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Old 02-16-2013, 04:41 PM   #12 (permalink)
mort
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ChazInMT View Post
His assumption is that somehow a fan is better at converting gasoline into thrust, if this were the case, we'd all have propeller cars. There's no magic in a propeller, a fan would simply not be more efficient at converting gasoline into usable thrust than turning the tires with a drive shaft.
I agree, but there are other reasons for not having propeller cars, the prop would be big and there would be safety and noise issues.
This isn't a pure slam-dunk. Good propellers are about 85% efficient, compared to 90 to 95% efficient gears and tires drive train - so it doesn't look that bad. Only going to waste a little gas.
-mort
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