• Question: explain rocket science.

    Asked by zackaroo222 to Meeks, Pete, Stephen, Steve, Tom on 22 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Steve Roser

      Steve Roser answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      I never understood this thing about rocket science being the most difficult thing…’it’s not rocket science…’ There’s a lot of little bits of engineering to get right (the Saturn V rocket was at the time the most complicated thing built). But rocket science is just Newtons laws-push out stuff and you move in the opposite direction….

    • Photo: Tom Hartley

      Tom Hartley answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      Hi Zackaroo,

      I’m afraid I don’t think I know much more about this than you. Rockets burn fuel, it comes out of the bottom with some force, creating an equal and opposite force which accelerates the rocket upwards.

      I don’t know much more than that – and it’s not rocket science 🙂

    • Photo: Stephen Curry

      Stephen Curry answered on 19 Jun 2010:

      Hey zackaroo222 – you’re not related to buckaroo, are you (I used to know him when I was younger)…

      Rocket science is closely related to another complex discipline: balloon technology. If you allow a highly pressurised gas to escape through a small hole, the container will move rapidly in the opposite direction (in accordance with law no. 3 by Mr I. Newton).

      The only difference between a rocket and a balloon is how you pressurise the gas. Balloons are powered by compressed air (due to the elasticity of the balloon rubber) whereas in rockets the pressurised gas is generated by burning rocket fuel (hydrogen or kerosene) in the presence of oxygen. The combustion causes the gases produced to expand rapidly and as they shoot out the nozzle, up you go.

      Now of course it’s a bit more complicated than that IRL. With rockets you have to store liquid oxygen (since there’s none out in space) and your engines have to be made with alloys that can withstand the tremendous heat produced. Plus you need guidance systems to point you in the right direction, shielding for the heat of re-entry and loads of other things.

      This is why man has never travelled to the moon using balloon technology.

    • Photo: Marieke Navin

      Marieke Navin answered on 22 Jun 2010:

      quite simply, a rocket is a bomb – only the force of the ‘explosion’ is
      directed in such a way as to provide thrust

      the skill of the rocket maker is in controlling the direction of this
      thrust, if it goes wrong then the rocket will crash!

Comments