Recent content by Lsos

Yes, heavier cars are harder to stop because of inertia. In fact, how hard something is to stop is basically the definition of inertia. Inertia is a property of matter, so the more matter (weight), the more inertia, and the harder the car is to stop. By harder, I mean it takes more force. The...

Remember that in order to have a magnetic force you have to have a wire moving through a magnetic field, breaking the magnetic field lines (or the opposite, thus magnetic field lines moving and breaking through the wire). When there's no resistance in the circuit then the generator pushes the...

As you seem to understand, without the rpm you simply cannot know. However, assuming that as the man applies 10 N (which would be 50 Nm of torque) the shaft does not accelerate then that means that the resistance is also 10 N (50 Nm). If it wasn't, then the shaft would accelerate until the...

Don't discount the kinetic energy of the fuel, which rises as the rocket gains speed and makes up for the apparent deficit in its chemical energy. This is why it's exponentially harder to make faster rockets: because you need more fuel to accelerate the rocket, and then you need more fuel to...

I don't know what I'm talking about, but just from a quick glance, a tire is small and the pressure is distributed nice and evenly, over a smooth profile. And if you make the tire 2-5 times stronger than it needs to be, well no big deal. On a space shuttle with an (educated guess) frontal area...

Horsepower IS a unit of power. Torque, is not. So, by definition, the car with more horsepower has more power. 800 ft-lbs sounds like a lot, but anybody could make 800 ft-lbs. Hell, my cat could do it, given the right gearing. Lots of torque might help you, but it might not, that’s a matter of...

The shockwave surfing concept was actually surprisingly well developed, but got axed because of the partial test ban treaty. The NERVA I'm not sure either...some political reasons I guess. In the end, public opinion is that nuclear = bad, and therefore either one has a slim chance of being...

But you feel comfortable being sustained and nourished by a huge continuous runaway fusion reaction at the center of our solar system? :wink: BTW, they also have concepts and even successfully tested nuclear rockets that work on a controlled reaction, such as in a power plant.

The video you speak of is now obsolete :wink: :

Yeah, a rocket is kind of a special and confusing case, in that on the surface it seems that the power is the same and so is the acceleration. There are other things to consider with rockets though, and various ways to look at them. Let's look at the frame of reference we're using. The faster...

I still don't believe it's as clear-cut as “loaded truck = longer to stop”. There at many factors at play, there are many road conditions, and there are many trucks. For example, what if the road is very muddy or very snowy? I’d venture to say that a truck which is too light will be more prone...

As mentioned, in the real world the stopping distance IS affected by the load. This is a classic example of how a textbook and real life are not in agreement. Whether the stopping distance actually increases or decreases with more load depends on many factors. For example, the coefficient of...

Resources are indeed confirmed. This means you scan a planet/ asteroid for resources and can mine it to create fuel.

Of course you will get air resistance when moving faster than the wind. The key thing is tyou will get LESS air resistance, so either it will be easier to maintain your speed or you will be able to go faster. Or a bit of both.