyway, love what you're doin man, don't let your reaction product exceed the escape possibility of your reaction chamber.

[@davisle4350]

I swear Cody is the coolest dude ever. Never ceases to amaze me. Such a badass man.

[@TriVyteOfficial]

Definitely try putting a ring of plates around your bolt in the mold to expose as much of the sodium to the water as possible

[@anonimodecm]

Or a mesh or so of some material to preventa the melted sodium to let go through the gas channel

[@mortenrl1946]

I was imagining a design with a baffle stack, like a suppressor. Could maybe keep most of the sodium inside and reacting.

[@Mis73rRand0m]

some kind of ceramic mesh, like the inside of a catalytic converter is what i'd suggest.

[@anonimodecm]

@@Mis73rRand0m or a pool of some kind, letting the gas escape but not the sodium

[@ElectricityTaster]

Like a gun silencer?

[@Spartacus-4297]

Cody, I have two points of advice, 1) pouring the sodium in multiple pours, will result in voids in the material leading to combustion instability. & 2) try creating a pure argon environment to melt and pour the sodium into your combustion chamber to resolve this issue. On a positive note using a threaded rod for the central cavity within the sodium is a great idea as it creates additional surface area for the ignition of the sodium. However, that may be what led to the engine-rich exhaust. (Edit; spelling error.) P.S., If you review the slow-motion footage you can see that the additional surface area introduced by using the threaded rod did in fact lead to excellent ignition of the engine. I believe that the engine-rich exhaust may have been caused due to combustion instability introduced through the use of multiple fuel pours leading to cavitation (voids) within the sodium which in turn led to rapidly varying surface area within the fuel grain creating the instability seen.

[@sharqueeshajohnalaneesha2019]

This could also be achieved by remelting the sodium once it's in the tube. Another factor in the combustion instability may be insufficient pressure forcing the water into the combustion chamber, allowing the exhaust to prevent water from flowing into the engine until the combustion ceases, resulting in an oscilating combustion pattern.

[@leonardoulian764]

That in my view doesn't affect the main problem of the concept which is liquid Na being expelled from the combustion engine. I think that he must first address a way to reduce, not increase the interaction of Na with water in order to reduce the temperature in the chamber and develop a more consistent and steady burn.

[@EraYaN]

Testing horizontally might also be easier, build a little carriage on wheels or ball bearings and have it press up against a little load cell. The super cheap hx711 based sets will do 10 or 80Hz sampling. Makes the data processing a lot easier, and no weight loss.

[@Syntomis]

Avoiding counting integral by weighting a paper was absolutely genius idea! XD

[@MatthewThomas88]

Haven’t seen you in several months brother… love your work! This is just what I needed today

[@cyrenecai]

I'd definitely like to see you try with NaK; I thought of that shortly after the start of the video, as it'll allow you to spray it as a mist into the spray of water and get a much more thorough reaction. Though you'll probably have to make your own as I don't think you can just buy it. After you get that working, then maybe you can look into adding injection of pure oxygen to the reaction chamber to burn all the hydrogen being produced to get even more thrust. One more thought I had, that would allow the use of pure sodium, is to melt it first and keep it in a pressure vessel to spray through a nozzle. How to keep it molten is the trick; given that it melts at 98C, ie just below the boiling point of water at 1 bar, what comes to my mind is to have nested pressure tanks - the sodium tank can be in the center, then the outer layer would be the water tank, heated to well above boiling so that the sodium stays liquid, and the water tank will be pressurized by the water vapor. When the reactants are released into the combustion chamber, the superheated water should flash into steam, enabling even better reactivity with the sodium droplets, plus the additional heat should boost thrust? It would be more complicated to build, but it's a thought. Anyway, it's good to see a proper old school Mad Cave-Scientist Cody video again! Thank you :)

[@omniocto5792]

Love your work Cody, been fan since high school, I was bad at physics and chemistry but your videos sparked more interest in them thank you for making videos, 7 years later Im still watching your amazing content

[@somestarman892]

Awesome project! Using a different binder would help, as I see some sodium leave the nozzle unreacted. Also, the reaction is unstable, so maybe an injector that goes through the motor casing would be better.

