The green flame
by Andrew Dequasie · first published 1991
3mentions
2recommended by
3HN commenters
2013–2021first – last mentioned
67% recommend33% neutral
The Greem Flame is a memoir by an industrial chemist about the secret project to develop jet fuels and rocket propellants from Boron chemicals. Most are flammable, toxic, violently-explosive and physically-dangerous: and none more so than pentaborane, which takes up half the book. If this sounds dull, remember: it's a book about working with a chemical that erupts in violent combustion with air, water, grease, fire-retardants, and laboratory chemists. Some of the book will be dull, even to chemistry geeks; but there is plenty of excitement.
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I’d like to throw out a mention for a book that takes one of the topics from Ignition! and covers it in depth. The Green Flame https://www.amazon.com/Green-Flame-Andrew-Dequasie-ebook/dp/... is a book about the Borane fuels project, which is covered briefly in the chapter of Ignition! on exotic fuels, and will probably be a worthwhile…
on “Ignition: An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants (1972) [pdf]” ↗I also recommend ‘The Green Flame’ by Andrew Dequasie. It’s the fascinating personal story of a chemist embarking on a new career and ending up working with borane fuels.
on “Hypersonic flight: A new fuel for jets and missiles is on the cards” ↗It happens in chemistry too. In his book The Green Flame, Dequasie told the following story: "The salesman had been selling hydrochloric acid, sometimes known as muriatic acid. The industrial grade usually had a green tint caused by contamination with iron.…
on “Establishing secure connection” ↗