Question: How do jet engines work?

Zena Hadjivasiliou answered on 15 Mar 2015:

Hmmm interesting question! I don’t know much about it but your question made me curious so I had a little look ;). Here is what I found, but perhaps a physicist will be able to explain this better to you:

Jet engines suck air in at their front sides using a fan. They have a compressor that raises the pressure of the air that the engine has sucked. Then the compressed air is sprayed with fuel that can catch fire very easily, and an electric spark is used to light the mixture of the compressed air and fuel. This will then heat the gasses up in the jet engine, and air expands when it becomes hot! The expanding air inside the engine blasts out through the nozzle, at the back of the engine. This generates a really strong force as the gas is shooting backwards. And we know from the great physicist Newton that every action (or force!) has an equal and opposite reaction (or force). So as the gas is shooting backwards, a very strong force is exerted on the engine and the airplane pushing the plane forwards.