Apr 22, 2014

Jet Engines

I love to travel. Have you figured that out yet? My passion for travelling takes me to new cities, countries, and continents. I usually fly to places, but I didn’t know how a jet engine works to take me to new destinations. Since I will be working at GE Aviation this summer, I decided to figure out how a jet engine works.

GE Aviation, the builder of the best jet engines in the world, did an excellent job in creating this interactive explanation of how jet engines function.

The science principles behind jet engines

Newton’s Law - Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. When thrust is generated by the engine, the force of the thrust pushing back propels the airplane forward.

Bernoulli’s Principle - Air that moves faster exerts lower pressure. The curved nature of wings and propellers allows air to move faster over one surface, creating lift and pushing the plane up and forward.

Boyle’s Law - Volume, Pressure, and Temperature of a gas have a unique relationship. If the volume is decreased, the pressure increases, and vice versa. If the temperature is increased, pressure also increases.

The engine

Jet Engine

The propeller in the front gathers the air and feeds it into the compressor. The compressor utilized Boyle’s law and compresses the air to increase its pressure. The air then enters the combustion chamber and where gas is injected and ignited to heat the gas and increase the pressure. The air is then pushed out from the exhaust to produce the thrust to propel the airplane. On its way out, the air turns a turbine which in turn powers the front propeller to gather more air and keep the process going.

Such a simple concept, and yet it enables millions of people to get from one end of the world to another and fuel their traveling passions.

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