Eli5:how does petrol engines differ from diesel engine?if so then what type of engine is used in rockets?
In: Technology
Gasoline loves to get lit, the other needs to get forced.
In a gas engine the combustion area basically needs a spark on the fuel and air for it to burn. The negative of it being so easy to combust is all that energy goes away too fast and the engine is unable to fully use it. Hence why gas cars don’t feel as powerful and spend more fuel but feel smoother.
The Diesel engine takes fuel that has a lot of energy but doesn’t like letting it out so in the reaction area air gets squeezed so much it gets hot enough to make the fuel explode when introduced and because there’s so much force involved in the entire cycle that’s why Diesel cars feel very powerful from the start but also why they shake a lot, especially true with old or aging cars.
As for their sound, what we hear is mostly the gasses from the combustion coming out of the tail pipe through connected tubes to the end of the combustion area, the specific tones are due to the tube organization and the sequence of each reaction and how many combustion areas there are.
Rocket engines are much different but the concept is closer to a gas engine using a Diesel like fuel that doesn’t blow up easily (for safety) but needs to do it fast releasing as much energy all at once. Some of that energy is then directed through nozzles, what we see from the outside, the bell shaped thing. They are actually quite inefficient, a lot of that energy is turned into noise and other vibrations. It’s so much waisted energy that at launch water is pumped under the engines to muffle the vibrations otherwise it would rip apart the launchpad, the ship, and everyone within a certain distance and make many more deaf.
Latest Answers