Posted by Sherman in Idaho [72.47.153.29] on Saturday, November 22, 2014 at 14:52:18 :
In Reply to: And you see that shape in solar race cars posted by Eric B. [99.100.188.129] on Saturday, November 22, 2014 at 13:00:01 :
"Streamlining" as applied to car bodies today has a lot more to do with looking streamlined than with actually reducing the drag coefficient. The average person thinks "bullet-shaped" things are streamlined, when in fact that's almost the opposite of the ideal shape. Bullets are only flat on the back end to make them fit conveniently in the cartridge and they're only sharp on the front end to make them penetrate their target.
A teardrop shape is the shape a falling droplet of fluid with no viscosity and no surface tension would assume, because that's the shape that has the same pressure all over its surface. The extended "tail" is in response to the low pressure that forms behind a moving body.
As for parking, maybe could make cars with tails that flip up for storage? Traffic jams would still be a problem, though.
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