Ever tried to walk against a very strong gust of wind? Have you ever ridden a bicycle and thought "that Lance Armstrong guy was a pussy for taking drugs, I can do this after three beers" just because you had the wind on your side?
Answer "no" to both of these questions and I'll just throw another one at you, only this one isn't so much a question as it is a suggestion. The next time you're driving down the highway, roll down the window when you reach the maximum allowed speed. Now stick your arm outside, carefully. You're probably doing about 80 mph (130 km/h), so your hand will be hitting the static air outside the car at that exact speed. Well, a scientific approach will take into account the turbulences created by the vehicle, but we're not scientists here.
Notice how the effort required to hold the arm upright changes based on your hand's shape. That's the basics of aerodynamics and it's an absolute mystery why it took carmakers so many years until they started paying more attention to it. OK, they didn't have many cars that went 80 mph to stick their hands out back in 1900, but they did have wind blowing at that speed. How do I know that? Well, because I'm pretty sure Mount Washington didn't form in the meantime.
Known for its very bad weather - most notably, the wind - Mount Washington is home to a weather observatory. Feeling a little bored (the isolation tends to do that), three of the people manning the facility felt like fooling around on the observation deck while the wind was blowing at 109 mph (175 km/h). Considering how funny it is just to watch them, you can imagine they had a pretty good time doing it. In fact, I'm checking out how hard it is to get there right now while also packing my wing suit. See you in China.
Notice how the effort required to hold the arm upright changes based on your hand's shape. That's the basics of aerodynamics and it's an absolute mystery why it took carmakers so many years until they started paying more attention to it. OK, they didn't have many cars that went 80 mph to stick their hands out back in 1900, but they did have wind blowing at that speed. How do I know that? Well, because I'm pretty sure Mount Washington didn't form in the meantime.
Known for its very bad weather - most notably, the wind - Mount Washington is home to a weather observatory. Feeling a little bored (the isolation tends to do that), three of the people manning the facility felt like fooling around on the observation deck while the wind was blowing at 109 mph (175 km/h). Considering how funny it is just to watch them, you can imagine they had a pretty good time doing it. In fact, I'm checking out how hard it is to get there right now while also packing my wing suit. See you in China.