Rocket Propulsion

Physics
Montwood High School
R. Casao
Momentum is particularly useful for analyzing
a system in which the masses of parts of the
system change with time. Rocket propulsion
is a typical example of this kind of analysis.
Newtons 2
nd
law EF = ma cannot be applied
directly because mass m changes.
A rocket is propelled forward by rearward
ejection of burned fuel that initially was in the
rocket.
The forward force on the rocket is the
reaction to the backward force on the ejected
material.

The total mass of the system is constant, but
the mass of the rocket itself decreases as
material is ejected.
Consider a rocket fired in outer space with no air
resistance and no gravitational force acting on it.

Consider the x-axis to be along the rockets
direction of motion.
At time t, the mass of the rocket is m and the
x-component of the velocity is v.
The x-component of the total momentum at
this instant is P
1
= mv.
In a short time interval dt the mass of the
rocket changes by an amount dm.
dm is negative because the rockets mass m
decreases with time.
During dt, a positive mass dm of burned fuel is
ejected from the rocket,
Let v
ex
be the exhaust speed of the ejected
material relative to the rocket.
The burned fuel is ejected opposite the
direction of motion, so the x-component of
velocity relative to the rocket is v
ex
.
The x-component of the velocity v
fuel
of the
burned fuel: v
fuel
= v + -v
ex
= v v
ex
The x-component of momentum of the
ejected mass (dm) is:
-dmv
fuel
= -dm(v v
ex
)
At the end of time interval dt, the x-component of
velocity of the rocket and unburned fuel has
increased to v + dv, and its mass has decreased to
m + dm (remember that dm is negative).
The rockets momentum is: (m + dm)(v + dv)
The total x-component of momentum P
2
of
the rocket plus the ejected fuel at time t + dt:
P
2
= (m + dm)(v + dv) + (-dm)(v v
ex
)
Considering the rocket and the fuel as an
isolated system, the total x-momentum of
the system is conserved and P
1
= P
2
:
mv = (m + dm)(v + dv) + (-dm)(v v
ex
)



dv dm dm v dv m
dv dm dm v dv m 0
dv dm dm v dm v dm v dv m v m v m
dm) v dm (-v dv) dm dm v dv m v (m v m
ex
ex
ex
ex
=
+ + =
+ + + =
+ + + + + =
The dmdv term can be dropped because it
is the product of two small quantities and is
smaller than the other terms.
Divide both sides by dt:

The acceleration of the rocket is dv/dt; the
left side of the equation, ma, is equal to the
net force or thrust on the rocket.

dt
dm
v
dt
dv
m
ex
=
dt
dm
v F
ex
=
Thrust is proportional to the speed of the ejected
fuel v
ex
and to the mass of fuel ejected per unit
time, -dm/dt (remember that dm/dt is negative
because it is the rate of change of the rockets
mass).
The x-component of the rockets acceleration is:


The rockets mass decreases continuously while
the fuel is being burned.
If v
ex
and dm/dt are constant, the acceleration
increases until all the fuel is gone.
dt
dm
m
v -
dt
dv
a
ex
= =
An effective rocket burns fuel at a
rapid rate (large dm/dt) and ejects the
burned fuel at a high speed (large
v
ex
).
Rockets work best with no air
resistance. The rocket is not pushing
against the ground to get into the air;
the ejection of the burned fuel pushes
the rocket forward.
If the exhaust speed v
ex
is constant,
integrate to find the relationship
between the velocity and remaining
mass of fuel.
m
dm
v dv
ex
=
Integrate each side of
the resulting differential
equation:
The ratio m
o
/m is the
original mass divided by
the mass after the buel
has been exhausted.
This ratio is made as
large as possible to
maximize the speed
gain, which means that
the initial mass of the
rocket is almost all fuel.

m
m
ln v v v
m
m
ln v v v
m ln v v v
dm
m
1
v v
m
dm
v dv
o
ex o
o
ex o
m
m
ex o
m
m
ex
v
v
m
m
ex
v
v
o
o
o
o o
=
=
=
=
=
}
} }
Vertical Motion
For a rocket fired straight up with velocity v
relative to Earth, initially to lift the rocket F
th

= F
w
.
Fuel is burned at a constant rate R.
Rockets mass at time t is: M = M
o
- Rt,
where M
o
= initial mass of rocket.
Exhaust gas leaves rocket with velocity v
ex

relative to the rocket.
Rate at which fuel is burned equal to rate at
which mass M decreases.
Consider the rocket and unspent fuel within
it as the system. Neglecting air drag, only
external force on the system is that of
gravity.

