June 28, 2009
How horses limit the size of a rocket?
vickemble asked:
I heard that the format of the rocket is limited because of two horses' asses. It is true? You can attack the arctile for me? Thank you. Of the ^ _ ^
Content
I heard that the format of the rocket is limited because of two horses' asses. It is true? You can attack the arctile for me? Thank you. Of the ^ _ ^
Content
Filed under Aircraft by kris
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Comments on How horses limit the size of a rocket? »
It is a popular engineering humor, and there is some amount of truth in it. Search for "Stephenson Guage" or "Standard Guage" to get its origins.
However, it is just one of the many standards used around the world.
It is railroad trains wheel spacing that is set by the width of two (Roman) horses. Rockets are plenty bigger than horses- some have diameters of 5 meters.
No, that was relating to the width of Rail Road tracks. The standard goes all the way back to Roman Times. When "All roads led to Rome".
The ruts left in the road was pretty much standard when two horses pulled carts all over, then when rails became a way to pull freight, two horses had to fit between the tracks, then steam came, then diesel engines on locomotives.
Rockets are limited to the type of fuel they have for engines for the rated horsepower, not horse width….