Electrically Powered Ultralight Aircraft

In rec.aviation.piloting Ernest Christley wrote:
wrote:
In rec.aviation.piloting Ernest Christley wrote:
wrote:

The laws of physics say once an object is in motion it takes no energy
to maintain the velocity UNLESS there is some other force at work
that would cause the velocity to decrease.

Since at a constant speed, the a in F=ma is zero, the force is zero
no matter the mass.

Once at speed in a car (or airplane or rocket ship) the only energy
needed to maintain speed is that equal to any drag forces that
would otherwise slow the car down.

Have you looked at the current crop of high mileage cars?

They all have very aerodynamic profiles to get the air drag down.


They also have very narrow, hard tires. Unfortunately, the DOT has laws
against solid rubber tires or they could be made even harder.

Your analysis would be mostly correct if we were talking about trains.

My analysis of what?

The biggest source of drag on a car is air followed by tires.

Of course the makers are going to put hard tires on as well as
streamline the vehicle to get mileage up.

The less drag, the less gas the vehicle uses.

What's your point?


The point is that weight matters...even in land-locked vehicles.

In cars, weight matters most in acceleration and doesn't matter in
any significant amount with modern tires in cruise.

--
Jim Pennino

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