this post was submitted on 17 May 2026
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Science Memes

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[–] Rudee@lemmy.ml 4 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Any r/theydidthemath refugees around to calculate the amount of thrust you would receive from something like this?

[–] IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world 11 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (2 children)

the questions are the specific impulse of those engines, then Delta-V.

a mentos and coke can reach about 3m height gayser, therefore initial nozzle velocity is 7.67m/s, and a 2l bottle lasts about 2 seconds. resulting in a ISP of 0.7822 seconds.

for comparison, the shuttle solid rocket booster has an isp of 250 seconds, a normal liquid rocket engine is about 450 seconds (the more the better).

plugging in the weights of the Saturn 1, gives a delta V of [drumroll] 18.6 m/s... enough to accelerate a giant rocket to highway speeds.

can we make it bigger to get to orbit? nope, the rocket equation won't let you with that specific implied. sorry

[–] auzy1@lemmy.world 8 points 13 hours ago

Also, there would be ants everywhere in the vicinity after

[–] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 2 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

Fine, be that way. Maybe we can use it for the little psshhh pshh boosters they use in space on the spacesuits, etc. Don't want to get too technical on you.