What quantity did you change?
Labs / Physics
Rocket Thrust
A rocket speeds up by throwing mass out the back. Choose how much fuel to carry, how fast the exhaust leaves, and how quickly it burns, then ignite and watch the mass drain while the velocity climbs — never in a straight line. The amber tick marks the top speed the rocket equation says you can reach.
Labs / Physics / Rocket Thrust
Rocket Thrust
A rocket speeds up by throwing mass out the back. Choose how much fuel to carry, how fast the exhaust leaves, and how quickly it burns, then ignite and watch the mass drain while the velocity climbs — never in a straight line. The amber tick marks the top speed the rocket equation says you can reach.
Why it matters
Why explore this?
Physics explains how changes in forces, energy, motion, and matter produce results we can measure. This model lets you test one part of that relationship at a time.
Explore
Try the model
m 1000 kgF 110.0 kNΔv 0 m/s
Investigate
Questions to test
Predict first, try it in the model, then use what you observe to answer.
What to try
- Double the exhaust velocity but leave the fuel alone. Does the final Δv double too?
- Crank the burn rate all the way up. The rocket gets there faster — but does it reach a higher top speed?
- Push the fuel fraction toward 95%. Why does the last bit of Δv cost so much more fuel than the first?
- Switch to the Ion engine. Its exhaust is blistering fast, yet the thrust is tiny — which one wins the speed race, and why?
- Can you ever reach a Δv above the amber limit line, no matter how you tune the sliders?
Explain
Make sense of what happened
Name the quantity you changed, the quantity that responded, and the physical rule connecting them. Use a readout or visible change as evidence.
Check
Before you leave
What measurable result changed?
Which physical idea connects them?
If you can answer all three using evidence from the model, you understand the main idea. If not, return to Explore and change one setting at a time.