What happens when liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen combine?

If you pour enough of LOX and LH2 together, they will create a critical mass and ignite themselves resulting in a very hot and strong explosion due to the fast reaction of the sheer amount and concentration of oxygen and hydrogen. You would have a mixture of very cold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen.

When liquid oxygen reacts with liquid hydrogen in a rocket engine what is produced?

The hydrogen-oxygen reaction generates tremendous heat, causing the water vapor to expand and exit the engine nozzles at speeds of 10,000 miles per hour! All that fast-moving steam creates the thrust that propels the rocket from Earth.

Why do you think liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen are used for rocket fuel?

Liquid hydrogen fuel has many benefits, including its low molecular weight and high energy output when burned together with liquid oxygen. Liquid fuels are often a popular choice for secondary/upper rocket stages after solid rocket fuels provide the extra thrust required for liftoff.

What is liquid oxygen used for in rockets?

Liquid oxygen (LOX) serves as the oxidizer. The boosters, on the other hand, use aluminum as fuel with ammonium perchlorate as the oxidizer, mixed with a binder that creates one homogenous solid propellant. Hydrogen, the fuel for the main engines, is the lightest element and normally exists as a gas.

How does a liquid fueled rocket work?

In a liquid rocket, stored fuel and stored oxidizer are pumped into a combustion chamber where they are mixed and burned. The combustion produces great amounts of exhaust gas at high temperature and pressure. The hot exhaust is passed through a nozzle which accelerates the flow.

What is liquid oxygen formula?

O2 (liquid oxygen or “LOX”) + 2 H2 (liquid hydrogen or ”LH2”). These are usually gas molecules (as some students may know), but in a rocket engine, they are stored at very low temperatures, so are liquid.

Is liquid oxygen used as rocket fuel?

Liquid oxygen is the most common cryogenic liquid oxidizer propellant for spacecraft rocket applications, usually in combination with liquid hydrogen, kerosene or methane. Liquid oxygen was used in the first liquid fueled rocket.

Which liquid is used in rocket?

In combination with an oxidizer such as liquid oxygen, liquid hydrogen yields the highest specific impulse, or efficiency in relation to the amount of propellant consumed, of any known rocket propellant.

What is the fuel and oxidizer in a rocket?

The propellants of a rocket are often a “fuel” and a source of oxygen “an oxidizer”. The most efficient fuel and oxidizer combination is liquid oxygen (the oxidizer, also called LOX) and liquid hydrogen (the fuel, also called LH2), as we modelled here. Liquid oxygen (“LOX”) is the oxidizer commonly used in rockets.

What makes cryogenic LH2 such a great rocket fuel?

The hydrogen-oxygen reaction generates tremendous heat, causing the water vapor to expand and exit the engine nozzles at speeds of 10,000 miles per hour! All that fast-moving steam creates the thrust that propels the rocket from Earth. But it’s not just the environmentally friendly water reaction that makes cryogenic LH2 a fantastic rocket fuel.

Why can’t we use hydrogen to power a rocket launch?

To have enough to power a large combustion reaction would require an incredibly large tank to hold it – the opposite of what’s needed for an aerodynamically designed launch vehicle. To get around this problem, turn the hydrogen gas into a liquid, which is denser than a gas.

Where are the oxygen and hydrogen stored on the ISS?

Liquid Oxygen and Liquid Hydrogen Storage Overview: Liquid oxygen used as an oxidizer by the orbiter main engines is stored in a 900,000-gallon tank on the pad’s northwest corner, while the liquid hydrogen used as a fuel is kept in an 850,000-gallon tank on the northeast corner.