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Comment on that's some fucking aerodynamics bro

It’s even possible that the boat adds basically no additional drag, and it’s even remotely possible that it decreases drag. Mythbusters proved that a flatbed pickup truck actually gets worse mileage when driving with the rear door down instead of up, even though it seems like driving with it up would create a big wall that would constantly smash into the air.

Aerodynamics isn’t nearly as intuitive as people assume.

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UniversalBasicJustice@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Okay but there’s no way the flow separates from that roof enough to clear the boat

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- bright@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  I would guess the same, but for a wacky shape like that rv it’s pretty hard to say
  
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  - JennaR8r@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    Okay but if they would just at the very least, turn that boat around 180°, I’m pretty sure the aerodynamics would improve.
    
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    thebestaquaman@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    There’s like a 90% chance you’re right, but aerodynamics gets especially messy with stuff like this that has a more or less flat wall at the back. A significant portion of the drag comes from the turbulence behind the vehicle, rather than cutting (more “plowing” in this case) through the air in front. When you change the geometry of the back, you change that drag.
    
    So, if I were to bet, I would bet that turning the boat around would help. But I wouldn’t bet my life on it. Some wacky interaction with the geometry of the rear could somehow cause it to get worse.
    
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  - UniversalBasicJustice@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    I’m not so sure it is. If the leading surface was completely bluff, the length of roof were shorter than the protruding boat and it was moving very fast then yeah, maybe.
    
    In reality, the nose of the RV plus the length of roof surface along with non-Mach speeds will virtually guarantee the bulk of the airflow will remain coupled to that roof until a radical change in geometry such as the boat.
    
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1984@lemmy.today ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
I loved Mythbusters. It was a much happier time.

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Floodedwomb@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
I watched that episode and they didn’t prove shit. Those tests were terrible. That shit was about as scientific as The Big Bang Theory.

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- Trainguyrom@reddthat.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  Relevant XKCD
  
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- SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  
  That shit was about as scientific as The Big Bang Theory.
  
  It was 100% correct.
  
  Here’s the white paper using CFD. big words.
  
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