Let's say that we have a thruster whose exhaust velocity is very close to the speed of light. So when we calculate the mass flow rate to calculate the thrust do we take into consideration the relativistic mass of the exhaust ?
I think we should consider the relativistic mass of the exhaust and not the rest mass of the exhaust while calculation of the mass flow rate.
Am I correct ? Sorry If this is a newbie question as I know very little about relativistic mechanics.
When the fuel mass flow rate into a combustion chamber is 1 kg per second, then the mass flow rate of the exhaust absolutely can not be larger than 1 kg per second.
It can be 0.5 kg per second when the speed of exhaust is 0.87 c. We can say like this.
On the other hand, when every second one gram of hydrogen gas is fed into some kind of microwave oven chamber, it is possible that every second 10 grams of hot plasma comes out of the chamber. In this case mass flow rate of exhaust can be larger than the inwards mass flow rate.
