How young/old were you when you learned that air flow effects efficiency

[Frank Lee]

I like that buggy.

[freebeard]

Nowadays I'm amused by that coil spring. That's pre-gas strut. At least in my world.

[Frank Lee]

My '74 Nova hatch had some big springs!

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

I don't remember when I learned about the effect of aerodynamics on fuel-efficiency, most likely to have been 13 or 14 by then. Didn't really care about it until I was 18.

[redpoint5]

I remember my mom being surprised to learn that the same force of gravity that pulls things "down" is the same force that causes the moon to orbit the Earth, and the Earth to orbit the sun. Don't know what they were teaching kids back then.

Some people are curious how things work, and others are content to live in a world of magic.

I don't know how old I was when I learned that the frontal shape of an object affects efficiency, but it was quite young. It was much later that I learned the importance of rear shape.

[freebeard]

I remember my mom being surprised to learn that the same force of gravity that pulls things "down" is the same force that causes the moon to orbit the Earth, and the Earth to orbit the sun. Don't know what they were teaching kids back then.

To be fair, orbital velocity wasn't common knowledge in times past. When I was a child, I thought all liquids contain water.

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

My '74 Nova hatch had some big springs!

A liftback Nova? That's like my Dasher.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by freebeard

To be fair, orbital velocity wasn't common knowledge in times past.

She saw Neil stand on the moon! Newton had some ideas quite some time before that, too.

Anyhow, I find it curious that some people have very inquiring minds, and others have next to no interest in how things work, or the laws of the universe.

I've had a discussion with my wife related to our levels of interest in science. She argued that she has a BS in biology, whereas I barely graduated high school. The difference is that she had an interest in becoming a PA, and I have an interest in how things work in general. Understanding is an end (or beginning) unto itself to me, where knowledge is a requirement of proficiency to my wife.

Knowledge is having the right answer, and understanding is knowing why that answer is correct.

[Frank Lee]

Originally Posted by freebeard

A liftback Nova? That's like my Dasher.

I definitely should not have scrapped that car.

[freebeard]

She saw Neil stand on the moon! Newton had some ideas quite some time before that, too.

Prolly a lot of people's first clue was them bouncing around upright on the Moon.

I remember coming downstairs for breakfast one morning in 1957 having gotten my media fix from a transistor radio I'd received as a Christmas present. At the dawn of the space age. My parents were all upset because Sputnik was lofted into orbit by the 'wrong' people.

My maternal grandmother sat in a wheelchair the last few years, thinking Star Trek was TV news.

[SoobieOut]

When I was 4 years old and the family took a trip to Florida in a 1958 VW Beetle. Dad strapped a rack to the roof which held 2 suitcases. The top speed dropped from 60 MPH to 45 MPH. The exception was only when he could draft behind a truck, then the top speed was whatever the truck was doing.

Learned about aerodynamic drag, under powered cars (36 HP), and diesel fumes all on the same trip!