Ramjet

A ramjet is like a special kind of engine that helps planes and missiles go really fast, but only once they're already going at a super high speed. It's kind of like a big straw that sucks in air really fast and uses that air to make the plane go even faster.

Imagine you're blowing up a balloon. When you first start blowing, the balloon doesn't move at all, but as you blow more and more air into it, it starts to float away. A ramjet works in a similar way. The engine doesn't work until the plane is already going very fast, and at that point it starts to suck in a lot of air.

This air mixes with fuel and is set on fire, which creates a lot of hot gas. This gas shoots out the back of the engine and propels the plane even faster. The faster the plane goes, the more air is sucked in, which means the engine can create even more hot gas and make the plane go even faster!

A ramjet is really helpful for things like missiles or super-fast planes that need to go really far in a short amount of time. But because a ramjet only works once the plane is already going really fast, it's not very useful for getting the plane off the ground. That's why planes still need regular engines to take off and land.