Brain Teasers
Upside Down Car
Science
Science brain teasers require understanding of the physical or biological world and the laws that govern it.Science
How could you drive a car upside down?
Answer
A formula one car if going fast enough can produce enough downforce to keep itself in contact with the roof of a tunnel! The downforce counteracts the force of gravity on the car! Some other (sports) cars also have this potential. Downforce increases with speed so the faster it goes the more likely it is that this force would be strong enough to keep the car from falling!Hide Answer Show Answer
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Comments
wow... cool... good job... i wasn't think some sort of trick by sitting upside down with mirrors to see good job!!!
i just realized, did you just read that article in R&T about the Bernoulli principle / Venturi effect before posting this? they give this very example! =)
No, but I'd be interested. Is there a link for that on-line? I remember asking a physics teacher about it when learning about forces, and I found data on how much down-force an F1 car produces, and figured it was more than gravity so if it were upside down...
Or you could just put extra large tires on the F-1 and flip it/drive in reverse. It's a tacky way out, but that's what I thought of first.
cathalmccabe, that is a very interesting bit of science. I didn't think of that at all.
mrbean, haven't I seen your series on telly?
mrbean, haven't I seen your series on telly?
Look at Men in Black.
I MUST remember to see what heading a teaser comes under. I applied no science at all and thought the answer was in a game of monopoly. Am I the only one who sometimes forgets to look at catergory and ends up feeling daft?
Aug 31, 2002
Your answer states that the cars only have the potential to do this, or in theory have the capability of creating a enough downdraft to counteract gravity, but no actual prove that it CAN be done, just that on paper it is possible. Therewith I find that the whole teaser is a bit of a moot subject. In theory, or on paper it could be possible to make almost anything work, although the truth is often far from the theory.
There is no theory, F1 and Champ Cars actually create a tremendous amount of downforce. I don't know exact specs of F1, but I'm a CART junkie as you can tell by my name. Fully loaded with a driver and fuel a Champ Car weighs just under 2000 pounds. At full speed, around 250 mph, these cars create over 4000 pounds of downforce. That's twice the weight of the car. These are facts. Although it has never been attemped, these cars can drive on a ceiling.
This is a link to CART.com. Check it out.
http://www.cart.com/About/Glossary.asp#GroundEffects
Downforce:
Wings on a racing car are upside down compared to an airplane wing. Instead of lifting the car, they press the car harder onto the track, providing increased traction for braking, acceleration and cornering. Downforce is also provided by the ground-effects, tunnels underneath the car, creating a vacuum that sucks the car to the track. A modern Champ Car provides so much downforce that it could actually stick to the ceiling at just over 100 miles per hour.
This is a link to CART.com. Check it out.
http://www.cart.com/About/Glossary.asp#GroundEffects
Downforce:
Wings on a racing car are upside down compared to an airplane wing. Instead of lifting the car, they press the car harder onto the track, providing increased traction for braking, acceleration and cornering. Downforce is also provided by the ground-effects, tunnels underneath the car, creating a vacuum that sucks the car to the track. A modern Champ Car provides so much downforce that it could actually stick to the ceiling at just over 100 miles per hour.
http://www.cart.com/About/Glossary.asp#DownForce - http://www.cart.com/About/Glossary.asp#GroundEffects - http://www.cart.com/Tech/Car_Comparisons.asp
Oct 03, 2002
Duct-Tape me to the roof, and I'll do it!
I thought that you were in Anarctica or comething, good job anyways
I thought that you were in Anarctica or something, good job anyways
This is very interesting, but I have a doubt. How do you make the car reach such great speeds? Maybe, a curved ramp should be used so that the car is already at a high speed when it becomes upside down. This concept is very interesting and counterintuitive.
Well now, if the car could create enough downforce to counteract gravity, it would still fall. Or rather, float. Creating enough downforce to counteract gravity yields zero gravity, like in paabolic flying. One would have to create double the downforce to feel the same force pushing one against the ceiling. If CART Junkie's numbers are true, it's still possible. But that makes doing it in an F1 less likely.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIiadKaW9Vc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiZoVAZGgsw
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