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The Engineering of Rocket Propulsion
Discover How Rockets Turn Continuous Explosions Into Controlled Flight
Why do rockets work better in space than they do in the atmosphere?
A rocket is the art of mastering continuous explosions. Fire is not trapped heat leaking out of fuel. At the molecular level it is a violent barn dance: molecules smash apart (which costs energy), then the free atoms snap into new, tighter bonds in carbon dioxide and water (which releases far more energy). That net release is the enthalpy of reaction. Perfect combustion of methane needs an exact 17.17-to-1 air-to-fuel ratio; too much air cools the flame…
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