If you drive your car into an 80mph headwind at 80mph Will you be standing still?

Question

And If you actually are traveling at 80mph into an 80 mph head wind Is your car really travelling at 160mph? Well thats the Theroy wonder if anyone can explain it. As (in the first part of the question) if you do 80mph You will Move forward............

Answer 1

Your confusing thrust force with resitence :O)

Your vehicle is travellign at 80MPH but exerting greater forward thrust (kinetic ??) that if it was doing 80 with no head wind.

As long as your card was powerfukl enough you could maintain the speed.

Also remember your car has an aerodynamic shape so the wind resistance wont be 80 mph.

cheers

moose

Answer 2

When traveling in a car, the speed of the wind has nothing to do with calculating how fast you are traveling.

Miles per hour is calculation of how much distance traveled on the ground over a period of time. 80 miles distance is 80 miles, no matter if the wind is blowing or not. An hour is an hour no matter if the wind is blowing or not.

So even though the wind speed passing over the car is 180 MPH, the car will cover only 80 miles distance over the ground in an hour if traveling 80 miles an hour.

Answer 3

In the air you'd detect an airspeed of 160MPH, which is the speed the air is hitting the plane, but on the ground in a car 80MPH is the speed the wheels are turning at, which means unless they're squeling trying to keep moving then your doing 80MPH.

Answer 4

Unlike air planes cars connect to the ground and 80mph is road speed not air speed "tires pushing the car foward". However driving into wind of 80 mph will make the true air speed of the car 160 mph. Turn around and travel 80 mph with a 80 mph tail wind you get better gas mileage and open your windows and it is calm out side and if you continue in that tail wind your car will overheat. Cars need wind blowing heat out of the radatior.

Answer 5

Who thinks of this crap? If you're driving at 80 MPH, you're driving at 80 MPH, regardless of the headwind. If the 80MPH headwind was another vehicle coming at you, your closure speed would be 160 MPH. But if you've got a car that can maintain 80 in that kind of wind, I want to know what it is!

Answer 6

Your confusing thrust force with resitence

Your vehicle is travellign at 80MPH but exerting greater forward thrust (kinetic) that if it was doing 80 with no head wind.

As long as your card was powerfukl enough you could maintain the speed.

Also remember your car has an aerodynamic shape so the wind resistance wont be 80 mph.

Answer 7

if you drive at 80 mph you travell over the ground at 80 mph but have an air speed of 160 mph.

Answer 8

put simply no.

The force implied upon the car will not be sufficient to stop the car. Air is a gas and of low density the car is aerodynamically designed.

80 mph is a very strong wind and may be sufficient to create a lift force upon the car which is greater than the opposing gravity and aerodynamic downforce. i.e. it could pick it up, blow it over etc

Answer 9

If it is going to do 80, it is going to probable do it accurately. My 1989 Honda Civic will do 80 all day. gasoline financial gadget on the twin carriageway comes from no longer having to continuously provide up, then strengthen up as you do on city streets. the quicker you circulate, the less gasoline financial gadget you gain because of the fact of increasing air resistance. Air resistance is a sq. function, so at 80 miles according to hour the air resistance is 4 situations what it would be at 40 miles according to hour and your petrol mark downs drop critically.

Answer 10

No. In a car you'd be doing 80 mph. In an airplane you'd be standing still.