Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank Lee
Don't get me wrong, I think the concept is way cool... for super high speed and/or underwater stuff.
You'd think general aviation would be on that like bees on honey- they have higher speeds and they don't have yaw unless they're on approach.
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I can't find pictures, but I could swear I've seen aviation test planes with a ball about the size of a 8lb bowling ball mounted up front on the radar nose, a couple feet in front of the plane, but they were low-res images, and the shape was distorted by the image quality, so it could have been something entirely differently shaped from a bowling ball.
Regardless, at 300+ MPH, I see how it could make a difference, but little more than pictures is all I've ever noted of it, regarding compressible mediums (air.)
The idea works so well in water because you don't compress water, you simply displace it, and because of it's lack of compression, it's pressure doesn't change, so the faster you displace it, the further away it moves, and obviously, the longer it takes to refill that space completely.
With air, the faster you go, the
less you displace it,
and the more you compress it, which provides for a spring effect, creating high and low pressure zones.
Unfortunately, pressure is where hydro and aero sciences part ways, as far as I have learned.
I'm no professor, though. I've got
alot to learn yet.