ELIF: How does drafting work? Is it possible for humans to run behind a large vehicle that’s traveling at speeds faster than they are capable of reaching?
In: Physics
Drafting reduces the air drag forces by moving within a pocket of low pressure air left behind a vehicle or object moving forward in front of you. As a big truck (for example) drives along a road it has to push the air out of its way and it takes some time for the air to collapse back in behind it as it moves. So there’s a slipstream in its wake (kind of like the wake left in water as a boat moves through it) that has less air in it. Since drag opposes forward motion, then it allows for a car behind the truck to move forward faster with the same engine RPM and fuel consumption (or the same speed with less engine RPM and fuel consumption).
In theory the idea of drafting would work with runners as well, but the effects are likely negligible (Not only do runners not run fast enough for drag to be a big factor is slowing them down, but also the object in front needs to either be moving very fast or be very large to create a big enough area behind it that you could fit inside and get the benefits from the slipstream). Race Cars take advantage of it from like-sized other cars because they’re moving so quickly. Highway driving takes advantage of it because of not only speeds, but the large size of the big trucks behind which you can draft. Two runners on a track probably don’t get MUCH benefit (but technically should get SOME).
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