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The specific impulse of a rocket can be defined in terms of thrust per unit mass flow of propellant. This is an equally valid (and in some ways somewhat simpler) way of defining the effectiveness of a rocket propellant. For a rocket, the specific impulse defined in this way is simply the effective exhaust velocity relative to the rocket, v e ...
The primary specific impulse advantage of liquid propellants is due to the availability of high-performance oxidizers. Several practical liquid oxidizers ( liquid oxygen , dinitrogen tetroxide , and hydrogen peroxide ) are available which have better specific impulse than the ammonium perchlorate used in most solid rockets when paired with ...
The highest-specific-impulse chemistry ever test-fired in a rocket engine was lithium and fluorine, with hydrogen added to improve the exhaust thermodynamics (all propellants had to be kept in their own tanks, making this a tripropellant). The combination delivered 542 s specific impulse in vacuum, equivalent to an exhaust velocity of 5320 m/s.
The most important metric for the efficiency of a rocket engine is impulse per unit of propellant, this is called specific impulse (usually written ). This is either measured as a speed (the effective exhaust velocity v e {\displaystyle v_{e}} in metres/second or ft/s) or as a time (seconds).
A liquid-propellant rocket or liquid rocket uses a rocket engine burning liquid propellants. (Alternate approaches use gaseous or solid propellants.) Liquids are desirable propellants because they have reasonably high density and their combustion products have high specific impulse (I sp). This allows the volume of the propellant tanks to be ...
Specific impulse (usually abbreviated I sp) is a measure of how effectively a rocket uses propellant or jet engine uses fuel. By definition, it is the total impulse (or change in momentum) delivered per unit of propellant consumed [4] and is dimensionally equivalent to the generated thrust divided by the propellant mass flow rate or weight flow rate. [5]
Liquid propellants provide greater propulsive thrust and power, but require more complex technology and extra weight. Solid fuel is dense and burns quite quickly, generating thrust over a short time.
An equivalent measure, the net impulse per weight unit of propellant expelled, is called specific Impulse, , and this is one of the most important figures that describes a rocket's performance. It is defined such that it is related to the effective exhaust velocity by: