ibo Posted January 1, 2011 Share Posted January 1, 2011 Have just read this from a guy on yutube very intresting......... The acceleration due to gravity is independent of mass or weight! For real, I'm an engineer and dismissing air resistance, weight has absolutely no effect on the acceleration of an object due to gravity. Therefore, the weight of the truck has nothing to do with it "barely getting air" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kpowell911 Posted January 1, 2011 Share Posted January 1, 2011 But if 2 "products" have the exact same power output, but one is 20% lighter, the lighter one will be faster correct? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt B Posted January 1, 2011 Share Posted January 1, 2011 Have just read this from a guy on yutube very intresting......... The acceleration due to gravity is independent of mass or weight! For real, I'm an engineer and dismissing air resistance, weight has absolutely no effect on the acceleration of an object due to gravity. Therefore, the weight of the truck has nothing to do with it "barely getting air" Not so true, Gravitational Potential Energy is calculated my mass times gravity times height. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garry Posted January 1, 2011 Share Posted January 1, 2011 Sounds like the ''YouTube scientists'' at work again. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daz c Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 Have just read this from a guy on yutube very intresting......... The acceleration due to gravity is independent of mass or weight! For real, I'm an engineer and dismissing air resistance, weight has absolutely no effect on the acceleration of an object due to gravity. Therefore, the weight of the truck has nothing to do with it "barely getting air" The lighter the object has to be faster you would think unless going down hill. Imagine putting a racing motorbike engine in a car instead it would be a fraction of the speed of the bike well this is which way i look at it lol. daz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ibo Posted January 2, 2011 Author Share Posted January 2, 2011 The lighter the object the more chance of lift off,thats wy u have spoilers on to force you onto the tarmac,so I think it all comes back to horse power,not sure though only went to a Sec Mod school and no qualifications.lolol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe of loath Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 Weight has little to no effect on top speed, the only effect it does have is how if affects the rolling resistance, by making the tyres slightly flatter or putting more load on the bearings, which is only a few percent difference. Top speed is simply the point at which the maximum engine output equals the forces working in the opposite direction, mostly air resistance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nitroholic Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 (edited) acceleration due to gravity is independant of mass, since it's an (almost) cponstant value of around 9.81M/s .... towards the centre of the earth. That is not, however, the same as the kinetic energy required to lift an object off the ground. As has already been stated, potential energy is mh...or mass times the height you raise it. This means potential energy is directly proportional to mass. Also, since the energy input is coming from the kinetic energy from your car given an upward vector through a jump etc. kinetic energy is 1/2mv^2 ... which implies that kinetic energy is proportional to the mass, but also proportional to velocity squared. So..assuming perfect energy transfer ( which you never get due to frictional forces etc) getting a big truck off the ground has more to do with the speed you can go than the weight of the truck. In short...the weight of the truck does have a bearing on the chances of getting airborne....but velocity has more of an effect. Aerodynamic effects also increase with velocity. Be they positive or negative. This was nicely demonstrated by Richard Hammond attempting to drive an F1 car for an episode of TopGear. He could barely get it round the corners as he never got it going fast enough for the wings to give downforce. Without that grip it couldn't stay on the track. I love physics edited for Jack Daniels affected typing.... Edited January 2, 2011 by Nitroholic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barnetbasher Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 acceleration due to gravity is independant of mass, since it's an (almost) cponstant value of around 9.81M/s .... towards the centre of the earth. That is not, however, the same as the kinetic energy required to lift an object off the ground. As has already been stated, potential energy is mh...or mass times the height you raise it. This means potential energy is directly proportional to mass. Also, since the energy input is coming from the kinetic energy from your car given an upward vector through a jump etc. kinetic energy is 1/2mv^2 ... which implies that kinetic energy is proportional to the mass, but also proportional to velocity squared. So..assuming perfect energy transfer ( which you never get due to frictional forces etc) getting a big truck off the ground has more to do with the speed you can go than the weight of the truck. In short...the weight of the truck does have a bearing on the chances of getting airborne....but velocity has more of an effect. Aerodynamic effects also increase with velocity. Be they positive or negative. This was nicely demonstrated by Richard Hammond attempting to drive an F1 car for an episode of TopGear. He could barely get it round the corners as he never got it going fast enough for the wings to give downforce. Without that grip it couldn't stay on the track. I love physics edited for Jack Daniels affected typing.... man...that post WITH JD in yer blood ??? im impressed ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomr Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 Interesting stuff ,so if i made my nitro truck lighter than it is now would i see no gain in acceleration? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xeostar Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 (edited) Have just read this from a guy on yutube very intresting......... The acceleration due to gravity is independent of mass or weight! For real, I'm an engineer and dismissing air resistance, weight has absolutely no effect on the acceleration of an object due to gravity. Therefore, the weight of the truck has nothing to do with it "barely getting air" As a engineer you really should know better than saying all that, its confused on so many levels. Edited January 2, 2011 by Xeostar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt B Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 acceleration due to gravity is independant of mass, since it's an (almost) cponstant value of around 9.81M/s .... towards the centre of the earth. That is not, however, the same as the kinetic energy required to lift an object off the ground. As has already been stated, potential energy is mh...or mass times the height you raise it. This means potential energy is directly proportional to mass. Also, since the energy input is coming from the kinetic energy from your car given an upward vector through a jump etc. kinetic energy is 1/2mv^2 ... which implies that kinetic energy is proportional to the mass, but also proportional to velocity squared. So..assuming perfect energy transfer ( which you never get due to frictional forces etc) getting a big truck off the ground has more to do with the speed you can go than the weight of the truck. In short...the weight of the truck does have a bearing on the chances of getting airborne....but velocity has more of an effect. Aerodynamic effects also increase with velocity. Be they positive or negative. This was nicely demonstrated by Richard Hammond attempting to drive an F1 car for an episode of TopGear. He could barely get it round the corners as he never got it going fast enough for the wings to give downforce. Without that grip it couldn't stay on the track. Ahh, makes sense now. Back to my Physics textbooks then Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ibo Posted January 2, 2011 Author Share Posted January 2, 2011 Wow,, out of my depth now,intresting reading though, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nitroholic Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 Reducing weight will make it accelerate faster. If the amount of kinetic energy is 'fixed' then reducing the mass component results in an increse in velocity. Newtons second law states that F=ma .... or Force=mass x acceleration. If we re-arrange that equation, we get a=F/m If the force is constant ( so don't go changing your engine!! ) then reduction in mass gives a proportional increase in acceleration. Half the weight and get double the acceleration. The gain in acceleration does not mean you will go faster, as that is determined by your gearing...but the lighter your truck, the faster you will get there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe of loath Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 Less weight will also mean it may well handle better, as the vehicle will take less energy to change direction. However, it might handle worse due to less weight pushing down on the wheels. It's complicated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sphinx Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 Losing weight is 100% the way to go faster Using carbon and plastic instead of alloy/metal is so much better. Gav Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe of loath Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 Losing weight is 100% the way to go faster Using carbon and plastic instead of alloy/metal is so much better. Gav To accelerate faster maybe. Not to get your top speed higher though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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