Why do passing trucks suck instead of blow?
Nope, it's not the first line of a joke or a rhetorical question. I would expect a passing truck or bus to be pushing a wave of high pressure air in front and beside, but I've noticed time and agai...
Forum Discussion
Always drive within you capabilities, at a speed that is comfortable for you.
However......
The pressure around your vehicle is equal...until a FASTER moving vehicle "lightens" the air on one side.
According to Bernoulli, you are not really sucked in the direction...you actually DRIVE in that direction. It is YOUR vehicle that is basically creating lift (albeit sideways----air does not know up/down, left/right) because the pressure on the side not being "passed" is higher than on the side being "passed".
SORRY all you get a BIGGER truck guys, but a tractor-trailer passing another at roughly the same speed, is hardly noticeable....they creep on by. That same truck passing an equally sized, heavier, slow moving truck at 10,15,20 mph faster will cause the SLOWER moving vehicle to "lift" in the direction of the faster moving vehicle (lighter air).
That is right...I have been the heavier, longer, taller truck....yet it was I who was sucked (as you guys say) toward a smaller, lighter faster moving vehicle. Think straight truck passing tractor-trailer. That straight truck can move that tractor-trailer...even though it is, smaller and lighter
Does MASS help? Of course it does. Larger, heavier is harder to move, whether it is being sucked or lifted. It is however the difference in speed that is causing the airflow difference.
Maybe some of the engineers can explain faster moving air causing lift (better than I) and how your vehicle is floating toward that lighter FASTER moving air.
Can the "shockwave" of a larger truck push a smaller vehicle out of the way....Yes, but that is different than that sucking feeling. A bigger heavier truck may help you from being pushed out of the way, Or as I like to say.....ROCKED.
There is a lot more going on than...get a bigger truck.
OH....by the way. When you RVers pass my slower moving, much heavier truck at higher speeds....you scare me cause it pushes me around.
Plus I never know if you drive that thing more that twice a year, which is really scary. :E
Not trying to cause an argument, not going to argue science that I really do not understand. Just trying to point out real world experience. Proper set up will go much further than....get a bigger truck.
However......
The pressure around your vehicle is equal...until a FASTER moving vehicle "lightens" the air on one side.
According to Bernoulli, you are not really sucked in the direction...you actually DRIVE in that direction. It is YOUR vehicle that is basically creating lift (albeit sideways----air does not know up/down, left/right) because the pressure on the side not being "passed" is higher than on the side being "passed".
SORRY all you get a BIGGER truck guys, but a tractor-trailer passing another at roughly the same speed, is hardly noticeable....they creep on by. That same truck passing an equally sized, heavier, slow moving truck at 10,15,20 mph faster will cause the SLOWER moving vehicle to "lift" in the direction of the faster moving vehicle (lighter air).
That is right...I have been the heavier, longer, taller truck....yet it was I who was sucked (as you guys say) toward a smaller, lighter faster moving vehicle. Think straight truck passing tractor-trailer. That straight truck can move that tractor-trailer...even though it is, smaller and lighter
Does MASS help? Of course it does. Larger, heavier is harder to move, whether it is being sucked or lifted. It is however the difference in speed that is causing the airflow difference.
Maybe some of the engineers can explain faster moving air causing lift (better than I) and how your vehicle is floating toward that lighter FASTER moving air.
Can the "shockwave" of a larger truck push a smaller vehicle out of the way....Yes, but that is different than that sucking feeling. A bigger heavier truck may help you from being pushed out of the way, Or as I like to say.....ROCKED.
There is a lot more going on than...get a bigger truck.
OH....by the way. When you RVers pass my slower moving, much heavier truck at higher speeds....you scare me cause it pushes me around.
Plus I never know if you drive that thing more that twice a year, which is really scary. :E
Not trying to cause an argument, not going to argue science that I really do not understand. Just trying to point out real world experience. Proper set up will go much further than....get a bigger truck.
