• CookieOfFortune@lemmy.world
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    15 hours ago

    I wonder if there’s even a gain in total miles they can travel given how much air resistance that sail adds. Wonder what RPM the engine is pushing going highway speeds.

    • hikaru755@lemmy.world
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      11 hours ago

      Same speed = same RPM, regardless of load / air resistance. Unless they have to drive in a lower gear to make it work, but I doubt that

      • CookieOfFortune@lemmy.world
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        7 hours ago

        You’re right RPM is tied directly to wheel speed. There is increased fuel consumption because the load on the engine is higher.

        • StupidBrotherInLaw@lemmy.world
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          8 hours ago

          It just has to burn more fuel for each combustion cycle to keep the engine spinning at the same speed. It’s like how it’s easier to pedal a bike down an incline versus up the same incline, but your legs will still pedal at the same rate for the same speed (assuming you don’t change gears).

        • hikaru755@lemmy.world
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          8 hours ago

          No, because an engine can use different amounts of fuel even at the same RPM. At the most extreme, a car can go downhill at high RPM with no fuel injection at all, only driven by gravity.

          During normal driving, the engine’s crankshaft has a hard link to the wheels. It’s going through a couple of gears etc. inside the transmission etc., but the speed conversion from that is fixed within a single gear. This means that the speed the vehicle is going is directly tied to the RPM the engine is turning at. For every gear, every possible vehicle speed correlates directly to a single specific RPM of the engine. Fuel use at that RPM can vary a lot though, entirely depending on the amount of energy needed to keep the engine at that speed with air resistance and other factors trying to slow the car down through the drivetrain.

          • prenatal_confusion@feddit.org
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            2 hours ago

            I am following your reasoning here. The thing that tripped me up was the last sentence of your previous comment. I understood it like it’s not necessary to switch gears since the load has no real effect on the force needed to move the car. You probably meant that the engine could handle the extra load while staying in the same gear and still use more fuel.

            I think we are on the same page now

            • hikaru755@lemmy.world
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              2 hours ago

              Ah, yeah, that’s what I meant. I just assumed that at highway speeds, the additional drag in this scenario probably wouldn’t be enough to warrant shifting down. Although to be fair depending on the engine it totally might, that was just a quick generalization on my part

      • nullroot@lemmy.world
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        8 hours ago

        More surface area = more drag. A big ol non aerodynamic cube will definitely be adding more drag. Other than that, yeah load doesn’t really effect mpg

        • hikaru755@lemmy.world
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          7 hours ago

          Yeah for sure. I’m just saying that the engine RPM won’t be affected as the original comment implied. Drag and mpg will definitely be higher.

  • teft@piefed.social
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    19 hours ago

    I don’t know much about safety but i’m like 90% sure they need one of those flammable signs with the numbers.

    • FilthyShrooms@lemmy.world
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      17 hours ago

      The number they’d need for gasoline is 1203, one of the few i have memorized. If you ever see a number on a truck, you can look it up on a hazmat number lookup site and it’ll tell you what it’s hauling. Usually it’s gas, diesel, or propane, but sometimes it’s something more fun

        • Mycatiskai@lemmy.ca
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          9 hours ago

          When transporting dangerous goods, they must be properly placarded with regulation placards.

          I still remember how much they use the word placard/placardable in the WHMIS training. Would be a fun drinking game if you survived the alcohol poisoning.

        • blarghly@lemmy.world
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          10 hours ago

          Its probably easier to write/print a number on a triangle when the name of the hazardous material is 129 letters long

  • human@slrpnk.net
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    21 hours ago

    I’m glad they are being responsible by wedging the hose in there with a towel.

  • comradegreetingcard@lemmy.ml
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    20 hours ago

    Putting aside the stupidity. What are the actual benefits of this? It’s not like gas is hard to come by… And the added weight and reduced aerodynamics probably means fewer mpg, right?

    • ChicoSuave@lemmy.world
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      19 hours ago

      Given the color it could be used cooking oil for a biodiesel conversion. But outside of cost saving from fuel ubiquity, none of it is an improvement for anything.

        • Thrawn@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          16 hours ago

          Full engine swap? Makes it even more ridiculous if so but someone stupid enough to do this seems like the type.

          • blarghly@lemmy.world
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            10 hours ago

            I’m betting thats what this is. It doesnt make sense. It doesnt need to make sense. Its for the lulz

            • anomnom@sh.itjust.works
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              10 hours ago

              Could also be that they’re collecting the cooking oil for another use or vehicle and just put the hose down there as a gag.

    • grue@lemmy.worldM
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      18 hours ago

      There’s no way the roof rack is rated for that much weight (let alone sloshing around).

      • AAA@feddit.org
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        13 hours ago

        Not just the roof rack. The whole car is probably close to the max allowed weight.

        The container is seemingly at around 60%, so 600L. Gas is ~25% lighter than water, so we’re looking at something like 450kg.

        I don’t know the model, but a lot of similar or even bigger cars max out at +500kg (per specification). Most cars have less allowance.

        And this is just on the roof. Not counting the container, passengers and other stuff.

        Truly a marvel of engineering.

        • Junkers_Klunker@feddit.dk
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          4 hours ago

          Most cars are rated at a maximum of 100kg on the roof and that’s with a solidly secured load not a fluid slushing around. The roof itself shouldn’t cave in as it is designed to protect you during a rollover.

    • BCsven@lemmy.ca
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      21 hours ago

      Probably corners very badly with the Center of Mass being moves up so high

      • prenatal_confusion@feddit.org
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        2 hours ago

        Color me surprised. I would have guessed that a roll would allow for some kinds of deformation but this mode of load with the wiggling didn’t seem realistic to me. Still doesn’t honestly.

        And in times of ai forgive me for being skeptical.