F = qv × B.
Force on a charged particle in a magnetic field. You memorized it for the test. Your students will forget it by June.
NASA is using it to build an engine that could carry humans to Mars.
We love when the "I'll never use this" crowd gets proven wrong.
PHYSICS WORTH SHARING
NASA just test-fired an engine that doesn't burn fuel.
No combustion. No chemical reaction. Engineers at JPL turned lithium metal into vapor, ionized it into plasma, and shoved it out the back using electromagnetic force. Electric current meets magnetic field — that's the whole thing. That's the thrust.
It hit 120 kilowatts in February. That's 25 times more powerful than the electric thrusters on NASA's Psyche spacecraft, which are the strongest ones flying in space right now. The engine glows hotter than molten lava inside a specialized vacuum chamber. And it doesn't roar like a rocket. It hums.
"We not only showed the thruster works, but we also hit the power levels we were targeting," said James Polk, senior research scientist at JPL.
A Mars mission would need several of these running for over 23,000 hours straight. That's 958 days of continuous thrust. They got the first one working at power levels nobody in the U.S. has hit before. So yeah. It's happening.
And the physics making it happen? It's a magnetoplasmadynamic thruster — which sounds like sci-fi, but the fundamental force doing the work is the Lorentz force. F = qv × B. The same equation sitting on a worksheet in a high school classroom right now.
The 10-Second Version: "NASA is testing a Mars engine that doesn't burn fuel — it turns lithium into plasma and pushes it with electromagnetic force. The physics behind it is F = qv × B. Same thing from your high school textbook."
CLASSROOM LIFESAVER
One of you told us you're wrapping up circuits right now. Perfect timing.
Three weeks left. Memorial Day weekend in between. Here's your Tuesday-after-the-long-weekend move:
Project the NASA thruster image on the board (glowing plasma in a vacuum chamber — it looks incredible, link in the story above).
Ask one question: "Where's the circuit in this engine?"
Let them find it. Current through the plasma. Magnetic field from the coils. Force on the charged particles. They just reviewed circuits, magnetism, AND forces without a single worksheet.
Follow up: "What equation describes the force on those particles?"
Five minutes. Zero prep. Maximum "wait, WHAT?" energy.
You already have our free Circuits escape room. (If you don't — go grab it, it's still free.) If you're finishing up waves or E&M in these last weeks, our Waves Escape Room: The Final Frequency is built for exactly this stretch. That NASA thruster? It works because of electromagnetic waves and oscillating fields — same physics your students are reviewing right now. Full period. Print and go. → See The Final Frequency
📥 FREE THIS WEEK
"The Blackout File" — An End-of-Year Physics Case File
A city loses power. The grid didn't fail — something else happened. Students use circuits, energy transfer, and wave behavior to figure out what went wrong and who's responsible.
One case file. Multiple physics units. Works as a review day, a sub plan, or a "last week of school and I need something good" lifesaver. Printable, grayscale-friendly, answer key included.
Physics Joke
Why do physics teachers love the last day of school?
They've got no potential left.
Just kinetic. Toward the parking lot.
(We're not sorry.)
Stay Wildly Curious,
— Lauren & Shawn
P.S. We're building more case files this summer. See poll below 👇
