Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I am wanting to do a project where I take match box cars with various bodystyles and place in wind tunnel to determine their aerodynamics..... at least something along this line. Any ideas...on this would be greatly appreciated. Im not sure where to begin on this ... if it is even a good idea

Hi,

Your idea of test car aerodynamics sould be a real winner of an idea! Here are some Science Buddies Project ideas that are related to your idea:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... jQzMzE4ODg

You may be interested in discussions of similllar questions previously posted on the Ask an Expert forum:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... =26&t=3685

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... f=4&t=3043

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... =26&t=4356

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ?f=2&t=181

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... f=2&t=1955

I hope this will help you get started on what could be a fascinating project.

Best regards,

Barrett L. Tomlinson

Hey,

That sounds like a great idea! Make sure to take a scientific approach to your project. For example, try to keep the mass of the cars constant. This is because the equation for drag force is

F = (1/2) (ρ) (u^2) (CD) (A)

where

FD is the force of drag, which is by definition the force component in the direction of the flow velocity
ρ is the mass density of the fluid,
u is the velocity of the object relative to the fluid,
A is the reference area, and
CD is the drag coefficient — a dimensionless constant