The Tsiolkovsky rocket equation explains why spaceflight is hard and why rockets have stages. It is one line of physics, and coding it makes the tyranny of the equation obvious.
The Tsiolkovsky rocket equation is the single most important formula in spaceflight, and it explains why getting to orbit is so brutally hard. It is one line, and coding it makes its consequences (including why rockets have stages) impossible to miss.
The equation
The change in velocity a rocket can achieve, its delta-v, is:
import math
def delta_v(exhaust_velocity, mass_initial, mass_final):
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