Quote:
Originally Posted by ericthered
That's an important part of the rocket equation, and especially the rocket equation's tyranny. The tyranny comes from the fact that both momentum and energy are conserved, but energy increases with the square of velocity, while momentum increases linearly.
the coolant drops the energy part of the equation. Its odd, but I can see settings where it is the right option.
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...I don't know what you think the "tyranny of the rocket equation" is, but I reiterate that the consumable coolant literally results in the rocket equation being followed and the OP explicitly observed that fact.
The reactionless+coolant causes conservation laws to be breached, certainly, but doesn't actually give the ships different performance from a rocket. (Potentially a very good rocket, but nonetheless.)
Also, kinetic energy increasing as the square of velocity doesn't actually pose any problem for rockets, just for people getting confused looking at them. You can derive the rocket equation without making any reference to conservation of energy.