Can we use electric energy to travel in space?

actually, u CAN use electrical energy as propulsion! don't beleive me?

check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrically_powered_...

and there's currently one spacecraft that's propelled entirely by electric, the Deep Space One probe.

u now will ask, how does an electric propulsion system could work? easy, they directly ionize propellent, and then accelerates them inside an electric field out through the exhaust, thus producing thrust.

basically, electric propulsion uses ionization for propulsion. they're also called the ion drive. check out hall thrusters as well.

the problem with electric propulsion is its low specific impulse and low acceleration. the good news with it is, as long as energy to generate electricity is available (think nuclear fission), an electric propulsion engine could theorectically be accelerated for years and years with minimum expenditure of propellant.

Well technically, all the current methods of propulsion use "electric energy", because they are all fueled by chemical combustion, which releases energy as electromagnetic bonds are broken down.

As far as what you would conventionally consider "electrical", I know that the Apollo craft used batteries to power the computers, displays, lighting, cabin pressurization, communications, etc. I believe all manned spacecraft use batteries in this manor. However, they do not create any propulsion for the craft.

Unmanned spacecraft like the Voyager, Cassini-Huygens, and New Horizons probes use a Plutonium-238 power source, making use of a devise called a radioisotope thermoelectric generator. This creates electrical current to power the guidance systems/computers, communications, gyros, etc. However, the initial thrust still comes from conventional fuels.

At the end of the day, electrical current has to be GENERATED by something. So the question isn't about using or not using electrical energy, but finding a source of energy that is efficient and safe, whatever that may be.

An electric current flowing through a conductor carries electrical energy. When an electric current passes through a circuit there is an electric field in the dielectric surrounding the conductor; magnetic field lines around the conductor and lines of electric force radially about the conductor.[3]

In a direct current circuit, if the current is continuous, the fields are constant; there is a condition of stress in the space surrounding the conductor, which represents stored electric and magnetic energy, just as a compressed spring or a moving mass represents stored energy. In an alternating current circuit, the fields also alternate; that is, with every half wave of current and of voltage, the magnetic and the electric field start at the conductor and run outwards into space with the speed of light.[4] Where these alternating fields impinge on another conductor a voltage and a current are induced.[3]

Any change in the electrical conditions of the circuit, whether internal[5] or external[6] involves a readjustment of the stored magnetic and electric field energy of the circuit, that is, a so-called transient. A transient is of the general character of a condenser discharge through an inductive circuit. The phenomenon of the condenser discharge through an inductive circuit therefore is of the greatest importance to the engineer, as the foremost cause of high-voltage and high-frequency troubles in electric circuits.[7]

Electromagnetic induction is proportional to the intensity of the current and voltage in the conductor which produces the fields and to the frequency. The higher the frequency the more intense the induction effect. Energy is transferred from a conductor that produces the fields (the primary) to any conductor on which the fields impinge (the secondary). Part of the energy of the primary conductor passes inductively across space into secondary conductor and the energy decreases rapidly along the primary conductor. A high frequency current does not pass for long distances along a conductor but rapidly transfers its energy by induction to adjacent conductors. Higher induction resulting from the higher frequency is the explanation of the apparent difference in the propagation of high frequency disturbances from the propagation of the low frequency power of alternating current systems. The higher the frequency the more preponderant become the inductive effects that transfer energy from circuit to circuit across space. The more rapidly the energy decreases and the current dies out along the circuit, the more local is the phenomenon.[3]

By the way, we can't travel through space using electricity. Good luck! :-)

By the wording of your question, I'm assuming that you mean converting electrical energy into propulsion, the answer is no, because it violates the law of conservation of momentum.

Current rockets work by using Newton's third law of motion (for every action there's an equal and opposite reaction). You use the fuel to expel the propellant in the opposite direction of where you want your ship to move, and Newton's law takes effect. Using electricity to push your spaceship around would be akin to converting rotary motion into linear motion. In other words, it's impossible for the same reason that a perpetual motion machine is theoretically impossible.

Well, there is a caveat to that, but it's not worth mentioning because you'd be talking about a drive comparable to a Photon drive (which takes about three hundred megawatts of power to produce one measly newton of thrust)

Read up on the Dean Drive as an example of people trying to invent a so-called "reactionless drive" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_drive

The truth of the matter is. If it's been thought of then it would of already been done. The only way something that has enough force to project into space that couldn't break the physics of living, God, then that would be some sort of combustion. Because I don't think fans, or propellers, could move fast enough to go beyond the atmosphere without air to help propel the instrument into outer extreme of the earth.

But battery's are combustible as well thats why they blow up using the wrong way. So I guess a big *** battery pack with smaller battery's inside of it exploding at a degree of time then yes it would be possible.

what's it that makes area Ships commute into area ? as quickly as in area no gasoline require as long your on the right song. gasoline is barely had to alter direction or decelerate Is gasoline used ? confident ... Is it the Orbit Thrust that contraptions it into action ? confident

Ok