Hello my name is Timu and I am going to tell you what aerodynamics is with vehicles.

But first here are some key words below just to see if you know them or not. If you don’t know any of these words I

will explain what they mean. So once you know them keep them in mind because I will quiz you at the end.

Click here to

continue

LiftGravity

ThrustDrag

Air flowv

Spoilerv

Here is a diagram of what the key words mean

Lift

Gravity

Drag

Thrust

Here we have two types of vehicles. A truck and a car. These will be my assistants.

Do you know witch one is more aerodynamic

Click here

Click here

Thats WrongThe front of the truck is flat so the air just hits the

front of the truck so the wind fights against the truck.

Have another

go

Thats Right!The airflow goes over the car when it is driving

because it is shaped to go fast. If you look at the front of the car it isn’t flat, it’s curved so it is more

aerodynamic.

This here is a dragster. These type of vehicles are made for short but fast races and they are very aerodynamic.

Spoilers are the piece on the back

of a dragster

They make the airflow go down to stop the

dragster to lift

Dragsters Thrust very fast so they also have a

parachute to stop it from speeding on past the finish

line. That is called the drag.

Click here to see what happens when there is no

parachute

Finish Line

Click here to see what happens when there is no

spoiler

Click here to continu

A dragster without a spoiler would slowly raise by the second from its speed then tip backwards.

Look at this truck compered to the dragster. It has no spoiler and it is

not aerodynamic.

Look at this dragster compered to the truck. It has a spoiler, parachute

and it is very aerodynamic.

Who do you think would win?

As you can see the air goes over top of the dragster so the air doesn’t

affect the speed.

The truck fights the wind so the truck would never win a race against the

dragster