The Invention of the jet Engine

The Invention of the jet Engine
Mohammadhossein Khoddammohammadi
January 25, 2014 A jet engine is a reaction engine discharging a fast moving jet that generates thrust by jet propulsion in accordance with Newton's laws of motion. This broad definition of jet engines includes turbojets, turbofans, rockets, ramjets, and pulse jets. In general, jet engines are combustion engines but non-combusting forms also exist. In common parlance, the term jet engine loosely refers to an internal combustion air breathing jet engine (a duct engine). These typically consist of an engine with a rotary (rotating) air compressor powered by a turbine ("Brayton cycle"), with the leftover power providing thrust via a propelling nozzle. Jet aircraft use these types of engines for long-distance travel. Early jet aircraft used turbojet engines which were relatively inefficient for subsonic flight. Modern subsonic jet aircraft usually use high-bypass turbofan engines. These engines offer high speed and greater fuel efficiency than piston and propeller aero engines over long distances. Jet propulsion only took off, literally and figuratively, with the invention of the gunpowder-powered rocket by the Chinese in the 13th century as a type of fireworks, and gradually progressed to propel formidable weaponry. However, although very powerful, at reasonable flight speeds rockets are very inefficient and so jet propulsion technology stalled for hundreds of years. Sir Frank Whittle's jet engine transformed travel. The jet engine has allowed millions of people now to do something that were barely thinkable just 70 years ago - crossing the Atlantic at speed. The Wright’s may have invented the first real aero plane, but the credit for the invention of the jet engine goes to Sir Frank Whittle.
Jet engines power aircraft, cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles. In the form of rocket engines they power fireworks, model rocketry, spaceflight, and military missiles. Jet engine designs are frequently modified for non-aircraft applications, as industrial gas turbines. These are used in electrical power generation, for powering water, natural gas, or oil pumps, and providing propulsion for ships and locomotives. Industrial gas turbines can create up to 50,000 shaft horsepower. Many of these engines are derived from older military turbojets such as the Pratt & Whitney J57 and J75 models. There is also a derivative of the P&W JT8D low-bypass turbofan that creates up to 35,000 HP.
The jet engine has changed the way the world has done business since it’s widespread, especially in the areas of shipping and transportation. Surprisingly enough, aviation is accountable for producing a very small portion of the world’s man-made emissions of carbon dioxide. In fact, although the industry has been experiencing continuous growth pertaining to total numbers of passengers carried, aviation has succeeded in decoupling its emissions’ growth in the past couple of years. The success in question is a result of enormous investments made in developing, sustaining, and upgrading cutting-edge technology, as well as operating procedures. In sum, various technical developments taking place since the mid-twentieth century have brought about today’s aircraft being considerably more environmentally-friendly than their gas-guzzling ancestors.