Was driving 80 yesterday and felt as if I was going to lift off of the ground. Was wondering if my car had wings, would I be able to achieve lift at that speed? I know that it would immediately drop without jet engines, but what would it take to lift a car up? Let‘s say an aerodynamic car like a trans-am.
Depends. anywhere from 5 - 100+ mph, factors to consider: - Wing length/design, you need to catch a certain amount of air at a certain weight to lift the vehicle - Avaiable thrust amount/type, assuming you are just using the car's wheels and not rockets or jet engines, cars lifting from wheel power alone will not stay airborne long - Wind resistance/direction As an aside, if your vehicle feels like it is lifting at only 80 mph, you very likely have some body or undercarriage damage somewhere that is catching air. Even old cars can usually cruise at 80-90 mph with little or not lift that you could feel.
Well that depends on how big of wings you have and how much your entire vehicle weighs. It would probably be good to note here that I remember hearing that Orville and Wilbur Wright flew their Wright Flyer somewhere in the range of about 35 mph. So speed is not the most important factor in achieving flight. It would depend more upon the profile and surface area of your wings. All flight really entails is achieving an upward force (lift) greater than that of your weight.
A Trans-Am is aerodynamic in the sense that its design is meant to force it to the ground, rather than allow it to lift up which would result in sloppy steering and poor braking at high speeds. Theoretically, you could attach wings that would lift the car briefly under its own power, but once aloft without continued thrust, it would probably succum to gravity with catostrophic results. Here is the key: LCL SA 1/2p V2 (Lift coefficient of lift times Surface area times 1/2 R ((air density)) times velocity squarred) Good luck with your design. Wear a helmet!
