How does emitting light cause you to get pushed backwards? Same with gasses escaping a rocket’s nozzle; how does that propel the rocket? Like, where does this opposing force come from?

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How does emitting light cause you to get pushed backwards? Same with gasses escaping a rocket’s nozzle; how does that propel the rocket? Like, where does this opposing force come from?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Think about a rifle. When you fire a bullet, there is recoil. This recoil is the force of the gas pushing against the gun with an equal force to how its pushing against the bullet.

In a rocket nozzle the same thing happens, the gases are ignited in the combustion chamber, which heats them up and they expand. This makes them accelerate through the throat (the narrowest part of the rocket nozzle) and out of the end of the nozzle. When this gas expands, it pushes on the walls of the combustion chamber which accelerates the rocket with the same force as the gas exiting the engines.

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