Winter roadtrip - Santa Fe to Boulder and back

[mkhuffman]

This is true for a frictionless surface with only a single motion vector, but mass still matters on real-world vehicles. All accelerations (including turning, bumpy roads, passing, changing lanes, etc) involve mass and they're all linearly dependent on mass.

yes mass does matter for all accelerations.... that's why I said 'pretty much'. for instance on a bumpy road, acceleration up and down would take energy, but only change if the 'sprung weight' of wheels and suspension changed.

energy required to move the car at a steady state speed on the highway won't change much with added mass unless tires flex more and heat up.... hardly measurable

energy required to go up a mountain would increase as a % of added weight as potential energy required to lift the added mass , but 'almost' recover the potential energy coming down.

energy required to accelerate from a stop (or in any direction) would increase as a function of added mass to total mass until steady state speed is achieved. adding or subtracting 50#/4800# is going to be hard to measure on a trip when MOST of the time is relatively steady state velocity.

steady state velocity will have MUCH more effect than +/- cargo load on a road trip since drag on the (unchanged) frontal area increases as a square of velocity.

Proof:

Weight only impacts acceleration resistance.

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[mkhuffman]

Thanks!

Reid, when I have a bike on the back, I just change the switch shown below when backing up. That takes care of auto braking. Cross traffic elerts still work, which is great because that is unrelated to a bike on the back.

 

[dtbaker61]

Reid, when I have a bike on the back, I just change the switch shown below when backing up. That takes care of auto braking. Cross traffic elerts still work, which is great because that is unrelated to a bike on the back.

yeah the toggle on the backup cam is the one I usually hit when backing up out of garage, since the camera sees the bikes as an obstacle.

I would LIKE to turn off 'cross traffic alert', and have it stay off but it resets to ON every drive. I find this alert distracting and startling as it usually beeps and flashes well after I have seen cross-traffic and assessed the situation.

It's also disturbing for passengers.... sounding like a wreck is imminent and could startle a driver into slamming on brakes or lifting foot from throttle suddenly in 1-p.

 

[kindofblue]

Reid, when I have a bike on the back, I just change the switch shown below when backing up. That takes care of auto braking. Cross traffic elerts still work, which is great because that is unrelated to a bike on the back.

Thanks Mark.