AN engineer at Hatfield's University of Hertfordshire demonstrated on television that rockets can run on toffee on Monday night.
On BBC 1’s Bang goes the Theory, aeronautics lecturer Ray Wilkinson showed how a rocket fuelled with a mix of toffee and nitrous oxide (laughing gas) could power both a bicycle, ridden at 30 miles per hour, and a railway trolley which went at 150 miles per hour.
He said: “We are obviously not proposing that rocket manufacturers or jet companies start thinking about using toffee to fuel their engines but they could consider more environmentally-friendly materials.
“Rockets do not necessarily have to be run on materials derived from oil as there may be alternatives that perform well and are very viable.”
He added that rockets powered by such materials were much safer and more reliable than conventional types.
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