Why Are Airplane Engines So Big?
The physics behind the perfect size of a jet engine. Thanks to http://www.audible.com/minutephysics for supporting this video – if you try the free 30-day trial, I recommend "Ender's Game"...
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Airplane jet engines have gotten bigger and bigger over time - and it’s not just becauseplanes are getting bigger: the Airbus A350 is a smaller plane than the Boeing 747 buthas bigger engines. The reason? Bigger engines are simply more efficient, up to a point.Modern jet engines actually consist of two propulsion systems working together: the jetcore, which provides the power and a small amount of thrust, and the fan, which is justa big propellor driven by the jet core that provides most of the thrust.Pure jet engines can be incredibly powerful (which is why they’re used for fighter jets),but they’re also horribly inefficient because they shoot out their exhaust at super highspeeds, which equates to huge amounts of kinetic energy, since kinetic energy is proporti...
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Airplane jet engines have gotten bigger and bigger over time - and it’s not just becauseplanes are getting bigger: the Airbus A350 is a smaller plane than the Boeing 747 buthas bigger engines. The reason? Bigger engines are simply more efficient, up to a point.Modern jet engines actually consist of two propulsion systems working together: the jetcore, which provides the power and a small amount of thrust, and the fan, which is justa big propellor driven by the jet core that provides most of the thrust.Pure jet engines can be incredibly powerful (which is why they’re used for fighter jets),but they’re also horribly inefficient because they shoot out their exhaust at super highspeeds, which equates to huge amounts of kinetic energy, since kinetic energy is proporti...
