An Outer Space Question

[INFECTED]

The way I understand it is that in order to navigate a ship in outer space they use thrusters or compressed air.... A little thrust on the right makes you go left,,, simple.

But what I dont understand is how its possible for that to work.

The old law: equal and oposite reaction

My question is: If space is a void or a vacuum, what is the thruster pushing against in order to cause the "equal and opposite" reaction?

[debo]

The ship.

[nymetsrule]

Rockets/thrusters don't work by just pushing off surrounding air. Jet engines work by combing the oxygen in the atmosphere with the fuel in the jet. In space, the thrusters have both the fuel and the oxygen. It displaces the mass of the fuel and oxygen (since matter be destroyed) and causes the ship to move.

[Leftcoast_yg]

So its like a car engine where it creats a combustion inside the jet engine like a giant piston...?

[INFECTED]

Rockets/thrusters don't work by just pushing off surrounding air. Jet engines work by combing the oxygen in the atmosphere with the fuel in the jet. In space, the thrusters have both the fuel and the oxygen. It displaces the mass of the fuel and oxygen (since matter be destroyed) and causes the ship to move.

Interesting.

[nymetsrule]

Interesting.

The rocket engine isn’t “pushing” against anything. A rocket is a reaction engine. All the chemicals that burn in the engine have weight, even after they turn into fiery exhaust. “Burning” fuel does not eliminate its weight – it simply turns it from a solid or a liquid into a hot gas. As the hot gas exits the engine, the engine responds in a “to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction” way. So the hot, fiery, high-speed, heavy exhaust shoots out of the engine in one direction, and the “equal and opposite reaction” occurs in the rocket, which goes in the other direction. See How Rocket Engines Work for details.

http://blogs.howstuffworks.com/2009/...no-atmosphere/

[FlakeyFool]

How do they get ppl inside the ship 0_o

[Raps08-09 Champ]

Aliens.

[Pinstripe power]

http://moarpowah.com/wp-content/uplo...liens-meme.jpg

[MagicHero3]

i hope they have public space transportation before i die

[ZurEnArrh]

I never get why a space ship makes a giant explosion when's its destroyed in space

[NDBRONCO]

Aliens.

of course! the only possibility is ALIENS!