Rockets Able To Run On Toffee

For real!

The UK's The Scotsman (10/7) reports, "Rockets can run on toffee, a scientist has proved. Jem Stansfield demonstrated a hybrid rocket powered by the sweet on BBC1's Bang Goes The Theory." Ray Wilkinson of the University of Hertfordshire "suggested the experiment could help scientists find environmentally-friendly materials to fuel rockets."

The rocket was capable of powering a bicycle ridden by Mr Stansfield at Buckinghamshire Railway Centre. Hybrid rockets require nothing more than a cheap solid that burns and a gas – in this case nitrous oxide – to provide oxygen, he said. Ray Wilkinson, principal lecturer in aerospace design and rocket propulsion at the University of Hertfordshire, suggested the experiment could help scientists find environmentally-friendly materials to fuel rockets.