Flying Cars and their rise
These days we are all seeing the hype of flying cars all over the internet and some of you might be thinking that is it really going to happen anytime soon?! Well honestly I believe that now, we are the closest to finally turn the science fiction into reality.
Few weeks ago we saw a magnificent car made by Klein Vision and it ticked all the boxes that we envisioned in a flying car. Apart from the looks and design of it, I also think the flying car of Klein Vision is also scientifically impressive.
The Aerodynamic physics behind the flying mechanism
People who have science and physic in the school knows that the basic thing that allows a plane to fly is its lift force . More specifically when the lift force is greater then the weight. Unlike a normal car the flying car has to travel in three dimensions, x, y, and z. To get the force that will allow it to travel in the z or the 3rd dimension it uses the same mechanism of a plane. However the way the wing and propeller generate a lift force is quite complex and interesting.
The wing of a flying plane has an aerodynamic elliptical shape to it. So when the propeller pushes the body forward, more air molecules start to rush past the wing. Now there are three types of phenomena working to create the lift force. To begin with they all come from Euler's equation. The equation practically says that when the air moves around three things should be taken care of:
1) Conservation of Mass
2) Conservation of Momentum
3) Conservation of Energy.
Conservation of Mass: When air move past tilted wing some of them go beneath it and some of them go around the top corner flowing by following the curvature of the wings. When air move past the top part, the molecules are squeezed through a lesser space and they have to travel in a greater speed it has to conserve mass.
Conservation of Momentum: As we have a tilted wing, the air comes and hit the bottom part of the wing the air molecules go in the downward direction. The same thing happens at the top. The air that move above the wing is dragged downward due to the curvature of the wing. Using our common sense we can say that for conservation to take place if the air moves down then something has to move up. So the air moves down and the plane moves up.
Conservation of Energy: As we know that the air is moving at a greater speed, so the Bernoulli effect occurs. It says that for the difference in speed, there will be a low pressure created in the top and a high pressure will be created in the bottom. Thus, they will exert a smaller force in the top and a larger force from the bottom. Resulting in a spectacular lift force to get generated. Hence, we have the conservation of energy with the Bernoulli effect.
History of Flying Cars
I Believe the idea of flying car first got mainstream due to visual influence created by popular Sci-fi movies such as Back to the Future 2 and Blade Runner. It really did look super cool to have a car that can fly. It all started around 20th century " The Fulton FA-2 Air Fibian was the first car that could successfully fly, but it didn't really make any commercial success.
From then on lots of working model were presented but they could't catch the hype train of the general audience. Even tho the designs and concept are cool but the common people are concerned about the safety of driving them. Hopefully technology will improve in future and I believe that the Klein Vision model has already made a significant impact in capturing the attention of the audience.
