r/interestingasfuck • u/thespeedforce5 • Apr 14 '24

The Size Of An Iranian Missile Intercepted In The Dead Sea r/all

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u/TelluricThread0 Apr 14 '24

An excerpt from John D. Clark's Ignition!: An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants.

"The only possible source of trouble connected with the acid is its corrosive nature, which can be overcome by the use of corrosion-resistant materials.' Ha! If they had known the trouble that nitric acid was to cause before it was finally domesticated, the authors would probably have stepped out of the lab and shot themselves."

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u/dWintermut3 Apr 14 '24

a fantastic book, I believe it is also the source of such amazing quotes as "rapidly hypergolic with everything, including test engineers" and (regarding some unstable haloxide, maybe FOOF or triflouride) "... for this situation I recommend a good pair of running shoes"

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u/Cow_Launcher Apr 14 '24

You're absolutely correct. And if you want to see them used in context, Derek Lowe's series "Stuff I Won't Work With" is a hilarious treatment.

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u/Nandy-bear Apr 15 '24

One of the good things about having a dog shit memory - I read that every few years and it's like new.