[@xzendon]

I think if you add some features to help hold the sodium in place, kind of like heat sink fins on the inside of the combustion chamber, that should help reduce molten sodium getting expelled. You might also be interested in Thunderfoot's exploration of sodium as a rocket fuel, where he's using microjets to improve control of the combustion vs solid sodium. You might even be able to make superheated steam and just shoot the sodium into that, which I imagine would be a ludicrously efficient burn!

[@Eleanor_Ch]

I thought that ThunderFoot intends to use it as jet fuel.

[@LordDragox412]

@@Eleanor_Ch God dammit, does he want to melt steel beams? I always knew he was behind it all!

[@MediumPointBallPoint]

@@Eleanor_Ch I thought he was going to add it to ships diesel fuel to react with the combustion products and de-acidify the oceans. Maybe we missed the rocket...😜

[@Eleanor_Ch]

​@@MediumPointBallPoint I can't wait for a video where he details the plan. I hope it will be his next one and his recent videos are primer for it.

[@c6q3a24]

@@MediumPointBallPoint The oceans love CO2. Oceanic plant life produce MOST of the world's oxygen - by consuming CO2, just like terrestrial plants. That's why corals are made of calcium CARBONate. Corals grow by consuming CO2.

[@linecraftman3907]

Props for including calculations of the specific impulse! Was really curious about that and I love how straight forward the video is

[@retovideogames]

Loved seeing the paper weighed to get the area under the curve. That's how I learned to do it back in the day too 👍 Yes, I think having the sodium in liquid form with precise dosing is the way to go. Great experiment, very well and safely executed!

[@awholelotofnumbers45]

Man this whole video is great. It brought a great dose of scientific whimsy to the end of my rather tedious, miserable workday. Keep at it Cody, no one else could do things like this quite like you can. Things I particularly liked: ✓Hurling a baseball of sodium into a lake, to set the mood ✓Solid metal rocket fuel ✓Test rig in a mineshaft ✓5 gallon dashpot (A+ cost engineering) ✓Verified the test rig! ✓manual graphing, I forgot that was a thing. ✓Scale integration. ✓Tare out the negative, who needs a calculator? ✓Hardware store rocket engine looks .... delightfully questionable. ✓$5 Pyro-actuated spring loaded charge valve ✓"Intention matters" ✓Noble gas pressurization ✓Friction/Stiction consideration ✓"I should go fill that up with sodium." Don't hear that every day. ✓Casting sodium! In a measuring cup, with a plumbers torch! ✓FWOOOOOMP PLBRTTTTT! ✓ covered in a thin layer of .... something. ✓ things don't light on fire when I rinse them ✓ Dastardly spring springing ✓ Performance evaluation ✓ Abysmal performance, but works better than everyone else's sodium rocket though! ✓ LIQUID METAL rocket? ✓Oh and everything else.

[@PilchPlays]

If you could have better control of the water you could get a more efficient burn. Like a sacrificial tube through the sodium. Such that the water is injected at the end of the sodium near the nozzle. As it burns the tube also burns allowing the water to continually hit the sodium as it works it's way up the chamber. As others are suggesting having a finned interior so the sodium has more to hold onto and maybe multiple water injection tubes for each section.

[@Yabroproductions33]

Bro I have been following you for years, through the ups, downs and sideways. I honestly say yer one of the greatest youtube channels and its good to see you still doing you! Kudos amigo, may you meet your end goals.

[@Freizeitflugsphaere]

Videos like this one is what I miss most on KZbin these days. Thank you for your creativity! Genius to cut out the graph instead of calculating!💪🏼 Love from Austria 🇦🇹

[@thedave7760]

Refreshing to see a KZbin maker not using WiFi, Bluetooth, Arduino or raspberry pie.

[@PMaldeev]

This is a very old school move.

[@lunarzam6277]

Loved the montage of you building the rocket. You are truly passionate about what you do and that is contagious. Keep up the amazing content!

