Note 83 — Chapter XX
Reading edition
A scientific critic has offered the following just remark upon this passage. “The rocket ascends by a constantly acting force, not by a momentary impulse, as though it were shot from a gun. Supposing the force arising from combustion to be proportionate to the weight of the rocket, as long as the force continues to be generated, the rocket must move in a straight line; after which, having only its own momentum to oppose its gravitation, it will proceed in a parabolic curve.”