ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Solid-fuel rocket

Okay, kiddo, imagine you have a really big straw and a bag of candy. You really want to shoot the candy out of the straw really fast and far. How do you do it? Well, you can blow really hard into the straw, but that might make you dizzy and tired. So instead, you can put some special candy in the straw, light it up with a lighter or a match, and let the fire push the candy out really fast and far. That's kind of like how a solid-fuel rocket works!

A solid-fuel rocket is a big tube-shaped thing that carries a bunch of special candy called solid fuel inside it. When it's time to launch the rocket, the fuel is lit on fire by an igniter, which melts and evaporates a little bit of the solid fuel. That sets off a chain reaction where the rest of the solid fuel melts and burns really quickly, producing a lot of hot gases and flames.

These hot gases and flames are blasted out of the bottom of the rocket through a nozzle, which is like the tip of the straw. As they shoot out, they push against the ground and the air, which pushes the rocket up and off the launchpad.

The really cool thing about solid-fuel rockets is that once they're lit, they can't be turned off. The candy will burn all the way down to the end, even if you don't want it to. That means the rocket can't be stopped or steered once it's on its way. It just goes straight up until it runs out of fuel or hits something.

Solid-fuel rockets are used for lots of things, like sending satellites and spaceships into orbit or carrying warheads for military purposes. They're really powerful and can go really fast, but they're also kind of dangerous because they can't be stopped or controlled once they're launched. That's why it's really important for scientists and engineers to design them carefully and make sure everything works perfectly before they light the fuse.