Why Use a Jet to Power a Helicopter?

#VeritasiumContest By: Marcin Anforowicz (10th grader) manforowicz@ Partonez - Helicopter Image :Coastguard_Rescue_Helicopter_at_Corbyn_Head_(3).jpg Tom Stanton - His great YouTube videos introduced me to the concept of air powered propellers. ---Software (All free & open source)--- OS: MX Linux Audio: Audacity Graphics: Inkscape Animation: Synfig Editing: Kdenlive --Transcript-- Inside a turbine helicopter, a jet engine blows a turbine causing it to spin. This turbine mechanically rotates the large rotor that lifts the helicopter. Why not remove all that, and just point the jet straight down? Wouldn’t this direct propulsion be more efficient? No. Imagine you’re in space, and need to accelerate to 10 m/s by jumping off a light ball, or off a heavy space station. Jumping off of which object requires the least strength to reach this speed? In both cases, both objects will get an equal kick of momentum. However,