The Science of Jetpacks and Rockets!

2013-04-25

[public] 1.90M views, 18.9K likes, 451 dislikes audio only

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MinutePhysics has a great video on Milkman, vomiting levitator: http://dft.ba/-vomphysics

Jetpacking was awesome fun! Despite the fat lip I had a great time. I think knowing a bit about physics actually helps fly the jetpack. It works on the same principle as a rocket (Newton's 3rd law) but unlike the shuttle, you don't carry your own propellant with you. Instead, water is pumped out of the lake by the jetski at up to 60 litres a second. It is then fired out of the nozzles at around 15 m/s creating 1800 N of force, the equivalent of about 150 fire extinguishers. On me this can produce acceleration of about 1.5g's.

Music by Kevin McLeod (http://incompetech.com) Silly Fun, Also Sprach Zarathustra

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Slow motion filming by Questacon: http://bit.ly/ZoWFGR