why is the teardrop the most aerodynamic shape? Would something with a more pointed nose not “slice” through the air more easily?
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Drag and turbulence are critical to think about – the leading edge is only half the issue, the trailing edge matters. The teardrop shape creates the most aerodynamic trailing edge, minimizing the turbulence (eddies) that form behind the shape as it’s passing through the air. If there’s a lot of turbulence in the object’s wake, it literally gets pulled backward.
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It’s not necessarily the “most aerodynamic shape”. It’s more Just the shape water takes when falling. The water droplet isn’t actively trying to cut through the air most efficiently, like a pointy nosed rocket, aircraft, or sports car. Water is just reacting to the airflow around it as it falls.
Air pressure against the bottom (or forward edge) of the drop gives it the round shape. The air flowing around the drop gives it the pointy tail.
It will also depend on the speed. You have different classes of drag and they grow at different rates with speed.
A raindrop has 3 forces acting on it: The force of gravity pulling it down, air resistance trying to slow it down (pushing it back up) which tries make it aerodynamic, and surface tension trying to make it into a sphere. So you get something vaguely spherical from the tension, but it’s elongated from air resistance with a fat bottom due to gravity.
And as other’s have said, it’s not the most aerodynamic shape. There’s other forces acting on it. the raindrop shape is just the most stable shape that balances those 3 forces.
Looks like no one here knows what “Explain like I’m 5” means haha
Different liquids form different shapes as they fall, a teardrop is just the shape water happens to take due to air resistance. For instance, heavy liquid metals like gallium, do in fact form “double pointed teardrops” because they are not as affected by air resistance do to weight and density.
Here’s a slo mo guys video perfectly illustrating this
It’s not, not even close. Why would you think that?
Rain doesn’t look like a teardrop either, it looks like one of those glass beads in mancala. Flat bottom and round top. This is due to water naturally wanting to form a sphere and air pushing up on that sphere as the rain falls.
The “teardrop” comes from our observation of dropping water. A bubble of water will form, but tension from the attached source is holding it up until the weight of the water over powers the force. The water does not have time to form it’s terminal velocity shape, as the water on the bottom doesn’t have the time/force required to flatten, and the tail of water connecting to the source doesn’t have time to pull itself into the sphere.
With enough time/distance, the tear drop would reform.
I’m not sure what the most aerodynamic shape possible is, I think one of them is a tungsten spike with fins to direct falling and allow for a spiral descent, creating a continuous low pressure zone around the spike.
The problem becomes “what is the most aerodynamic shape that fits the volume I need to complete this task.
You also have to take into consideration steering, stability, and thrust.
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