Re: Water Jet Rocket

From: Tom Clarke (tclarke_at_ist.ucf.edu)
Date: 03/15/05 

Date: 15 Mar 2005 06:43:19 -0800

Paul F. Dietz wrote:
> Tom Clarke wrote:

> > Could the "water" jet be used to push a comet into earth orbit?

> You get a much better Isp by turning it into steam -- and you
> can use lower cost thermal energy instead of more expensive
> mechanical energy.

To you and to David Summers - Do'oh, of course!

But if I may ask a technical question.
It seems to me that a water jet is just a converging nozzle
so that the jet (I'm guessing) is at the speed of sound in
water when it exits.

Could a Laval nozzle with an expansion section be used with
water to speed the jet up further?

Since water is not very compressible, a Laval nozzle for water
would be a funny narrow sort of thing if it would even work.

But, as you point out, thermal energy is so much simpler.

Tom

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