When dropped in a vacuum, all vehicles from a Ferrari to a Yugo will accelerate at the exact same rate. Fun fact for the day.
When dropped in a vacuum, all vehicles from a Ferrari to a Yugo will accelerate at the exact same rate. Fun fact for the day.
Funny, my first thought when I read the topic title was "when dropped out of a plane", but that's not in a vacuum. 
No they won't.......they couldn't run in a vacuum.
Did you know, a Yugo is faster than a ferrari? If the ferrari is doing 40, and the yugo is doing 55, the yugo will blow right by it.
On a site dedicated to differentiating how our cars accelerate, I'm not sure "fun" is how I'd describe that fact.
yamaha wrote: No they won't.......they couldn't run in a vacuum.
Zero acceleration is still a rate.
Edit: So Nissan PR needs to get on the ball and start advertising the Leaf as "The fastest Compact Car*" ..."in a vacuum."
pinchvalve wrote: When dropped in a vacuum, all vehicles from a Ferrari to a Yugo will accelerate at the exact same rate. Fun fact for the day.
Show me the empirical evidence! (...and no scale diecast models don't count. They're not accurate enough.) We need to see a full scale test!
[Disclaimer: I don't doubt pinchvalve's claim at all, but after he has lined up the funding to build such a large vacuum chamber, I will be able to sell time in it to aerospace manufacturing companies. This is how we're going to fund the purchase of all the unloved bits of Detroit and turn them into the official GRM road course. Get on it, pinchvalve. We're depending on you!]
We need to send a Yugo to space!
I learned it from this guy.
If one Ferrari is driven off a cliff at 150 mph and another Ferrari is dropped straight off the same cliff from a standstill, which will hit the ground first?
In reply to JohnRW1621:
Depends on how high a cliff, and what angle you drop them at...
...but I am assuming you meant if both reached the gravitational rate of the acceleration of gravity of a free-falling object on Earth (9.8 m/s/s).
If the cliff is not high enough for them to reach the acceleration rate of a free-falling object, the driven one will hit first.
Barring that, if the dropped one is dropped at the exact same moment the driven one reaches the edge, the dropped one will reach the bottom first (because they will accelerate at the same speed, but the dropped one will begin it's vertical decent first, the driven one will be going horizontal for a period of time).
If the dropped one is dropped nose first, it will reach the bottom first, because then we are not talking about the gravitational pull, we are talking about the air resistance, and the driven car (essentially horizontal) will have more air resistance than the dropped one (which has a drag coefficient of about Cd 0.34, depending of course on which model Ferrari we are talking about).
I can honestly say the Accent would still accelerate slower.
SVreX wrote: In reply to JohnRW1621: Depends on how high a cliff, and what angle you drop them at... ...but I am assuming you meant if both reached the gravitational rate of the acceleration of gravity of a free-falling object on Earth (9.8 m/s/s). If the cliff is not high enough for them to reach the acceleration rate of a free-falling object, the driven one will hit first. Barring that, if the dropped one is dropped at the exact same moment the driven one reaches the edge, the dropped one will reach the bottom first (because they will accelerate at the same speed, but the dropped one will begin it's vertical decent first, the driven one will be going horizontal for a period of time). If the dropped one is dropped nose first, it will reach the bottom first, because then we are not talking about the gravitational pull, we are talking about the air resistance, and the driven car (essentially horizontal) will have more air resistance than the dropped one (which has a drag coefficient of about Cd 0.34, depending of course on which model Ferrari we are talking about).
Dude, you're wrong. I hope that was all a joke.
What if it's a Ferrari that actually makes downforce? It'll come off the cliff with a downward velocity already 
Of course, we're no longer in a vacuum here...
In reply to Keith Tanner:
John said "driven off a cliff"....
I think we left the vacuum a long time ago.
...but I seriously like your downforce argument! 
mndsm wrote: Did you know, a Yugo is faster than a ferrari? If the ferrari is doing 40, and the yugo is doing 55, the yugo will blow right by it.
I actually did this once, to an M5, in my Yugo. I have video proof of that. I dont have video of the time I pulled away from a Viper GTS in it though.
JohnRW1621 wrote: If one Ferrari is driven off a cliff at 150 mph and another Ferrari is dropped straight off the same cliff from a standstill, which will hit the ground first?
Like when you fire a rifle and drop a second bullet at the same time...both bullets hit the ground at the same time (in a vacuum)...there's just a lot more distance between them when they hit the ground than when the event started (at the rifle).
pinchvalve wrote: When dropped in a vacuum, all vehicles from a Ferrari to a Yugo will accelerate at the exact same rate. Fun fact for the day.
Ummmmm.. . .. Nope you forgot about gravity. Gravity gives things mass and mass is what is moved by HP and torques. Now remove gravity and the vehicles mass becomes equal. But if one has more force propelling one car than the other then even in zero gravity the car (or rocket) that produces the most thrust will be faster.
Basic Hp / weight problem that we racers have been fighting for all eternity.
Putting something in a vacuum only eliminates atmospheric resistance
African or European Ferrari?
itsarebuild wrote: African or European Ferrari?
....and did you scrub the fibers off the outside of the coconut husks?
dean1484 wrote:pinchvalve wrote: When dropped in a vacuum, all vehicles from a Ferrari to a Yugo will accelerate at the exact same rate. Fun fact for the day.Ummmmm.. . .. Nope you forgot about gravity. Gravity gives things mass and mass is what is moved by HP and torques. Now remove gravity and the vehicles mass becomes equal. But if one has more force propelling one car than the other then even in zero gravity the car (or rocket) that produces the most thrust will be faster. Basic Hp / weight problem that we racers have been fighting for all eternity. Putting something in a vacuum only eliminates atmospheric resistance
OK, my head exploded. This degreed-in-physics guy is leaving, I can't tell if you guys are joking or not.
JoeyM wrote:itsarebuild wrote: African or European Ferrari?....and did you scrub the fibers off the outside of the coconut husks?
when you're GRM you have to know these things...
dean1484 wrote:pinchvalve wrote: When dropped in a vacuum, all vehicles from a Ferrari to a Yugo will accelerate at the exact same rate. Fun fact for the day.Ummmmm.. . .. Nope you forgot about gravity. Gravity gives things mass and mass is what is moved by HP and torques. Now remove gravity and the vehicles mass becomes equal. But if one has more force propelling one car than the other then even in zero gravity the car (or rocket) that produces the most thrust will be faster. Basic Hp / weight problem that we racers have been fighting for all eternity. Putting something in a vacuum only eliminates atmospheric resistance
NO, BAD!
MASS=/=WEIGHT
Weight is the effect of gravity upon a mass. The metric system is much more clear on this. You still have the same mass in space as you do anywhere.
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