Afterburner
An afterburner (or reheat in British English) is an additional combustion component used on some jet engines, mostly those on military supersonic aircraft. Its purpose is to increase thrust, usually for supersonic flight, takeoff, and combat. The afterburning process injects additional fuel into a combustor in the jet pipe behind (i.e., "after") the turbine, "reheating" the exhaust gas. Afterburning significantly increases thrust as an alternative to using a bigger engine with its attendant weight penalty, but at the cost of increased fuel consumption (decreased fuel efficiency) which limits its use to short periods. This aircraft application of "reheat" contrasts with the meaning and implementation of "reheat" applicable to gas turbines driving electrical generators and which reduces fuel consumption. Jet engines are referred to as operating wet when afterburning and dry when not. An engine producing maximum thrust wet is at maximum power, while an engine producing maximum thrust dry is at military power. Principle Jet-engine thrust is an application of Newton's reaction principle, in which the engine generates thrust because it increases the momentum of the air passing through it. Thrust depends on two things: the velocity of the exhaust gas and the mass of the gas exiting the nozzle.