Hey folks,
Saw an episode of Mythbusters last night - they began by testing if a dirty
car gets better gas mileage than a clean car (based on the assumption of a
dirty car giving a "golf ball effect" - the dimples on a golf ball break up
the airflow and result in better aerodynamics). Well the dirty car got
poorer gas mileage so the initial myth was busted. BUT then they created a
car with a truly dimpled surface that looked a lot like that of a golf ball
(dimples enlarged to the scale of the car) and it improved gas mileage by
11% over a smooth surface on the same car. Here's a link:
http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/mythbusters-dirty-vs-clean-car/
For those who are perhaps up to custom designs, making body panels with a
dimpled surface could potentially improve range. Doing it on the sheet
metal of an existing car would be extremely difficult to do (as they
explained in the episode). They used a clay material added to the outside
of the car for the test.
- Peter FLipsen Jr
http://www.evalbum.com/1974
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Saw an episode of Mythbusters last night - they began by testing if a dirty
car gets better gas mileage than a clean car (based on the assumption of a
dirty car giving a "golf ball effect" - the dimples on a golf ball break up
the airflow and result in better aerodynamics). Well the dirty car got
poorer gas mileage so the initial myth was busted. BUT then they created a
car with a truly dimpled surface that looked a lot like that of a golf ball
(dimples enlarged to the scale of the car) and it improved gas mileage by
11% over a smooth surface on the same car. Here's a link:
http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/mythbusters-dirty-vs-clean-car/
For those who are perhaps up to custom designs, making body panels with a
dimpled surface could potentially improve range. Doing it on the sheet
metal of an existing car would be extremely difficult to do (as they
explained in the episode). They used a clay material added to the outside
of the car for the test.
- Peter FLipsen Jr
http://www.evalbum.com/1974
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_______________________________________________
General EVDL support: http://evdl.org/help/
Usage guidelines: http://evdl.org/help/index.html#conv
Archives: http://evdl.org/archive/
Subscription options: http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/ev