[@rafaelbarbaroto]

This is the best video I’ve ever watched on KZbin hands down. Amazing!!! Please do more of these rockets! Just please be careful with the fuel 😢

[@zwingler]

Hopefully its not too expensive for you to retry this because i definetly want to see a part 2. Especially after you already finished the rocket design.

[@smitony2]

Cool project, will be interesting to see where it goes. I do enjoy how instead of being boring and using some software to analyze your data, instead you drew the graph on paper and weighed it, such a cool method I would have never thought of.

[@GenericAnimeBoy]

What other science KZbinr gives you alkalai metals, pressurized gases, sketchy hardware store plumbing, improvised measurement rigs, chainmail, and rooster noises, all in the same video? It could only be Cody! 😁

[@zenmark42]

I love the recreation of your old videos for the sodium demo. I really don't want to think about how long I've been watching you trying stuff on the internet, but it's great to see you at it again with this old school project. Chickenhole base is fun but it just looks like so much hard work for one person, whether or not you have robo cody :P

[@theruined2190]

Casually has sodium in inventory

[@WanTan8888]

When you added the rod the first thing i thought of, rather than flodding the entire sodium tube with water, you push water through a tube in the middle of the sodium so the water comes into contact with the bottom first, more water comes in from the bottom up, and the sodium reacts upward with the idea of hopefully making the reaction last longer, maybe more controlled

[@harrydudley-bestow5222]

I think what you want here is a sodium-magnesium alloy to up the melting point to a few hundred degrees whilst keeping the water reactivity, since presumably doing a liquid-liquid combustion would be super hard.

[@SofaStrafer]

Miss Cody's videos. Cody is so entertaining and educational. Cody is a mad scientist, and I'm here for it!

[@watermelon5521]

I remember watching you dig that mine. Thank you for entertaining me and many others for as long as i can remember.

[@ZestyZSauce]

Cody, I was worried about you for the longest time as I wasnt seeing much content come from you (hoping all was well) but then to see content like this the amount of knowlage you've obtained over the last few years is evident and also seems to be why you were not uploading as much! God bless you brother look forward to seeing more!

[@HASANonYT]

High-quality and entertaining content as usual. I like his attention to safety measures and respect for regulations. As an old subscriber, I'm very glad that this old legend of KZbin is fine and still making great stuff. Keep up the hard work, Cody ✌🏼

[@skeleton1765]

I love that Cody himself didn’t even feel like doing the calculus to get the area under the curve. lol Very tedious to do if you don’t have an exact equation though. I don’t blame him. It really would be easier to just count the squares or weigh the paper. I would have sat there and counted. He’s such a great problem solver. I would have never thought about massing the paper.

[@ryanmiskin]

I love this concept and minimum viable prototype. Thanks Cody, can't wait for version 2!

[@oxoniumgirl]

So good to see you well and uploading again, Cody! Sodium is notoriously slow to react with water (in terms of energetic materials) so if you want to maximize the thrust you need to maximize the contact time between the sodium and water. I would change your combustion chamber design so that both the water input and exhaust output are on the same side on the top and the bottom is sealed creating a well that retains the sodium and water throughout the reaction. Inject the water in as you did but pipe the exhaust out the top and down to your nozzle. If you can put a backflow valve on the argon line all the better. This should maximize water-sodium contact time and also increase the total impulse time of the engine, as well as ensuring a much more full consumption of fuel.

[@medivalone]

I like this idea. If we continue to not care about mass efficiency, it could probably just be the same chamber inside a larger pipe that has the nozzle on the end. Actually thinking about this further - maybe stack the water and sodium on top of each other, with a burst disk in between. To fire the rocket, you would simply need to pressurize the water past the burst disk's rating and it would dump all the water onto the sodium. The input line would need backpressure prevention. The output going to the nozzle could be at the top right next to the gas input.

[@discordia013]

Great idea. I was thinking with the Sodium's low melting point the reaction was literally ablating the fuel rather than giving it time to react. A mesh filter wouldn't necessarily help, but rather spray the water into a tank with the sodium and use the gas - instead of running your oxidiser past the fuel.

