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Posts: 95 | Thanked: 196 times | Joined on Oct 2010
#2551
Originally Posted by Ken-Young View Post
Not really. A jet engine is a "reaction engine". It propels the aircraft forward by expelling mass, which must result in a forward force on the aircraft, via Newton's third law. It would work just as well in space, if it carried an oxidizer along with the fuel (which would make it a rocket engine).
But the jet would not take off without air streaming past its wings.
It would accelerate, move forward and fall off the treadmill.
Unless it's really in space and no gravitation around, which would make "falling" rather impossible...