Magnetic “Hydrojet”

In the Tom Clancy novel, The Hunt for Red October (1984), and movie of the same title (1990), a submarine was designed with a unique, silent-running propulsion system. The novel refers to this system as a hydrojet, whereas the movie calls it a magnetohydrodynamic drive, or “caterpillar” drive. Show your students the principles behind this propulsion system and discuss whether it would be powerful enough to push a submarine.