WCan't We Fly a Plane to Space?

01.08.04

This following is a question from the Phone Dr. MarcWeb site. The original answer can be found
at The Space Place, along with answers to many other space questions. Members of the
Back Bay Astronomy Club in Virginia Beach, Virginia, say that people often ask this question.
"Why can't an airplane just fly into space? Why do we need rockets?"

Dr. Marc's reply:

Airplanes can fly because of air. The air moving under their wings is strong
enough to hold them up. An airplane wing is round on top. The bottom is flat.
The plane's engines push the wing forward. At the same time, air moves over
and under the wing. The air going above the wing has to go a little farther than
the air going below. This is because of the wing's shape. The air molecules on
top are a little farther apart. This makes the air there a little thinner. It also
makes less pressure on the top of the wing. There is more pressure on the
bottom. So what happens? The wing is pushed up by the air under it. Image above: Cross Section of an
Airplane Wing. Air Flows Faster Over
Large planes can only fly as high as about 7.5 miles. The air is too thin above the Top than Underneath, so it Uses
that height. It would not hold the plane up. Some kinds of planes can fly much Less Pressure. Higher Pressure Air
higher. One special NASA plane, Helios, flew to about 19 miles. This is far Underneath the Wing Pushes it Up.
higher than any other plane has gone. At that height, the air is about 100
times thinner than at sea level. The air gets thinner the higher you go. It gets so thin there's hardly any air at all. This
is called a vacuum.

Even a spacecraft in a low orbit is about 125 miles high. This is far above the thick air
that we are used to. It is much higher than any plane can reach. You need a rocket to get
to even the lowest Earth orbit. So, how is a rocket different from an airplane?

Rockets do not need outside air to lift them. Rockets use some of the basic laws of
nature. Scientist Isaac Newton discovered these laws over 300 years ago. One of these
is called Newton's third law. It says for every action there is an equal and opposite
reaction. You can see this law when you blow up a balloon and let it go without tying it.
The air rushes out of the mouth of the balloon. The balloon flies the other way. This law
also tells us how to build a powerful rocket. The rocket needs to shoot out a lot of
Image above: On August 13,
material. It must come out at a high speed. And, it must come out in the direction
2001. Helios Flew Up to
opposite of the way we want the rocket to go. That is what a rocket engine is made to do.
96,863 Feet. That's 18 Miles
Most rockets use high-speed gases. These gases come out of the burning rocket fuel.
Straight Up!
These gases push the rockets up and away from Earth. They push the rocket up into
space where there is no air. Remember: rockets do not need air to lift them up as planes
do.
 Image above: Rocket Carries a Fuel Tank. Fuel and Oxygen are
Mixed Together and Ignited Combustion Chamber. Hot Gasses
Shoot Out the Exhaust and Force the Rocket in the

Opposite Direction.

Rockets make it possible to explore space. They also let us explore our own planet in ways we could never do even

from an airplane. Visit , and click on "Do spacey things" to do a crossword about a The Space Place
"nine-eyed Earth watcher" that studies pollution in the atmosphere from space. Also, to make and launch your own
bubble-powered rocket, click on "Make spacey things." And, you can learn all about the amazing Helios airplane by
clicking on "Dr. Marc's amazi

Why sest belts designed to sretch

When a car is moving with a high velocity, its momentum is also high and the
people in the vehicle are also in the same momentum. We know that
MOMENTUM is INVERSELY PROPORTIONAL TO TIME. So if the momentum
is bought to 0 at a short time then force acting on a body is very large. So when
a car meets with an accident, the person falling front with the presence of
stretchable seat belts as these elastic seat belts reduce the momentum in more
time to reduce the force
Why When a car is moving with a high velocity, its momentum is also high and the people in the vehicle are also in the same momentum. We know that momentum is inversely proportional to time. So if the momentum is bought to 0 at a short time then force acting on a body is very large. So when a car meets with an accident, the person falling front with the presence of stretchable seat belt as these elastic seat belt reduce the momentum in more time to reduce the force.

When a car is moving with a high velocity, its momentum is also high and the people in
the vehicle are also in the same momentum. We know that momentum is inversely
proportional to time. So if the momentum is bought to 0 at a short time then force acting
on a body is very large. So when a car meets with an accident, the person falling front
with the presence of stretchable seat belt as these elastic seat belt reduce the momentum
in more time to reduce the force.
uestion

The troops equipped to be dropped by parachutes from an aircraft are called paratroopers. Why do
paratroopers roll on landing?

Solution
When you hit the ground, the ground exerts a force up on you to stop you. The force which it exerts depends
on how long the collision lasts.You have no control over your mass or the speed you hit the ground, but you
can increase the time and reduce the rate of change in momentum and rolling is one such trick.Hence, we
would get less hurt

The paratroopers roll on landing to increase the time taken by them to

decrease their body's momentum. The rate of change of momentum is
therefore decreased, and therefore, less force is exerted on their legs,
and they are not harmed. When the paratroopers drop from an aircraft with
a parachute, they travel down with a significant amount of momentum. If
they were to impact the ground with that much momentum, their bones might
break. Thus, they roll on landing to convert their momentum into
rotational energy and slowly decrease that over time.

Solution
Verifiedpossible for a small animal to fall from a considerable height without being injured because a small animal has small mass,so the momentum produced is less.When the small animal falls to the ground with less momentum, less opposing force of ground acts on it and hence no injury is caused to it.

Verified by Toppr

It is possible for a small animal to fall from a considerable height without being injured because a small animal has small mass,so the momentum produced is less.When the small animal falls to the ground with less momentum, less opposing force of ground acts on it and