|
|
>> (Also curios is the fact that the car doesn't accelerate when you
>> drive it down a hill... You'd think it would.)
>
> Press the clutch and start off at 5mph so as to avoid any air drag. It
> should accelerate then.
Oh, it *does* accelerate... just... not very much. I mean, if you point
a *bicycle* downhill, it takes off like a rocket. And it doesn't even
weigh much! But a much heaveir car... doesn't seem to pick up speed very
much.
>> I would think this electric motor trickery probably also saves fuel on
>> low-speed manovers like trying to park. [Think how much you have to
>> rev the engine to make a car move that slowly...]
>
> Ermm, my car moves just by lifting the clutch gently, no need to rev at
> all.
Is your car diesel by any chance?
>> ...OK, so maybe it wasn't exactly 10^(-6). But it worked out to be
>> some absurdly small figure anyway.
>
> IIRC you meant that amount per revolution of the engine, not per minute!
Right. So given that there's roughly 10^3 revolutions per minute, that
would be about 10^(-3) L per minute. ;-)
>> I've always wanted to know... An engine is a mechanical device. So why
>> does temperature have any effect on anything?
>
> Things expand with temperature, an engine is designed to run smoothly at
> it's operating temperature, below that there is a lot more friction.
Ah, I see. That would make sense...
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
Post a reply to this message
|
|