Sir Isaac Newton's Third Symphony Plays on

It’s down to a techno leap for the jet engine before passenger service breaks its deadlock between Airbus and Boeing. The gold rush is on for going out of the Jet engine box with something no one saw ten years ago from jet propulsion. Maybe it’s not conventional jet power and it’s something different. After-all the jet engine builders are tweaking jet power with ceramic, and carbon fiber fan blades. 

This becomes like using new shoe laces on a sports shoe or a new ground breaking new sole for better performance. It’s still a shoe giving the athlete a micro advantage over another competitor. That is where the marvel of the jet engine resides and where airline competes like an athlete.

A jet engine needs movement ahead of a centuries old idea of propelling a balloon across the room in a gasp of air through its mouth piece. The whole time since WII, jet engines came from the idea people have been wrestling with the “next step”. Rockets were reserved for moon shots and the stars. Jet engines were reserved with making a basic concept for every action there is an opposite reaction.

Newton’s three laws came from: The three laws of motion were first compiled by Isaac Newton in his Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), first published in 1687.

The jet engine came from the Newtonian principles. The best engine is down to composites, ceramics and designs within that law. 

Newton’s 3^rd law remains after all these centuries of trial and error.

The next great airplane will use Newton’s 3^rd principle, but it will come from the action side of the equation. Propulsion will indeed need a new format not necessarily labeled as a jet. Carbon fiber fan blades will carry Jet engine efficiency only so far.

The source of action must change from a carbon fuel source such as “Jet A” fuel or kerosene as most in the industry know it. There is only so much energy stored in a 100 pounds of “Jet A”. The jet principle must change beyond efficiency within its current configuration of burn and push out. The lack of finding a new source of power has limited jet power improvement to its internal workings. 

The source of power will form around its delivery system which is called an engine. Even though the word engine become a simple understanding for most, it is perhaps a lynch pin and the most complicated part of using a source power for its propulsion. 

Perhaps the word propulsion is the proverbial brick wall. The answer may come from a new manipulation of the universe’s mystery of energy or power. The simple magnet exercise from childhood comes to mind where opposing magnets try break away from each other’s polarity when opposite to the other magnet. This may not be a pathway to pursue but is definitely a compass bearing towards finding an answer.

The earth is the world’s biggest magnet (hah word play!). 

The modern jet engine is running out of development room much the same as a hand pump. Most pumps today are electrical and move mountainous amounts of water. However, the energy source for its electrical operation is found with having massive bulk of acres of solar panels to dams on huge rivers. Airplanes thrive on light weight appliances. Nuclear and electrical sourcing can weigh no more than its current fuel load. The lighter weight source allows for expansion from other technologies assisting travel and flight.

The obvious pathway comes from looking at the universe and how it functions. Then scaling that down to an aircraft “engine”. The most readily available source comes from nuclear energy. The first of many red flags to strike up, environmental impact from radiation exposure, extensive cost prohibit a nuclear path, and an uncertain solution would extend its timeline to service maybe by centuries.

Walt Disney was on to something when he made the movie “Flubber” he possibly acknowledged a need for a quantum leap from the jet engine. Once again harnessing an opposite and equal reaction in forms other than spewing gasses from the jet engine is the sticking point. A jet engine costs millions of dollars where its replacement may cost trillions of dollars for each one delivered. That is why so many engineers are looking at jet engine parts and its internal designs rather than a whole new concept for Newton’s third law.