Rocket equation:

Rv
ex
is the force exerted on the rocket by
the exhausting fuel, also called thrust, F
th
.



R
dt
dM
and g M F
net
= =
dt
dv
M v R g M
ex
=
ex ex th
v
dt
dM
v R F = =
Take up as the +y direction.
Vertical component of rocket equation:


Divide through by M and rearrange:



Derivation for rocket starting at v = 0 m/s
and t = 0 s and assuming g to be contant:

dt
dv
M v R g M
y
ex
= +
g
t R M
v R
g v
M
R
dt
dv
o
ex
ex
y

= =
} }
} }
} }


=

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|

\
|

=
=
|
.
|

\
|

|
.
|

\
|

=
t
0
t
0
o
ex y
t
0
t
0
o
ex
v
0
y
v
0
t
0
o
ex
y
ex
y
ex
y
dt g dt
t R M
1
v R 0 v
dt g dt
t R M
v R
v
t R M M dt g
M
v R
dv
dt g
M
v R
dv g
M
v R
dt
dv
y
y
( )
( )
( )
( )
t g
M t R
M
ln v v
t g M t R ln M ln v v
t g M ln M t R ln v v
t g M 0 R ln M t R ln v v
0 t g M t R ln v v
t g
R
M t R ln
v R v
o
o
ex y
o o ex y
o o ex y
o o ex y
t
0
o ex y
t
0
t
0
o
ex y


=
=
+ =
=
=


=
If the integration is from v
yi
to v
yf
and from
m
i
to m
f
(no gravity):



If the integration is from v
yi
to v
yf
and from
m
i
to m
f
(with gravity):








f
i
ex yi yf
m
m
v
v
y
m
m
ln v v v
m
dm
dv
f
i
yf
yi
=
=
} }
t g
m
m
ln v v v
f
i
ex yi yf
=
Burnout Velocity
Burnout velocity is the final velocity of a
rocket when all the fuel is burned away.
If M
o
is the total initial mass of the rocket and
m
fuel
is the mass of the fuel, the burnout
velocity is:
t g
m M
M
ln v v
fuel o
o
ex

|
|
.
|

\
|

=
Systems with Varying Mass: A Rocket
So far we have always assumed that the
mass of the system stayed constant
There is an important class of problems
where this is not so however Rockets
Most of the mass of a rocket is fuel; a
rocket provides its thrust by burning its fuel
and ejecting the fuel mass at a high
velocity
Systems with Varying Mass: A Rocket
As you can imagine, it would be difficult to
deal with a system where the mass was
changing as a function of time
But thats really not necessary we
already know how to solve this problem
We do it by picking a system where the
mass is not changing.
Systems with Varying Mass: A Rocket
So the system we pick is one which
includes the exhaust gas (mass) as well
as the mass of the rocket (which is rapidly
becoming emptied its fuel
Systems with Varying Mass: A Rocket
Lets assume that our rocket is isolated out in
space to make things a little easier
We begin by looking at the rocket at some
time t and assume it has some initial velocity
v
Systems with Varying Mass: A Rocket
Now we look at the rocket at some time dt
later; the velocity of the rocket is now v + dv
and the mass of the rocket is now M + dM
where the value dM is a negative quantity
Systems with Varying Mass: A Rocket
We need to account for the exhaust
however as it is part of our isolated
system; it has a mass of -dM and a
velocity U
Systems with Varying Mass: A Rocket
Since our system is isolated and closed,
we can say that, according to the law of
conservation of linear momentum, we
know that: P
i
= P
f
This can be rewritten as:
( ) ( )( ) dv v dM M U dM Mv + + + =
Exhaust Rocket
Systems with Varying Mass: A Rocket
This equation can be simplified a bit if we
consider the relative velocity of the
exhaust to the rocket itself:


or
( ) ( ) ( )
frame to relative
exhaust of velocity
exhaust to relative
rocket of velocity
frame to relative
rocket of velocity
+ =
( )
rel
rel
v dv v U
U v dv v
+ =
+ = +
Systems with Varying Mass: A Rocket
Substituting that back and turning the
crank a little we get:


