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Discovering a machine that could somehow produce thrust without releasing propellant would be a game-changer for human space travel. There’s just one problem—such a device would defy the laws of physics.

It's detonation vs deflagration. More slow motion at http://bit.ly/chemslomo More chemistry at http://www.periodicvideos.com/Follow us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/periodicvideosAnd on Twitter at http://twitter.com/periodicvideosFrom the School of Chemistry at The University of Nottingham: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/chemistry... Periodic Videos films are by video journalist Brady Haran: http://www.bradyharan.com/ Brady's other channels include:http://www.youtube.com/sixtysymbols (Physics and astronomy)http://www.youtube.com/numberphile (Numbers and maths)http://www.youtube.com/DeepSkyVideos (Space stuff)http://www.youtube.com/nottinghamscience (Science and behind the scenes)http://www.youtube.com/foodskey (Food science)http://www.youtube.com/BackstageScience (Big science facilities)http://www.youtube.com/favscientist (Favourite scientists)http://www.youtube.com/bibledex (Academic look at the Bible)http://www.youtube.com/wordsoftheworld (Modern language and culture)http://www.youtube.com/PhilosophyFile (Philosophy stuff) Thanks to Destin from smartereveryday for helping us out!!!

A basics video to show the difference between black powder and smokeless powder. Many who hear these terms are likely not clear as to what is meant or have some misconceptions.

14 December 2007—To let Hollywood tell it, robots are ultrapowerful machines with seemingly inexhaustible stamina. In last summer’s CGI extravaganza Transformers, shape-shifting robots swatted cars and trucks aside like gnats at a barbecue and effortlessly outpaced fleeing humans—who, by comparison, were inferior in every regard. But the physics of the cineplex don’t hold true in the real world. Here, even the best humanoid robots don’t hold a candle to the race upon which they’re based. At 129 kilograms and just 1.6 meters in height, Honda’s P3 robot, for example, is a dumpy weakling that moves no faster than a slow...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Col. Edward N. Hall, who as director of the Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile program helped develop the country's solid-fuel rocket technology, putting the United States decades ahead of other superpowers, has died. He was 91. Hall died Sunday at Torrance Memorial Medical Center, said his daughter, Sheila Hall of Calabasas. The cause of death was not immediately known. Thanks to Hall's immense knowledge of rocket propellants, the Air Force created its first solid-fuel ICBM in the late 1950s. His work helped switch the country's missiles from liquid fuel to solid fuel, which made them smaller, easier...

French connection armed Saddam By Bill Gertz THE WASHINGTON TIMES The United States stood by for years as supposed allies helped its enemies obtain the world's most dangerous weapons, reveals Bill Gertz, defense and national security reporter for The Washington Times, in the new book "Treachery" (Crown Forum). In this excerpt, he details France's persistence in arming Saddam Hussein. First of three excerpts New intelligence revealing how long France continued to supply and arm Saddam Hussein's regime infuriated U.S. officials as the nation prepared for military action against Iraq. The intelligence reports showing French assistance to Saddam ongoing in the...

/begin my translation N. Korea: Syrians Present At the Ryongchon Explosion Site (new details:bio/chem-tipped missiles) Dead Syrians sent home about a week after the accident. While the train explosion at Ryongchon station, N. Pyongan Province, N. Korea, on 22nd of last April, still generates many speculations on its possible causes, including a failed assassination of Kim Jong-il, a freak accident, a staged accident by N. Koreans, it is now confirmed that there were many Syrians among the casualties of the explosion. According to a knowledgeable intelligence source on N. Korean matters, about a week after the accident, on May 1st,...

Scientists are divided about the use of the Moon as a base to develop ways to travel to Mars, according to reports given to the US government. Some have said the possibility of water-ice existing at the lunar poles would allow a moonbase to use the ice as rocket fuel for a Mars mission. Others contend that it would be too difficult to extract. And there is disagreement about whether the moon is a good alternative to space as a base for advanced telescopes. In January, President Bush redirected the US space effort sending astronauts back to the Moon and...

MITEE - A Miniature Nuclear Propulsion Engine Chemical rockets have reached their limits. The hydrogen/oxygen chemical rocket can only deliver a specific impulse of about 450 seconds. The specific impulse is a measure of the thrust delivered by the rocket per unit mass of propellant consumed. Increasing the specific impulse to 1000 seconds, which is possible with Nuclear Thermal Propulsion, enables the spacecraft velocity to be over 2 times greater than that for a hydrogen/oxygen rocket, for the same mass of propellant consumed. Sidebar 1 compares the IMLEO (Initial Mass in Low Earth Orbit) for hydrogen/oxygen rockets with those for...