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dgoodellHNSource author
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I work at NASA

I work at NASA. We had a big review meeting for a space brayton (turbine engine) concept. One manager-level engineer absolutely thought that the spinning rotor would apply a constant torque to the spacecraft that would have to be constantly counteracted. I tried and failed to explain conservation of angular momentum to him. I studied physics and it always surprises me how many good engineers really don’t have a very good intuitive understanding of basic physics principles like conservation laws.

Original discussionWhy would a 21st century warplane shoot a balloon with a missile?329 source comments · at import
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DalewynHN

This and the previous thread on this subject have highlighted some interesting(?) things, at least for me: * The IT community, despite the majority being some form of an intellectual, has either a flawed (read: Hollywood) or no understanding of physics or military aviation. * The IT community, despite the majority being some form of an intellectual, has a patently insufficient understanding of how sovereignty, diplomacy, and laws work. * The Chinese apologists are hilarious to witness, particularly the ones who believe two wrongs make a right.

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DO
dougmwneHN

I’m just checking my intuition here. An accelerating or decelerating rotor would apply an angular force (first derivative), while a constant rotation would not?

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FpUserHN

If rotor has 0 friction mounting then sure, no constant torque. Otherwise small constant torque that depends on friction.

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sligHN

Let me see if I got this: for instance, a helicopter can turn off their anti-torque tail rotor if the speed of the main rotor is constant?

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