Expert: Paul Soderman - 11/6/2009

Question
Okay,so how does Newton's Third Law apply to rocket lifts?
And how did the development of rocket revolutionize our society?
Is it because the satellites that we use for GPS and such were put up there by the rockets?  

Answer
Jane
Newton showed that the rocket thrust can be equated to its mass times acceleration, or more accurately to the time rate of change of momentum.  A basic physics book can explain that in detail.   A knowledge of calculus would help.

I'm not sure rockets revolutionized our society so much as the development of agriculture and the printing press and a few other important things. But it did allow us to travel to outer space, not to mention the military applications (good and bad).  GPS and communication satellites are one of the many benefits of rocket development.
Paul