Jokes1 min ago
Sucking lorries
8 Answers
Whenever I drive past a lorry on the motorway, why does my car appear to be almost 'sucked' towards the lorry? This 'phenomenon' is more pronounced the faster I am going (within the legal limit of course). Is there some scientific explanation for this, or am I imagining it and I'm just a cr*p driver?
Answers
Best Answer
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For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.Yes it is really happening (you want to feel it on a motorbike as well!!!)...if you ever watch Formula 1 then you'll have heard this explained as slipstreaming basically the vehicle in front is punching a hole through the air in front and then creating a low pressure area behind it which drags vehicles into this zone...the faster the vehicle is travelling the bigger the hole in the air......this is a poor explaination of the effect but if you want anything more just type slipstream into google and any of the motorsport pages that come up will go into great detail if you want it.
A simple explanation is that the air between your car and the large vehicle is travelling faster than the air on the far side of you and this results in a (very slightly) lower atmospheric pressure on the lorry side than the other. This is exactly the same phenomenon as on the two sides of an aircraft wing: The air has to travel a longer distance over the top side (curved - convex) than the underside (flat) so the lower air pressure above gives rise to lift and away you fly (once going fast enough to lift off).