Let's take a short and

largely simplified look at Froude's thrust theory. The green box here is
a propelling device. It can be a propeller as well as any kind of jet engine
but not a rocket. It engulfs a flow of air from the front and ejects
it backwards. Let's consider now a
control volume Nu linked to this propelling device with the front and
the rear section sufficiently far
from the device that the static pressure is
the same as the one in the undisturbed region and with its sides following the
external streamlines of the flow passing
through the device. This control volume
is moving with the propelling device at a
speed v_0 into still air. So during a period Delta t, it has moved forward along
a distance v_0 Delta t And it has engulfed a given volume and a
given mass of still air. But when this flow leaves
the control volume Nu, It has been given
a speed increment Delta v by the propelling device. That's basically what does a
propeller or a jet engine; engulfing a flow of still
air and propelling it backward with the
speed Delta v. Let's concentrate on the flow of
momentum passing through Nu while the propelling device is moving forward
at the speed v_0. At the front, we engulf
the mass flow D of still air so the momentum
flow is D multiplied by zero. At the rear, we let the
same mass flow D escaping with a rearward speed Delta v relative to
the ground, of course. So the momentum flow
is D multiplied by Delta v. The total variation
of momentum per unit of time of the mass
flow passing through the device is Delta P equals D Delta v. According
to Newton's law, this means that the
airplane is applying a continuous rearward
force on the air equals to Delta P. And by reaction, the air passing through the
propelling device is applying an opposite force on the
airplane directed forward. So the forward thrust F
applied by the air on the airplane through
the action of the propelling device amounts to D Delta v. This is a very simple but
important formula that applies to any air
breathing propelling device.