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Rocket engines work on the principle of Newton's third law of motion. A typical rocket has fuel tanks of liquid propellant fuel and liquid oxygen. The rocket motors burn the propellant fuel and liquid oxygen. As the fuel burns, it expands in a high speed stream of water vapor. Although the water vapor is light, its high speed means it has enormous momentum. The blast of a fire and gasses that shoot out (the action) of the back of a rocket is around 10,000 kilometres per hour. In accordance with Newton's law of motion, the momentum of the gas gives the rocket an equal momentum in the opposite direction, thrusting it upward (the reaction). The faster the fuel is thrown out the back of the rocket and the more fuel that is thrown, the faster the rocket will be forced to move forward and thus the greater the thrust.
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