Action Reaction And Momentum Conservation ((free)) -

“Reaction confirmed,” Mira coughed, smoke filling the bay. “We have lateral delta-v. Twenty meters per second and climbing.”

Mira placed six shaped charges at the rotor’s stress points. Her hands were steady. She pressed the detonator. action reaction and momentum conservation

“Captain,” she commed. “We’re going to turn the rotor into a cannon.” Her hands were steady

“No, sir. That’s action-reaction . For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The chunk flying out will push the Ulysses in the opposite direction. We don’t need a rocket nozzle. We need a fifty-ton bullet and Newton’s third law.” “We’re going to turn the rotor into a cannon

Outside, the last battery tumbled end over end into the stars—a small, dead mass carrying away the momentum the Ulysses no longer needed. And the ship, lighter by forty tons and a thousand stories, limped toward home.

The ship lurched violently. A gout of incandescent gas and a twenty-meter chunk of beryllium-steel tore through the port hull, spinning end over end into the void. The Ulysses shuddered, creaked, and then—moved. The inertial dampeners whined as the entire 10,000-ton vessel accelerated sideways at a gut-wrenching 0.2 Gs.