Aerodynamic Cars vs Non-Aerodynamic Cars

By | March 20, 2019

What is an aerodynamic object?

On the basis of resistance provided by the objects to the air, objects can be divided into two parts.

  1. Aerodynamic objects and
  2. Non-aerodynamic objects

An aerodynamic object offers least resistance to the air when either the object or the air is moving. On the other hand the resistance provided by the non-aerodynamic object to the air is much more compared to an aerodynamic objects.

Here we are interested in aerodynamics in context of automobiles.

aerodynamic cars

Aerodynamic cars

As we have discussed above that a non-aerodynamic object offers more resistance to the air which comes in its path, let us understand how this affects our vehicle’s performance.

In a simple experiment scientists have proved that a bicycle can achieve more speed when it is running behind a truck or bus, compared to when it is facing direct wind.

In the first case when bicycle runs behind a bus (or truck) then the air drag is faced by the front vehicle and hence, the Bicycle has to take very less air drag. It all gives the bicycle rider more speed for the same power.

The resistance that air offers to a non-aerodynamic body, adds to the load of the vehicle and demands more power to overcome it. To acquire this extra power an automobile has to burn more fuel.

To save fuel modern day cars are more streamlined than their ancestors.

Racing Cars

In car racing we cannot afford to bear air resistance, since the competition is very tough and even very slight air resistance will reduce the vehicle speed considerably. That is why, we can see racing cars are the most streamlined vehicles which humans use. Their aerodynamic shape reduces the air drag drastically.

Image source (also featured):

Licence: CC BY-ND 2.0

Image URL: https://www.flickr.com/photos/paulsimaging/7056436195 [Date: 09-12-2018]

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