

Human: What is the difference between a rocket and a jet engine?

Assistant: Jet engines and rockets both propel objects through space. But jet engines rely on the reaction of combustion, while rockets rely on the reaction of explosives.


Human: What is the difference between a rocket and a jet engine?

Assistant: Hmm. There’s a bit of a semantic difference here, and a historical one. Jet engines (also called “turbofans”) are built to develop very high pressure and produce a lot of thrust, and they were built and used during WWII to improve performance of propeller planes.

Rocket engines (also called “internal combustion engines”) can operate just like jet engines, if you give them enough fuel, but they work a different way.  You basically burn a mixture of fuel and oxygen to release a large amount of energy, and have a lot of oxygen available because the fuel is made up of hydrogen and oxygen.  The biggest downside is that you need to keep the oxygen supply fully pressurized for the fuel to burn properly.  That is also the main feature that makes rockets useful as interplanetary space ships, and that has made rocket engines so common in movies.
What is the difference between a rocket and a jet engine?
Jet engines and rockets both propel objects through space. But jet engines rely on the reaction of combustion, while rockets rely on the reaction of explosives.
Hmm. There’s a bit of a semantic difference here, and a historical one. Jet engines (also called “turbofans”) are built to develop very high pressure and produce a lot of thrust, and they were built and used during WWII to improve performance of propeller planes.

Rocket engines (also called “internal combustion engines”) can operate just like jet engines, if you give them enough fuel, but they work a different way.  You basically burn a mixture of fuel and oxygen to release a large amount of energy, and have a lot of oxygen available because the fuel is made up of hydrogen and oxygen.  The biggest downside is that you need to keep the oxygen supply fully pressurized for the fuel to burn properly.  That is also the main feature that makes rockets useful as interplanetary space ships, and that has made rocket engines so common in movies.