[@trollmcclure1884]

and it's a notch closer to house's favorite design - the pipe bomb 🙂🙂

[@josephpotter5766]

If you were doing this seriously, you'd either have to use a thermal jacket to ensure your sodium was molten, or use NaK, which is liquid at room temp (and much more energetic) and combine the molten metal and water via spray injectors, running it as a true liquid fuel/oxy engine rather than a hybrid (which are notoriously hard to make work). Which is, of course, exactly what he proposes on doing!

[@Crowbars2]

An idea to make more of the sodium react might be to put the rocket "upside down". As in, don't have the combustion chamber containing the sodium pointing down, but instead have it pointing upwards, and have the water shoot in from the bottom of the combustion chamber. You could do the same thrust calculations, but just the other way around. You could then have a pipe leading from the top exit of the combustion chamber, which makes a 180° bend and turns down. This should allow more sodium to react, and allow the gases from combusion to exhaust downwards, since that's what'll be producing most of the thrust. Although, this may cause issues with the sodium melting and blocking the flow of water. If this happens, you could have the combustion chamber sideways, and have the exhaust pointing at a 90° angle downwards.

[@darthclide]

Really hope you start a new rocket series. Your old nitric acid videos are what made me subscribe to you way back. Love this video! 👍

[@palamalama]

Awesome work Cody, this video was a joy to watch, honestly. I had never heard of this kind of rocket, and though it didn't perform amazingly, the concept is still really awesome! Love these kind of videos

[@ItsJayBirds]

You might want to use NaK and separate the chamber or you can use granule of sodium to increase the surface area but you’ll need to add a mesh in the nozzle to prevent the granule sodium to pour out. This is a really interesting idea!

[@JustAnotherBuckyLover]

Cody, I just wanted to say that I love you and your channel so much. You're such a genuine person, I love to see your passion and enthusiasm, and I've learned so much from you over time. I know things haven't always been sunshine and roses, but I hope you know that you've touched a lot of people's lives, and you've definitely helped me be confident enough to fly my autistic "weirdo" flag when it comes to my passions, too, no matter what other people might think. I am pretty sure most people wouldn't think my spins are as cool as your interests, experiments and demonstrations, but those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.

[@zephron28]

Cool experiment, I wonder if some sort of pre-heater could be used to liquify the sodium in a sort of fuel injection style setup. That way you could still use pure sodium instead of having to use an alloy. That said maybe there is a sodium alloy that when interacting with water would provide a better chemical reaction thus giving better thrust. Fun to think about, great video Cody, keep up the good work!

[@superslimanoniem4712]

Thunderf00t is looking into NaK alloy...

[@firefox5926]

0:52 hmm just thinking but could you burn the sodium in the chlorine the way you burn hydrogen and oxygen to power a rocket?

[@RGD2k]

Great stuff! Recording the data using video like this is actually pretty great: you get not only the numbers (approximately), but also you can confirm everything else that's going on at the same time. This sort of content is the modern-day equivalent of publishing a scientific paper like the greats of old did. Actual formal write-ups seems more like a cargo-cult by comparison, especially when you factor in the actual quality of the 'science' in some papers these days. As far as I'm concerned, Cody is a Master of rapid-development R&D.

[@TE822]

It is always a treat when you release a video. Thanks for doing what you're doing.

[@derekburm]

Loved the video! Had a few comments/suggestions (might be less useful if you change the design to liquid fuel) -The paper weighing for the integral was excellent! -Seems like the system might benefit from a pressure reservoir of some sort, instead of just a long copper tube. That would create a more even water output. -A better system for adding the metal to the engine might help; the oil looks like it gets in from your melting cup, as you mentioned. Maybe a little drain valve in the bottom of a cup, so you don't have to pour the oil off first? -Seems like you could be generating some backflow, as you create high pressures in your combustion chamber. Perhaps a check valve between it and the water line?

[@randomshift]

Ingenious way of calculating an area under the curve. I also see you have a new lab assistant. Very nice!

[@MrAgevans]

Thank You Cody. Keep it real. So glad to see you're still working!

[@ndmusick11]

I am so glad to see you get back to the weird (out of the norm) since stuff. You have a brilliant mind thanks for sharing it with us.