13. Are rockets jet engines? (A K2S Question)

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Jet engines and liquid rocket engines have much in common. Both pump fuel and oxidizer into a combustion chamber to develop high temperature and high-pressure gasses. Both use some of these gases to spin a turbine that drives the pumps. Both obtain thrust from the force of expanding gasses through the nozzle. The major conceptual difference is that rockets carry their oxidizer with them whereas jet engines use air as their source of oxygen. In rocket engine terminology, the term "jet" usually refers to the stream of hot gas that exits the nozzle.

Answer provided by John W. Cole


Image:K2S logosmall.jpg Question and Answer extracted from the book Kids to Space - by Lonnie Schorer


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