Thrust (disambiguation) facts for kids
Thrust is a powerful force that pushes things forward. You might hear about thrust when people talk about rockets, airplanes, or even fast cars. It's the force that makes these vehicles move!
What is Thrust?
Thrust is a type of force that moves an object. It works by pushing something in one direction, which then causes the object itself to move in the opposite direction. This idea comes from Newton's Third Law of Motion. This law says that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
For example, when a rocket engine pushes hot gas downwards, the rocket itself is pushed upwards. The hot gas going down is the "action," and the rocket going up is the "reaction." The force pushing the rocket up is called thrust.
How Does Thrust Work?
Thrust is created by an engine or a propeller. These parts work by speeding up a fluid, like air or gas, and pushing it out. When the engine pushes this fluid backward, the fluid pushes the engine (and the vehicle it's attached to) forward.
- Jet Engines: Jet engines suck in air, heat it up, and then blast it out the back. This creates a strong thrust that pushes airplanes forward.
- Rocket Engines: Rocket engines carry their own fuel and oxygen. They burn this fuel to create very hot gases. These gases are then shot out of a nozzle at high speed, creating a huge amount of thrust. This is why rockets can travel into space!
- Propellers: On airplanes or boats, propellers spin around. They are shaped like wings and push air or water backward. This action creates thrust, moving the plane or boat forward.
Thrust in Action: Fast Vehicles
Thrust is super important for anything that needs to move fast or fly. Without thrust, rockets couldn't leave Earth, and airplanes couldn't fly through the sky.
Some vehicles are designed to create incredible amounts of thrust to break speed records. For example, the ThrustSSC is a special car that used jet engines to go faster than the speed of sound on land! It showed just how powerful thrust can be when used to overcome air resistance and push a vehicle to extreme speeds.
This word has other uses too:
- For the land-speed record breaking car, see ThrustSSC and Thrust2
- For the computer game, see Thrust (computer game)
- For the rapper, see Thrust (rapper)
- For the Transformers characters, see Thrust (Transformers)
- For the Herbie Hancock fusion album, Thrust (album)
- For the semi-professional magazine which later changed its name to Quantum, see Thrust (magazine)
- Thrust fault in geology