Dividing each side by dt we then get:
Mdv dMv =
rel
dt
dv
M v
dt
dM
=
rel
Systems with Varying Mass: A Rocket
If we then replace dM/dt by -R (the rate at
which the rocket loses mass) and note that
dv/dt is just the acceleration of the rocket,
we get the following (the 1st rocket
equation):
Ma Rv =
rel
Systems with Varying Mass: A Rocket
The terms on the left hand side of the equation
all depend solely on the design of the rocket
engine


Note that the left side of the equation must be a
force as it is equal to mass times acceleration
The term Rv
rel
is called the thrust of the rocket
engine and we often represent it by T
Ma Rv =
rel
Systems with Varying Mass: A Rocket
To find the velocity of the rocket at any
given time we have to integrate equation
9-40
Rearranging it a bit we get:
M
dM
v dv
Mdv dMv
rel
rel
=
=
Systems with Varying Mass: A Rocket
Now we need to integrate:





where ln means the natural logarithm, where v
i

and v
f
are the initial and final velocities
respectively, and M
i
and M
f
are the initial and
final mass of the rocket respectively
} }
=
f
i
f
i
M
M
v
v
M
dM
v dv
rel
Systems with Varying Mass: A Rocket
The result is (the 2
nd
rocket equation):




Note an important point the change in velocity
is directly proportional to the relative velocity (the
exhaust velocity) the higher that is, the higher
the change in velocity of the rocket itself
f
i
i f
M
M
v v v ln
rel
=
Systems with Varying Mass: A Rocket
Now lets look at the 2
nd
term on the right:



Lets suppose that 90% of the rockets
mass is ejected as exhaust this means
that the ratio M
i
/M
f
is 10:1
f
i
i f
M
M
v v v ln
rel
=
Systems with Varying Mass: A Rocket
The natural logarithm of 10 is about 2.3
This means that (given our parameters) the
rocket can never go faster than 2.3 times the
exhaust velocity again a reason to design an
engine with the highest possible high exhaust
velocity
It also encourages the design of multi-stage
rockets, so that the final mass is as close to that
of the payload as possible
Sample Problem: A Shuttle Launch
The first couple minutes of a shuttle
launch can be described very roughly as
follows:
The initial mass is about 2 x 10
6
kg
The final mass (after 2 minutes) is about
1 x 10
6
kg
The average exhaust speed is about 3000
m/s
The initial velocity is, of course, zero
Sample Problem: A Shuttle Launch
If all this were taking place in outer space,
with negligible gravity, what would be the
shuttles speed at the end of this stage?
What is the thrust during the same period
and how does it compare with the initial
total weight of the shuttle (on earth)?
M
i
= 2 x 10
6
kg, M
f
= 1 x 10
6
kg,
v
rel
= 3000 m/s, v
i
= 0, t = 2 minutes
Sample Problem: A Shuttle Launch
Plugging the specified values into the 2
nd

rocket equation we get:
m/s 2079
10 x 1
10 x 2
ln 3000 0
ln
6
6
rel
=
=
=
f
f
f
i
i f
v
v
M
M
v v v
Sample Problem: A Shuttle Launch
To get the thrust we use the equation:


We know that 1 x 10
6
kg of fuel is used in
the first 2 minutes of launch, therefore:
rel
Rv T =
kg/s 8333
s 120
kg 10 x 1
min 2
kg 10 x 1
6 6
= = = R
Sample Problem: A Shuttle Launch
To get the thrust we plug the specified
values into the equation:
( )( )
N 25,000,000
m/s 3000 kg/s 8333
rel
=
=
=
T
T
Rv T
Sample Problem: A Shuttle Launch
The mass of the shuttle before launch was
2 x 10
6
kg so the shuttles weight was:
( )( )
N 19,600,000
m/s 9.8 kg 2x10
2 6
=
=
=
W
W
ma W
Sample Problem: A Shuttle Launch
The last problem was to determine the
thrust-to-weight ratio at launch
We now have both quantities so we plug
them in and get:
28 . 1
N 19,600,000
N 25,000,000
= =
Weight
Thrust