Hall-effect thruster
Hall-effect thruster is a super cool machine that makes things go zoom really fast using electricity. Do you know about magnets? When you put two magnets near each other, they either stick together or push away, right?
Now, imagine having a really strong magnet in a tube with some gas flowing through it. The gas particles would get pushed out of the tube really fast. But if we just do that, the gas would go everywhere and we wouldn't be able to direct it. That's where the Hall-effect thruster comes in.
The Hall-effect thruster has these coils wrapped around the outside of the tube. When we send electric current through these coils, they make a magnetic field that pushes the gas particles in one direction - out the end of the tube! But how does this really work?
Well, the gas particles have an electric charge, kind of like when you rub a balloon on a sweater and it sticks to the wall. When they fly through the magnetic field created by the coils, their path gets curved like a bendy straw, and they all aim in the same direction - the end of the tube! This makes a really powerful force that can make things go really fast in space.
Hall-effect thrusters are really cool because they are super efficient and can run on electricity, so you don't need to use as much fuel as traditional spacecraft. They are used in satellites to help them move around in space and stay in orbit. So, when you see a rocket launch, it might be using a Hall-effect thruster to zoom through space!
Now, imagine having a really strong magnet in a tube with some gas flowing through it. The gas particles would get pushed out of the tube really fast. But if we just do that, the gas would go everywhere and we wouldn't be able to direct it. That's where the Hall-effect thruster comes in.
The Hall-effect thruster has these coils wrapped around the outside of the tube. When we send electric current through these coils, they make a magnetic field that pushes the gas particles in one direction - out the end of the tube! But how does this really work?
Well, the gas particles have an electric charge, kind of like when you rub a balloon on a sweater and it sticks to the wall. When they fly through the magnetic field created by the coils, their path gets curved like a bendy straw, and they all aim in the same direction - the end of the tube! This makes a really powerful force that can make things go really fast in space.
Hall-effect thrusters are really cool because they are super efficient and can run on electricity, so you don't need to use as much fuel as traditional spacecraft. They are used in satellites to help them move around in space and stay in orbit. So, when you see a rocket launch, it might be using a Hall-effect thruster to zoom through space!