on fuels ( for flying Davinci machine)

[caatabatic]

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/fuels-ignition-temperatures-d_171.html

[sagebrush]

I wonder if he would just use kerosene... it was already available for home use in lamps since the 1850s.

[caatabatic]

If I am not mistaken they use something like kerosene for current aeronautical fuels.


yep:

Jet fuel is a clear to straw colored fuel, based on either an unleaded paraffin oil (Jet A-1), or a naphtha-kerosene blend (Jet B). It is similar to diesel fuel, and can be used in either compression ignition engines or turbine engines.

addtl info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviation_fuel



more on fuel:

By modifying catalysts like those used in petroleum refining, scientists at the University of North Dakota’s Energy and Environmental Research Center manufactured a fuel derived from vegetable oil that’s indistinguishable from military-grade JP-8. The result of research funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), it’s the first biofuel that remains fluid down to –52.6°F (a must for operating at altitude) and packs the energy density required by jet engines. In July, the engineering firm Flometrics used it to successfully launch a 20-foot rocket.
darpa.mil/sto/chembio/biofuels.html