if space is a vacumn how does firing rockets manoeuvre the shuttle?

Question

i thought air friction was needed to alter the trajectory of a space craft

Answer 1

The shuttle moves because of the force of the rocket has an equal and opposite reaction with whatever it is attached to, it is like sitting in a shopping trolley and throwing heavy items out, you will travel in the opposite direction from the things being thrown , try it.

Answer 2

Since there is no air in space, there cannot be a requirement for air friction to manoeuvre a space craft.

Think of a firecracker. When it explodes hot gas flies out in all directions. Now imagine setting one off under a tin can. The expanding gas pushes up against the top of the tin can and lifts the can into the air, because the upwards force of the gas exceeds the force of gravity holding the can on the ground. A similar principle applies in rocket propulsion. Effectively you have a continuous explosion going on inside the engine. The expanding exhaust gases are free to escape from the open end of the rocket nozzle, but push against the top of the engine. The result is that the push of the explosion inside the engine acts on the space craft and changes its direction, or lifts it off the ground, or slows it down, depending on where and when the engine is fired.

Answer 3

It has nothing to do with friction, rather with the law of conservation of momentum.
The expulsion of exhaust gases (from burning of the fuel) creates a momentum in a direction from the bow to the stern of the craft. As momentum is conserved, the spacecraft thereby acquires an equal addition to its momentum in the opposite sense, and so its velocity is changed in that sense. Thus it can manoeuvre

Answer 4

yes you're right about the air friction part, but a rocket thrust itself with its own exhaust, and the power comes from within its own engine. as long as u have a few exhaust at the side of the rocket u can fire them in any direction u want your rocket to move.

Answer 5

Newton's third law of motion states "All forces occur in pairs, and these two forces are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction." This is sometimes stated as "For every action, there is an equal (in size) and opposite (in direction) reaction force."

Rocket engines typically work by combining a propellant (fuel) and oxidizing agent (e.g. liquid oxygen) which creates a fast, hot stream of gas that escapes out one end of the rocket. This causes the rest of the rocket engine, and whatever it is connected to, to be propelled in the opposite direction. When the rocket runs out of fuel it is useless, so space probes that need to make frequent course corrections generally need to carry quite a bit of fuel if they are to operate for a long time.

Newton's third law also applies to propeller-driven aircraft. In this case, the spinning propellers effectively "grab" the air around them and force it at high speed rearward, thus propelling themselves in the forward direction. Rocket engines cannot do this because there is no atmosphere in space to grab on to, so they effectively have to carry their own "atmosphere" in the form of the propellant and oxidizer.

Answer 6

Only thrust is needed to manoeuvre a rocket in space.

Answer 7

your question is wise only positive it extremely is a effortless fallacy to think of that rockets "push" against something. they do no longer - they artwork by potential of reaction, ejecting extreme-velocity exhaust out the back to push the rocket forward. actually, different issues including airplane and ships additionally artwork on the comparable theory - they tension a flow of air or water out the back at a extreme velocity. From Newton's regulation - conservation of momentum - the mass of the craft cases its velocity forwards equals the mass of the exhaust cases its velocity backwards. you will discover this to 3 quantity once you're swimming. in case you're taking 4 extremely slow steps on land, you will circulate 4 steps forwards. yet once you do 4 extremely slow strokes interior the water, you will not often circulate while in comparison with 4 conventional strokes that push water backwards. Many technology-fiction exhibits and flicks e.g. celeb Wars are deceptive - they portray spaceships as airplane, flying in looping curves like in WW2 dogfights. easily, modern and projected spacecraft use thrusters for small corrections and rockets for large ones. Thrusters might use compressed gas, yet nonetheless artwork by potential of the rocket effect. To make a turn, the spacecraft turns sideways, making use of the two thrusters or a gyroscope, then fires the main appropriate engine (rocket) to push the craft sideways and make it circulate in a curve (so it extremely is easily vacationing sideways). To decelerate, the craft could turn one hundred eighty tiers then hearth the engine, so it extremely is going backwards. the outcomes of gravity around planets make it even much less intuitive than that; maximum maneuvering is composed of adjusting from one orbit to a distinctive, extremely than only pointing the place you like to circulate. The action picture "2001" by potential of Clarke and Kubrick gets it appropriate, as of course does archival NASA photos of genuine spaceflight

Answer 8

no in a vacum there is no friction so firing rockets will move the shuttle easier than in an atmosphere friction slows an object down.

Answer 9

No it propulsion from the rockets that changed the projectory

Answer 10

the rocket expells gasses out it's back end, then gasses still inside the rocket push against those already expelled, propelling the rocket forward...