Posted by Matt F. on July 26, 2004 at 02:08:35:
In Reply to: Wind powered car? posted by Tom on March 11, 2003 at 18:23:16:
I like this idea and I have been working on it since about 1990. Unfortunately it breaks the second law of thermodynamics and unless you can get around propetual motion then I'm afraid the only thing I've been able to come up with is to use is only to keep you engine from loosing power. In other words it alone will never be able to power an entire car however it can power the computer in your car. Things such as you clock, radio, OnStar, AC and other goodies leaving your engine to not work as hard get over heated and give you better gas mileage. The downfall is that the drag the windmill exerts on your engine is equal to the output you save by it powering your computer so it's a hanious cycle that seems to have no use. Our physics team has been working on this for years very much to our dismay our funding has been cut and it has been written off in the books as nothing more than an automotive fad. I must admit though cars would look kinda cool with windmills on them however the only gain is the looks.