Other Uses for Jet Power

Aircraft and spacecraft are not the only vehicles that make use of jet power. Some battle tanks and fast warships are propelled by gas turbines. It is not the jet thrust of the engine that propels these vehicles, however. The Abrams tank’s gas turbine engine drives its tracks. A warship’s gas turbine drives its propellers.

Other vehicles do use jet thrust to accelerate to very high speeds. The fastest cars in the world are powered by thrust. The problems designers face in
creating thrust-powered cars are similar to those faced by aircraft designers. The shape of the car is very important, because drag must be cut to a minimum.

The world’s fastest car has traveled faster than the speed of sound. On October 15, 1997, Thrust SSC, driven by British fighter pilot Andy Green, set a land speed record of 763 miles per hour (1,228 kilometers per hour) in the Black Rock Desert, Nevada. It was powered by two Rolls-Royce Spey fighter engines, which, together, were more powerful than 150 Indy racecars.

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SEE ALSO:

• Engine • Force • Laws of

Motion • Rocket • Whittle, Frank

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