A good example of how rocket works is a ballon. The air inside a balloon is compressed by the balloon's rubber wall. The air pushes back so that the inward and outward pressing forces are balanced. When the opening is released, air escapes through it and the balloon is propelled in the opposite direction. [Inventors]
This diagram shows how Newton’s third law of motion (for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction) is applied on rockets.
[NASA]
Basic explanations of how rockets work have been given above, but how do Newton’s third law of motion applies on rockets? The rocket expels hot gas, in other words, it’s throwing out mass. Expelling the gas at a high speed requires a exertion of force. This force was exerted by the rocket and since there’s no opposing forces, the rocket accelerates at a rate of the force exerted divided by the mass of the rocket, that’s basically the relationship between Newton’s third law and rocket.
How Effective Are Rockets At Solving Human Problems?
Rockets that were sent out to space either carry satellite or carry astronaut. Rockets can solve existing human problems, but not completely, since rocket is the only transportation on earth that can reach space, the “things” that were carried out to space by rockets are really important and are really effective at solving human problems. One of the “thing” that rockets carry out to space is satellite. Manmade satellites are used for communications between different parts of earth, and GPS signals. Did you ever think why can you talk to your friends or family through a phone even you’re miles and miles apart? The reason why you can do that is because of the satellite, so whenever there’s an emergency, you can use your phone to call for help. NASA had announced that they are inventing space shuttles, so in the future, space traveling would be possible.
This is a photo of a rocket carrying a satellite blasts off in Russia.
[Techlusion 2012]
Positive Points About Rockets
There are a lot of positive points about rockets, we can learn far more than just earth, we could learn about other planets, the environment in other planets, etc. The greatest thing that a rocket can do is that it can carry human or items out to space, astronauts then can do observations on other planets. Rockets also have a direct positive impact on economics, NASA is a significant source of employments and income in the region, whenever they are building a rocket, they will provide more than 19,500 jobs for the local people or any other people around the globe. It has been estimated that personal income would have been reduced by 811.4 millionUSD, and retail sale would have been reduced by 324.6 millionUSD. [Stennis]
Negative Points About Rockets
Although there are quite a lot of positive points about rockets, but negative points about rockets also exist. The worst thing about rockets are space debris, which can be very harmful to our environment. Space debris can be also called as space junks or space waste. Space debris are items that were created by humans but no longer have any useful purpose, they are all useless rocket bodies and defunct satellites. According to a post by Ricard Inghan, millions pieces of metal, plastic, and glass are moving in orbit around earth, all of these pieces of space debris are left from 4600 launches in 54 years of space exploration. Have you ever watched a movie called WALL-E? In the movie, Earth is surrounded by a dense of space debris, which then cause global environment problems. The problem of space debris now is not that bad yet, but it is potentially heading in that direction.
This is a photo of one of the space debris that crashed on earth, it might be a small one, but it can still be very dangerous falling from space.
[Botlbrush]
Conclusion
Rockets had greatly changed the way we live since they were first invented. Because there are rockets, therefor satellites were created, and that is the reason why we can chat with our family even if they are far apart from us. Although there are also bad points about rockets, but rockets really does changed the way we live, it made our life much more convenient and knowledgable. In summary, rockets are a benefit to all of us, but we’ll have to find more efficient ways to clear up space debris in order to save our environment.
Bibliography - APA Format
Botlbrush
URL:
Retrieved: 30 April 2012
CoolCosMos (a website which gathers a wide range of information about space)
URL:
Retrieved: 27 April 2012
Inventors (a website about inventions, how they were made and what’s the theory behind the invention)
URL:
Retrieved: 28 April 2012
NASA (official website of the national aeronautics and space administration)
URL:
Retrieved: 27 April 2012
Stennis (a website created by NASA-Stennis space center supporters)
URL:
Retrieved: 1 May 2012
Techlusion (a website that is created by students from university of Pakistan; National University of Sciences and Technology)
URL:
Retrieved: 30 April 2012
