How does the children vehicle where you continously turn left and right to gain speed work? would that work for adult vehicles?
In: 5
[removed]
I don’t really get the physics but they’re discussed here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlasmaCar
You can get adult sized versions but they’re nowhere near the size of a regular car. The motion depends on your ability to move the handle bars. So it wouldn’t work any better for cars than pedaling it like a bike. And why use that wiggle motion mechanically when you can just drive the wheels directly?
This is probably not totally right but it will give you an idea of what’s happening under there. There’s four wheels at the front, two that make contact with the ground when you’re going straight, and two just in front of those that are a little bit higher that the scooter sort of “falls” onto as you turn it right and left. This constant series of little falls cause it to move forward.
Turning the handlebars makes a motion not unlike that of pushing yourself forward when using roller skates/roller blades
An adult sized one would work just fine but adults are better at peddling & steering a bike which is far more efficient
Imagine you’re looking down at the floor, and there’s a wheel on it aiming up and to the right.
If you try to push that wheel to the right (while keeping its heading still) it will instead roll the way it’s facing – up and to the right.
This is because of its friction against the ground, which keeps it from just sliding off to the right. Instead your force is partly deflected into moving the wheel up as well as to the right so that it can roll along its axis.
Anyway this is basically how in-line skates work, right? You aim your foot ahead, but also a bit off to the side, and push your leg outward. The result is that your foot glides not just outward but also forward.
These scooter things use the same principle, by having the front two wheels on a weird axis that’s set *behind* the steering column. When you turn the column, the wheels are dragged around in an arc. This arc works just like a stroke of your foot while skating, as it pulls the wheels in towards the centerline and some of that energy is converted into forwards motion.
Latest Answers