how does aerodynamics affect the functionality of a car?
611670
It doesn't make the car faster; it decreases the frictional force that is slowing the car down.\n\nAn object has to move the air out of it's way for it to pass through.  Buses, for example, have a big, flat front end that sorta traps air in front.  You really want to cut through the air, like a sports car.  Also, the air flowing over the body can create drag.  Hence, a nice smooth surface with little variation is good.  Finally, the back side of a car makes a difference.  Again, the bus will create a low pressure area as air has to fill the space that it leaves.  This is bad.  It's much better to slowly close the space behind the vehicle.
179150
If you mean barometric pressure, both higher pressure and lower temperature inrease air density.  This means more available engine power at a given altitude, lower speed and less power needed to obtain a given amount of lift, and more loss due to drag at a given speed.
250759
Remember, momentum is affected by mass.  The fly's mass makes it easier to dissipate the inertia.  So it seems that the fly could crash into the front, but not likely. Of course, most people are worrying about other things at the time, so no specific measurements have been taken!  The air inside has mass also, so in effect the car and the air mass have become one unit, in which the fly is also a small part.  When it stops, it helps everything else stop.
432238
Mass, acceleration, velocity, wheel size, traction (tire surface contact to track), torque from engine, horsepower. Are some of the things needed to know.\n\nYour best bet is start with a kit for a given class of race car and build and learn from that. Start with a Go-Kart.
156648
In thermodynamics and fluid mechanics, compressibility is a measure of the relative volume change of fluid or solid as a response to a pressure (or mean stress) change.\n\nCompressibility is an important notion in aerodynamics. At low speeds, the compressibility of air is not important for aircraft design, but as the airflow nears and exceeds the speed of sound, a host of new aerodynamic effects become important in the design of aircraft. These effects, often several of them at a time, made it very difficult for World War II era aircraft to reach speeds much beyond 500mph.\n\nThe term "compressibility" is also used in thermodynamics to describe the deviance in the thermodynamic properties of a real gas from those expected from an ideal gas.
338795
No. For airfoil shapes, drag is minimized by keeping the surface as smooth as possible (and as a result the airflow over the wing smooth as well). \nThis is not necessarily true for other shapes. For a sphere, drag can be less when the airflow is turbulent instead of smooth. As a result, the dimples on a golf ball (a rough surface) reduce the drag on the ball.
489083
Aerodynamics is a branch of fluid dynamics concerned with the study of gas flows. The solution of an aerodynamic problem normally involves calculating for various properties of the flow, such as velocity, pressure, density, and temperature, as a function of space and time. Understanding the flow pattern makes it possible to calculate or approximate the forces and moments acting on bodies in the flow. This mathematical analysis and empirical approximation form the scientific basis for heavier-than-air flight.\n\nAerodynamic problems can be classified in a number of ways. The flow environment defines the first classification criterion. External aerodynamics is the study of flow around solid objects of various shapes. Evaluating the lift and drag on an airplane, the shock waves that form in front of the nose of a rocket or the flow of air over a hard drive head are examples of external aerodynamics. Internal aerodynamics is the study of flow through passages in solid objects. For instance, internal aerodynamics encompasses the study of the airflow through a jet engine or through an air conditioning pipe.
845422
This is related to Newton's law: An object in motion or at rest will stay in motion or at rest unless acted upon by an external force.\n\nTo elaborate, an object travelling in a straight line will keep on travelling in that straight line at a constant speed unless something acts on it.\n\nWhen you are in the car with your ball, everything in the car is travelling at the same speed, so you through the ball up and it comes straight back down. But if you throw the ball up and then jam on the cars brakes, the ball will keep moving at its original speed but the car is slowing down, so the ball would fly forward into the front windshield.\n\nLast point, if you throw the ball out the window, it will appear to fly backwards - It is just slowing down compared to the car because unlike the air inside the car, the air outside is at rest, so the ball will be flying through the air at a high speed and the wind drag will slow it quite rapidly.
389887
Aerodynamics is a small part of engine location although very important relative to drag considerations.  The specific location from an aero standpoint is usually determined from wind tunnel data. The other things engine location can affect are vertical tail size, wing & nacelle flutter considerations, landing gear length and associated weight, servicing, foreign object ingestion and systems routing.
1136574
look up bernoulis theorum...this will tell you all you need to know reference changes in pressure with respect to aeronatical engineering.\n\nGood Luck
867227
An airplane wing is designed so that air travels slower under the wing. This increases, the pressure under the wing, giving the plane lift.\n\nReally it should be that the air travels *faster over* the wing, which*decreases* the *pressure above* the wing, giving the plane lift.
6374
The second and fourth answers are essentially correct and apply in ideal circumstances, with a fly that is just hovering (not flying forward or backward in the car), and in air that has infinitely low viscosity (is very very thin).\n\nBut this isn't simply a Newton's first law problem [1], since a fly is so small and light, and is effected by the movement of the air it is flying in.  For example, if you open the windows, a stationary hovering fly might get sucked out sideways, even with a constant velocity.\n\nSo when you suddenly accelerate, a ball on a roller might hit the back window, but a small, lightweight fly won't neccessarily hit the back window since the fly is in a fluid (air) that prevents the free movement of the fly through it.
208694
If you have read the article How Car Engines Work, you know about the valves that let the air/fuel mixture into the engine and the exhaust out of the engine. The camshaft uses lobes (called cams) that push against the valves to open them as the camshaft rotates; springs on the valves return them to their closed position. This is a critical job, and can have a great impact on an engine's performance at different speeds. On the next page of this article you can see the animation we built to really show you the difference between a performance camshaft and a standard one.\n\nThe rest of the story is at the link below:
45406
You have to make it areodynamic so that the wind flows and forms a vortex. Basically it should flow in a circle so that the wind flows to push the car forward. THe easiest way would be to put a spoiler on the top of the car at a 45 degree angle with the slant going towards the front of the car. The wind should flow over the spoiler and then get caught behind the spoiler and push it foward.
844172
I could see the wind resistance, but there's several issues that come to mind with being vertical: 1. how does the driver see to drive? Granted, I'm picturing a bob-sled configuration here... 2. It compacts things horizontally, but enlongates the vehicle, especially if there are more than a couple of passengers. Wouldn't t a longer vehicle increase traffic congestion? \n\nNow, getting to your question... 3. I don't think it would be safer in collisions because with a lower profile, there would be the concern of one vehicle going over the other.  Also, compaction from a straight-on collision would drive legs into the body...?\n\nI think for safety, the issue is more about how to reduce compaction and then shock to the body.  Maybe we need a car that has a passenger pod similar to the Anecia baby seat:  http://www.americaninventorspot.com/node/937
397549
no, the whole point of "drifting" is to set up your suspension for oversteer, and then controling the drift with the throttle not the steering wheel. when you think about your already asking the front whhels on FWD car to; stop, go, and handle cornering. with more power to the front wheels, when you accelerate out of a corner a FWD car will just understeer A LOT.
110531
More power obviously.\n\nYou also get less vibration with multiple cylinders, because they can be designed to balance each other (some going up while others going down, etc.).