Neil deGrasse Tyson explains the physics of NASCAR
Cosmos was postponed a week for the Coca-Cola 600, so Neil deGrasse Tyson tweeted a bunch of cool stuff about “the physics of fast-moving things.” Oh, hell yes.
(1) The finer points of spelling!
I'm quite sure I'm the last person in the universe to have learned that RACECAR spelled backwards is RACECAR
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) May 26, 2014 (2) The finer points of space travel!
At 200mph, a nice @NASCAR speed, it’d take 1200hrs (50days) to drive to the Moon. And drivers would never need to turn left.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) May 26, 2014 (3) The finer points of banked turns!
Rubber tires on asphalt grant a maximum speed of about 165 mph in the 24-degree banked turns at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) May 26, 2014 If you travel faster than 165 mph on the 24-degree bank turns at Charlotte Motor Speedway you will skid into the embankment.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) May 26, 2014 If the Charlotte Motor Speedway increased their banking angle from 24 to 31 degrees, the cars could do the turn at 200 mph.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) May 26, 2014 (4) The finer points of friggin’ spoilers, how do they work?
Spoilers increase the effective weight (traction) over a car's rear wheels at high speed — without increasing the car's mass.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) May 26, 2014 (5) The fine points of wishing for amazing #sports things to happen.
Now that @NASA isn’t launching SpaceShuttles, would be cool if @NASCAR allowed drivers to attach unused solid rocket boosters
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) May 26, 2014 See More:
