1 00:00:01,120 --> 00:00:03,560 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of five 2 00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:12,840 Speaker 1: Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:12,920 --> 00:00:17,720 Speaker 1: I'm Josh Clark, there's Charles W. Bryant, and there's Jerry 4 00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:22,120 Speaker 1: Woosh Roland over there is just getting worse and worse. 5 00:00:22,800 --> 00:00:28,640 Speaker 1: This is Stuff You Should Know podcast wind Tunnel a 6 00:00:28,760 --> 00:00:31,560 Speaker 1: dish m Aren't you glad we're not in the same 7 00:00:31,640 --> 00:00:36,960 Speaker 1: room so that you couldn't smell my breath When I went, yeah, 8 00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:38,800 Speaker 1: my daughter's gotten a bad habit of doing that, and 9 00:00:38,840 --> 00:00:40,960 Speaker 1: she thinks it's funny. I'm like, it's really not of 10 00:00:41,080 --> 00:00:45,720 Speaker 1: what of like breathing and someone's nose on purpose, like 11 00:00:46,520 --> 00:00:48,199 Speaker 1: right in your face, and like no one, no one 12 00:00:48,240 --> 00:00:52,120 Speaker 1: likes that. Yeah, she's she's just entered the age of 13 00:00:52,120 --> 00:00:57,760 Speaker 1: what five to where that's something people do. Yeah, not 14 00:00:57,760 --> 00:01:00,600 Speaker 1: not funny. Ever, I'll tell you what. These masks that 15 00:01:00,680 --> 00:01:02,560 Speaker 1: we're all wearing, this is a real reckoning with your breath. 16 00:01:02,600 --> 00:01:05,120 Speaker 1: THO wouldn't it? Oh my god, it's funny. It's like 17 00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:10,640 Speaker 1: a it's like an hour by our slide into despair. 18 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:13,760 Speaker 1: You're like, I don't remember eating garlics. Yeah, it's like 19 00:01:13,800 --> 00:01:15,240 Speaker 1: in the morning is like, oh man, this is great, 20 00:01:15,240 --> 00:01:16,800 Speaker 1: and I love this mask. And later in the day 21 00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:20,319 Speaker 1: you're you need that toothbrush. Yes, it's true. They say 22 00:01:20,360 --> 00:01:22,479 Speaker 1: you can't smell your own breath and they are wrong. 23 00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:25,600 Speaker 1: And I'm brushing my teeth now more than other because 24 00:01:25,600 --> 00:01:28,319 Speaker 1: I'm scared to go to the dentist. Yeah. Same here. 25 00:01:28,360 --> 00:01:31,400 Speaker 1: I'm also flossing like a mad person too. You're flossing 26 00:01:31,520 --> 00:01:33,440 Speaker 1: right now, I can, I can hear it. Wow, that 27 00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:36,160 Speaker 1: was the most pc thing I've ever said, is what 28 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:40,920 Speaker 1: I'm flossing like a mad person, not a madman. And technically, 29 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:44,680 Speaker 1: I guess not. I would have said like a mentally 30 00:01:44,720 --> 00:01:49,400 Speaker 1: ill health person. Yeah, I think that's even bad. Who 31 00:01:49,400 --> 00:01:53,240 Speaker 1: knows these days, right, that's right. Let's talk about wind tunnels. Okay, 32 00:01:53,320 --> 00:01:57,840 Speaker 1: so we're talking wind tunnels. Um, and I had no 33 00:01:57,960 --> 00:02:00,840 Speaker 1: idea how interesting wind to thos were. I had an 34 00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:02,720 Speaker 1: inkling that they were going to that there was like 35 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:06,560 Speaker 1: more to wind tunnels than people realize, which is absolutely true. Um, 36 00:02:06,600 --> 00:02:09,880 Speaker 1: but they're they're pretty, they're deep cut. Yeah, I mean 37 00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:11,920 Speaker 1: there was way there's way more to them, and you 38 00:02:11,919 --> 00:02:13,919 Speaker 1: can do way more with them and learn way more 39 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:18,800 Speaker 1: from them than I thought because my experience with wind tunnels. 40 00:02:18,840 --> 00:02:22,760 Speaker 1: Like most people is seeing the cool TV commercial with 41 00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:25,919 Speaker 1: the with the like green smoke flying over the car 42 00:02:26,160 --> 00:02:30,040 Speaker 1: to demonstrate how aerodynamic it is. And to be sure, 43 00:02:30,080 --> 00:02:32,200 Speaker 1: that is a very big part of what they use 44 00:02:32,240 --> 00:02:35,280 Speaker 1: wind tunnels for. Yeah. Yeah, and Chuck, you know, you 45 00:02:35,360 --> 00:02:37,240 Speaker 1: and I were in a commercial in a wind tunnel. 46 00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:39,919 Speaker 1: I thought you might bring this up. That was a 47 00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:43,600 Speaker 1: wind tunnel. Technically that that um indoor skydiving thing is 48 00:02:43,639 --> 00:02:46,519 Speaker 1: a type of wind tunnel. It's a vertical wind tunnel. Yeah, 49 00:02:46,600 --> 00:02:48,800 Speaker 1: if you guys haven't seen that. It's been a while 50 00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:50,400 Speaker 1: since we promoted these things. We used to do these 51 00:02:50,440 --> 00:02:54,320 Speaker 1: little shorts. Um no, this was different. Well no, but 52 00:02:54,360 --> 00:02:57,040 Speaker 1: these were based on the shorts. Yeah. Yeah, we did 53 00:02:57,040 --> 00:03:00,160 Speaker 1: these little shorts that we called interstitials. Did a lot 54 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:02,400 Speaker 1: of them, and to me, it's like the best video 55 00:03:02,440 --> 00:03:05,640 Speaker 1: work we've ever done as a team. Um, I love 56 00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:08,640 Speaker 1: don't be done. But that was just you. Um well, 57 00:03:08,680 --> 00:03:10,600 Speaker 1: it was great. It was you in the room and 58 00:03:10,639 --> 00:03:14,959 Speaker 1: it was this chair and you sort of played a character. Yes, 59 00:03:15,040 --> 00:03:18,000 Speaker 1: go on, And some people have problems with the character 60 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:19,520 Speaker 1: because I thought you were making fun of a certain 61 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:22,480 Speaker 1: kind of person. Sure, that wasn't true. It was all 62 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:26,040 Speaker 1: very kind hearted and just funny. That was really great, 63 00:03:26,040 --> 00:03:28,280 Speaker 1: Thank you. Sure. Uh and that chair still here in 64 00:03:28,280 --> 00:03:30,680 Speaker 1: the office, right, Yes it is, and I believe my 65 00:03:30,760 --> 00:03:35,160 Speaker 1: outfit still is. I'm waiting for the Smithsonian calm. So. Yeah. 66 00:03:35,200 --> 00:03:39,040 Speaker 1: We did this um TV commercial for Toyota that was 67 00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:41,640 Speaker 1: very much in the vein of those interstitials where we 68 00:03:41,640 --> 00:03:44,200 Speaker 1: were in just all over Atlanta, in various parts of 69 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:47,600 Speaker 1: Atlanta doing funny things. That was l A. Remember well, no, 70 00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:51,400 Speaker 1: this was again talking about the original interstitiause I'm so confused. 71 00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:53,720 Speaker 1: Then when we went to l A, we did the 72 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:56,400 Speaker 1: same thing. We replicated that style in Los Angeles and 73 00:03:56,760 --> 00:04:00,240 Speaker 1: long the upshot of this all is we end up 74 00:04:00,320 --> 00:04:06,840 Speaker 1: in a indoor uh skydiving facility having a conversation like 75 00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:09,040 Speaker 1: you know, a normal conversation or trying to That was 76 00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:12,160 Speaker 1: the gig, the gig. That was the gag. That was 77 00:04:12,200 --> 00:04:15,800 Speaker 1: the bit. Yeah, and you get slung against the side 78 00:04:15,800 --> 00:04:16,880 Speaker 1: of it at the end, which is kind of the 79 00:04:16,880 --> 00:04:20,040 Speaker 1: funniest part. Yeah, it really really was. It was supposed 80 00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:22,120 Speaker 1: to be an outtake and they made it an intake. 81 00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:25,600 Speaker 1: Those things were very difficult to uh if you've never 82 00:04:25,640 --> 00:04:28,000 Speaker 1: done one before. There, I mean, it was fun and 83 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:31,160 Speaker 1: kind of cool, but it's not easy. You don't just 84 00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:33,880 Speaker 1: go in there and be like, hey, I'm floating. No, 85 00:04:34,040 --> 00:04:36,880 Speaker 1: it's really really hard actually, yeah, like you're working every 86 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:38,960 Speaker 1: muscle in your body. It's kind of like water skiing 87 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:41,160 Speaker 1: looks fun too. Yeah you were good at it. I 88 00:04:41,240 --> 00:04:43,400 Speaker 1: was not very good. I was okay, but it was 89 00:04:43,480 --> 00:04:47,279 Speaker 1: it was tough. Yeah. So, um, that was what would 90 00:04:47,279 --> 00:04:50,640 Speaker 1: be technically called a vertical wind tunnel, right, And they 91 00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:55,560 Speaker 1: actually used those two to research spin. Um, Like, when 92 00:04:55,640 --> 00:04:59,120 Speaker 1: something goes in, uh, like a tail spin, like a 93 00:04:59,160 --> 00:05:02,000 Speaker 1: helicopter goes in a tailspin, they would use a vertical 94 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:05,120 Speaker 1: wind tunnel to test for that kind of thing. Right. 95 00:05:05,200 --> 00:05:06,800 Speaker 1: But the wind tunnels we kind of more think of 96 00:05:06,839 --> 00:05:10,240 Speaker 1: are the horizontal tubes where you see a car or 97 00:05:10,279 --> 00:05:12,560 Speaker 1: something like that having the cool smoke blown over it 98 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:16,240 Speaker 1: for a commercial. But they're very useful. Um, and this 99 00:05:16,320 --> 00:05:18,240 Speaker 1: is something I didn't really know I kind of I 100 00:05:18,320 --> 00:05:19,960 Speaker 1: kind of just thought they were all these big giant 101 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:22,599 Speaker 1: things that you would put an actual car in. Most 102 00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:26,840 Speaker 1: wind tunnels are these little desktop models that you use 103 00:05:26,880 --> 00:05:30,800 Speaker 1: in a science lab that have a scale model that 104 00:05:30,839 --> 00:05:34,640 Speaker 1: you're using instead of the actual thing, right, which which means, yeah, 105 00:05:34,680 --> 00:05:38,039 Speaker 1: that you're using a smaller version, but that is precisely 106 00:05:38,240 --> 00:05:43,920 Speaker 1: scaled down. It looks the right size, doesn't quit. I'm 107 00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:46,320 Speaker 1: sure this plane will fly, this is close enough. But 108 00:05:46,440 --> 00:05:48,520 Speaker 1: what's neat about that is that they can scale this 109 00:05:48,680 --> 00:05:50,920 Speaker 1: thing down. They can subject it to, you know, the 110 00:05:51,200 --> 00:05:53,640 Speaker 1: same conditions as they would a full size model. But 111 00:05:53,720 --> 00:05:56,799 Speaker 1: then they can correct for the data for that whatever 112 00:05:56,920 --> 00:05:59,839 Speaker 1: with the numbers they're getting the output, they can correct 113 00:06:00,279 --> 00:06:04,080 Speaker 1: to scale it back upwards. Um, just using math. Because 114 00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:06,120 Speaker 1: if there's one thing that goes hand in hand with 115 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:09,440 Speaker 1: wind tunnels, it is math, friends, Because the whole point 116 00:06:09,440 --> 00:06:12,480 Speaker 1: of wind tunnels is to study aerodynamics, which is the 117 00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:15,719 Speaker 1: flow of air or gas is over an object. Um 118 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:18,080 Speaker 1: And in this case it's a stationary object and the 119 00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:20,920 Speaker 1: wind is moving. But what they're really doing is simulating 120 00:06:21,279 --> 00:06:24,440 Speaker 1: that object moving out there in the real world into wind. 121 00:06:24,920 --> 00:06:27,200 Speaker 1: And I mean, that's a wind tunnel. And when you 122 00:06:27,240 --> 00:06:29,520 Speaker 1: put it like that, it sounds very simple. They are 123 00:06:29,560 --> 00:06:33,080 Speaker 1: not simple at all. There's really nothing about wind tunnels 124 00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:36,680 Speaker 1: that's simple, from their construction, to their cost, to what 125 00:06:36,839 --> 00:06:40,080 Speaker 1: they're used for, to all of the different variables and 126 00:06:40,120 --> 00:06:43,920 Speaker 1: conditions that they can test for there they grew step 127 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:47,200 Speaker 1: in step, hand in hand with the aviation industry, Like 128 00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:49,960 Speaker 1: we probably wouldn't have an aviation industry right now without 129 00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:54,000 Speaker 1: wind tunnels. Um and that should kind of give you 130 00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:57,480 Speaker 1: an idea of how complex the stuff that people are 131 00:06:57,480 --> 00:07:00,800 Speaker 1: doing in wind tunnels is, or the data they're extracting 132 00:07:00,839 --> 00:07:03,760 Speaker 1: from these wind tunnels tests. It's not just like, look 133 00:07:03,839 --> 00:07:07,200 Speaker 1: that cool green smoke bending over the car. That's for 134 00:07:07,200 --> 00:07:11,560 Speaker 1: for yokels like you and I watching ads while you know, 135 00:07:12,040 --> 00:07:15,440 Speaker 1: in between golf, you know, like you're watching golf and 136 00:07:15,480 --> 00:07:19,120 Speaker 1: the ad comes on my brain. Is the best part 137 00:07:19,120 --> 00:07:23,880 Speaker 1: of golf, The ads I've actually kind of gotten. Are 138 00:07:23,920 --> 00:07:26,520 Speaker 1: you watching golf now? Yeah? Kind of here there. It's 139 00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:28,720 Speaker 1: not something I seek out. But and it's not for 140 00:07:28,760 --> 00:07:30,640 Speaker 1: the golf. I could care less about the golf. It's 141 00:07:30,680 --> 00:07:33,840 Speaker 1: the it's the views, it's the shots. The golf courses 142 00:07:33,840 --> 00:07:37,320 Speaker 1: are just they have the most amazing backdrops and it's 143 00:07:37,360 --> 00:07:40,640 Speaker 1: just so tranquil and calm. It's really something. Yeah, you know, 144 00:07:40,680 --> 00:07:43,080 Speaker 1: I live right down the street from the legendary East 145 00:07:43,160 --> 00:07:48,560 Speaker 1: Lake Country Club in Atlanta, Bobby Jones Course, and been 146 00:07:49,440 --> 00:07:51,720 Speaker 1: to one day of that one tournament. That's the only 147 00:07:51,720 --> 00:07:55,480 Speaker 1: time I've actually been to a professional golf tournament and 148 00:07:55,560 --> 00:07:58,200 Speaker 1: you know, I stood there twelve feet from Tiger Woods 149 00:07:58,200 --> 00:08:01,600 Speaker 1: and the tea box is pretty pretty neat. Wow, like 150 00:08:01,680 --> 00:08:04,240 Speaker 1: just to see because I played golf a lot growing 151 00:08:04,320 --> 00:08:07,559 Speaker 1: up and it's a hard sport and to see someone 152 00:08:07,600 --> 00:08:11,200 Speaker 1: do it uher perfectly right in front of your face 153 00:08:11,640 --> 00:08:13,920 Speaker 1: with that much power, was it was. It was really impressive. 154 00:08:14,200 --> 00:08:17,240 Speaker 1: You know what, what would really help Tiger Woods swing 155 00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:19,680 Speaker 1: if they put him in a wind tunnel, put some 156 00:08:19,800 --> 00:08:22,520 Speaker 1: green smoke in the wind and watch them swing. They 157 00:08:22,520 --> 00:08:24,480 Speaker 1: could tell him how to do it better. You want 158 00:08:24,520 --> 00:08:28,200 Speaker 1: smoke him smoke that's right, that's right. Shout out to 159 00:08:28,280 --> 00:08:31,960 Speaker 1: our Guard Detroit crew from the day. Al Right, So 160 00:08:32,200 --> 00:08:33,960 Speaker 1: if you want to go back in time and talk 161 00:08:33,960 --> 00:08:37,560 Speaker 1: about human flight, you're gonna look at things like Da 162 00:08:37,640 --> 00:08:45,120 Speaker 1: Vinci's ornithopter and kind of a lot of early stabs 163 00:08:45,240 --> 00:08:50,920 Speaker 1: at flying were humans looking at birds and thinking, well, 164 00:08:50,960 --> 00:08:53,240 Speaker 1: if we're gonna fly, we're gonna have to learn how 165 00:08:53,280 --> 00:08:57,120 Speaker 1: to flap wings really fast. And it made sense. I 166 00:08:57,120 --> 00:08:59,040 Speaker 1: guess if you're looking at birds, they're the only thing 167 00:08:59,080 --> 00:09:02,240 Speaker 1: flying around. Uh, it would make sense that that's where 168 00:09:02,280 --> 00:09:05,000 Speaker 1: they would go. But they knew early on, regardless of 169 00:09:05,040 --> 00:09:10,040 Speaker 1: the flapping, that they needed to understand wind and how 170 00:09:10,120 --> 00:09:13,920 Speaker 1: wind worked with wings. And so they started going to 171 00:09:14,760 --> 00:09:17,120 Speaker 1: these little hills and mountains and they started going to 172 00:09:17,200 --> 00:09:20,320 Speaker 1: caves that had you know, they were looking for some 173 00:09:20,400 --> 00:09:23,440 Speaker 1: sort of predictable, constant wind so they could do some 174 00:09:23,520 --> 00:09:27,280 Speaker 1: early testing. And they realized, you just can't do it 175 00:09:27,320 --> 00:09:30,400 Speaker 1: with mother nature. You can't get a consistent wind, not 176 00:09:30,640 --> 00:09:33,319 Speaker 1: enough to get real data out of it and do 177 00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:36,520 Speaker 1: that math that we need so so drastically to make 178 00:09:36,559 --> 00:09:39,880 Speaker 1: this possible. Right so, and and initially we got that 179 00:09:39,920 --> 00:09:42,560 Speaker 1: assist from birds and that we knew wings had to 180 00:09:42,600 --> 00:09:45,640 Speaker 1: be involved. That the whole flapping thing really kind of 181 00:09:45,679 --> 00:09:48,200 Speaker 1: threw things off for a while. But because we knew 182 00:09:48,240 --> 00:09:50,439 Speaker 1: that there had to be wings, we knew that there 183 00:09:50,480 --> 00:09:55,079 Speaker 1: had to probably be some ideal or optimum shape of wings. 184 00:09:55,520 --> 00:09:58,000 Speaker 1: And that's really where wind tunnels first got their start, 185 00:09:58,360 --> 00:10:01,760 Speaker 1: wasn't testing different shape of wings or air foils. And 186 00:10:01,800 --> 00:10:04,360 Speaker 1: there was a guy back in seventeen forty six named 187 00:10:04,360 --> 00:10:09,880 Speaker 1: Benjamin Robbins who created a wiry arm um, which is 188 00:10:09,920 --> 00:10:14,920 Speaker 1: basically like a It was a centrifuge basically is what 189 00:10:15,040 --> 00:10:17,440 Speaker 1: he created. He had a hard time picturing this, and 190 00:10:17,480 --> 00:10:21,520 Speaker 1: there's only there's this one very rudimentary sketch that made 191 00:10:21,520 --> 00:10:24,720 Speaker 1: it even more confusing. Okay, so just just imagine you 192 00:10:24,760 --> 00:10:28,640 Speaker 1: have like a pole coming out of the ground vertically 193 00:10:29,280 --> 00:10:31,480 Speaker 1: and you have an arm attached to that pole, and 194 00:10:31,520 --> 00:10:34,360 Speaker 1: the pole can spin around in a circle like a centrifuge, 195 00:10:34,440 --> 00:10:37,640 Speaker 1: like one of those G force testers that they have 196 00:10:37,840 --> 00:10:40,880 Speaker 1: at and like, um, like astronaut training, you know what 197 00:10:40,920 --> 00:10:44,680 Speaker 1: I'm saying. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that thing. This is what 198 00:10:44,760 --> 00:10:47,439 Speaker 1: that guy invented. But it was like with wood and 199 00:10:47,280 --> 00:10:49,880 Speaker 1: in the dirt. It wasn't and it didn't go that fast. 200 00:10:50,160 --> 00:10:53,560 Speaker 1: But you could have fixed a like a wing type 201 00:10:53,600 --> 00:10:55,679 Speaker 1: that you were testing to see if it worked well 202 00:10:55,960 --> 00:10:58,120 Speaker 1: to the end of it and push it through the air. 203 00:10:58,559 --> 00:11:01,360 Speaker 1: And it didn't really help this guy figure out what 204 00:11:01,440 --> 00:11:05,080 Speaker 1: wings style or size was the best. What it helped 205 00:11:05,120 --> 00:11:07,800 Speaker 1: him figure out is that it doesn't have that much 206 00:11:07,880 --> 00:11:10,160 Speaker 1: to do with anything with flapping. We don't need to 207 00:11:10,160 --> 00:11:14,400 Speaker 1: be wasting our time inventing machines that that flap their wings, 208 00:11:14,440 --> 00:11:16,920 Speaker 1: because that's not it. It's all about this thing called 209 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:20,960 Speaker 1: lift and drag and the proportion between those two. And 210 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:23,040 Speaker 1: if you can figure out how to get more lift 211 00:11:23,080 --> 00:11:26,920 Speaker 1: and decreased drag. Then you can you can really make 212 00:11:26,960 --> 00:11:30,120 Speaker 1: some you can fly basically, And this was the very 213 00:11:30,240 --> 00:11:34,520 Speaker 1: first inklings of that that Benjamin Robbins came came up with. Yeah, 214 00:11:34,520 --> 00:11:36,360 Speaker 1: and what I saw was that Robbin's really kind of 215 00:11:36,360 --> 00:11:40,319 Speaker 1: pinpointed drag, like the shape is super important. And then 216 00:11:40,400 --> 00:11:44,160 Speaker 1: after him, Sir George Cayley had his own whirling arm 217 00:11:44,240 --> 00:11:46,520 Speaker 1: and he's the one that really figured out lift was 218 00:11:46,960 --> 00:11:50,120 Speaker 1: a key. After they realized the shape of the thing 219 00:11:50,200 --> 00:11:53,560 Speaker 1: matters the um more than the shape, like the size 220 00:11:53,600 --> 00:11:57,559 Speaker 1: of it matters. Size does matter, especially when you're flying, 221 00:11:57,679 --> 00:12:01,200 Speaker 1: especially when you're flying, and uh that if you could 222 00:12:01,240 --> 00:12:04,320 Speaker 1: just get a quick enough takeoff, you don't need to 223 00:12:04,320 --> 00:12:06,320 Speaker 1: flap at all. All you need is a lot of 224 00:12:06,360 --> 00:12:10,360 Speaker 1: speed at first, which they could have also gotten frankly 225 00:12:10,400 --> 00:12:13,160 Speaker 1: by if they would have kept looking at birds and 226 00:12:13,200 --> 00:12:16,520 Speaker 1: realized they eventually stopped flapping, they might have realized, oh, 227 00:12:16,600 --> 00:12:18,280 Speaker 1: you actually don't need to flap the whole time. You 228 00:12:18,280 --> 00:12:21,240 Speaker 1: can glide if you've got enough speed, right and and well, 229 00:12:21,280 --> 00:12:24,240 Speaker 1: actually a lot of the early flying machines were gliders. 230 00:12:24,280 --> 00:12:26,560 Speaker 1: It was one of the the Wright brothers were not 231 00:12:26,600 --> 00:12:30,640 Speaker 1: the first people to UM engage in in human flight. 232 00:12:31,040 --> 00:12:34,800 Speaker 1: There is a monk named Elmer of Malmsberry who has 233 00:12:34,880 --> 00:12:38,040 Speaker 1: the first recorded human flight back in ten fifty c 234 00:12:38,280 --> 00:12:42,200 Speaker 1: E not b C and um he he You know, 235 00:12:42,360 --> 00:12:46,880 Speaker 1: that was almost a thousand years before the Right Brothers UM. 236 00:12:47,040 --> 00:12:50,080 Speaker 1: But the Right Brothers are credited with with UM the 237 00:12:50,320 --> 00:12:54,560 Speaker 1: like an engine powered flight human flight. Right, So they 238 00:12:54,600 --> 00:12:58,240 Speaker 1: they were dabbling in what's what Kaylee and Robbin's well, 239 00:12:58,320 --> 00:13:01,320 Speaker 1: Kaylee especially figured out that you need thrust and there's 240 00:13:01,360 --> 00:13:04,160 Speaker 1: just nothing around that's light enough to produce enough thrust. 241 00:13:04,480 --> 00:13:07,520 Speaker 1: So Kaylee actually gave up and went and joined parliament 242 00:13:07,520 --> 00:13:10,440 Speaker 1: for a while before he finally created a flying machine. 243 00:13:10,440 --> 00:13:14,600 Speaker 1: Fifty years before the Right Brothers. He made his UM. 244 00:13:14,640 --> 00:13:18,040 Speaker 1: He made his coach driver test pilot it, and the 245 00:13:18,120 --> 00:13:20,599 Speaker 1: coach driver was so scared even though the flight was 246 00:13:20,640 --> 00:13:22,959 Speaker 1: successful that when he landed he was like, I quit, 247 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:26,280 Speaker 1: I quit. I'm not. I don't work for you anymore. Yeah, 248 00:13:26,559 --> 00:13:30,360 Speaker 1: but George Kayley's very much overlooked figure in the history 249 00:13:30,360 --> 00:13:34,840 Speaker 1: of flight. He apparently figured out the general shape um 250 00:13:34,840 --> 00:13:39,719 Speaker 1: of a modern airliner back in Yeah. Alright, I say 251 00:13:39,760 --> 00:13:42,480 Speaker 1: we take a break, we'll come back and talk about 252 00:13:42,520 --> 00:14:10,920 Speaker 1: the first wind tunnel right after this. Alright, so Kaylee 253 00:14:10,960 --> 00:14:16,079 Speaker 1: has these whirling arms going terrible name, but it worked out. Uh. 254 00:14:16,080 --> 00:14:19,400 Speaker 1: Then enter a man named Frank h Win him. He 255 00:14:19,440 --> 00:14:21,960 Speaker 1: was another Englishman and he was in the Aeronautical Society 256 00:14:21,960 --> 00:14:25,480 Speaker 1: of Great Britain, and he said, guys, we need or 257 00:14:25,480 --> 00:14:29,200 Speaker 1: excuse me, gentlemen, we need a wind tunnel, and we 258 00:14:29,240 --> 00:14:32,240 Speaker 1: need it bad. And so in eighteen seventy one he 259 00:14:32,320 --> 00:14:35,360 Speaker 1: had the very first wind tunnel. Was twelve ft long, 260 00:14:35,920 --> 00:14:39,920 Speaker 1: about eighteen inches square, with a forty mile wind, which 261 00:14:39,920 --> 00:14:43,280 Speaker 1: is pretty good. It was. It consisted of your daughter going, 262 00:14:43,800 --> 00:14:47,760 Speaker 1: oh god, stinky has went dunne her breath. Isn't that 263 00:14:47,800 --> 00:14:50,720 Speaker 1: stinky yet? Kids don't really start to stink until later, 264 00:14:50,760 --> 00:14:56,320 Speaker 1: I think, yeah, until later. But the winds were powered 265 00:14:56,360 --> 00:14:59,240 Speaker 1: by a steam fan at the end of the tunnel, 266 00:15:00,120 --> 00:15:02,760 Speaker 1: and it worked pretty well. He was able to get 267 00:15:02,800 --> 00:15:05,800 Speaker 1: that leading edge of the airfoil and move it up 268 00:15:05,840 --> 00:15:09,000 Speaker 1: and down and change his angle angle of attack and 269 00:15:09,320 --> 00:15:12,120 Speaker 1: kind of see what shaped, uh and what angles worked 270 00:15:12,160 --> 00:15:15,440 Speaker 1: best with to get the best lift. But it was 271 00:15:15,480 --> 00:15:18,760 Speaker 1: still sort of choppy, and it was rough around the edges. 272 00:15:18,880 --> 00:15:21,320 Speaker 1: And if you really want to make this you know, 273 00:15:21,360 --> 00:15:24,440 Speaker 1: if you want to fly safely, you got to have 274 00:15:24,480 --> 00:15:28,920 Speaker 1: a really really really consistent, very smooth wind to work 275 00:15:28,960 --> 00:15:30,840 Speaker 1: with to get that data. And they still didn't have 276 00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:33,040 Speaker 1: one at this point. Now they still didn't, but they 277 00:15:33,080 --> 00:15:35,800 Speaker 1: were advancing by leaps and bounds here that people were 278 00:15:35,840 --> 00:15:39,440 Speaker 1: building their own wind tunnels. Because up to that point, 279 00:15:39,800 --> 00:15:42,400 Speaker 1: if you had in a design for an airfoil, for 280 00:15:42,480 --> 00:15:45,400 Speaker 1: like a wing size or shape, you had to build 281 00:15:45,440 --> 00:15:47,040 Speaker 1: it and then go take it out into nature and 282 00:15:47,080 --> 00:15:49,040 Speaker 1: test it and hope for the best, and it was 283 00:15:49,160 --> 00:15:52,720 Speaker 1: really expensive, really time time consuming. With your own wind 284 00:15:52,760 --> 00:15:54,920 Speaker 1: wind tunnel, you could make a model of the shape 285 00:15:54,920 --> 00:15:58,000 Speaker 1: and test it out yourself and then see this is 286 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:01,320 Speaker 1: actually worth pursuing, or this as junk, and that's it. 287 00:16:01,440 --> 00:16:04,880 Speaker 1: That's what our dear beloved heroes, the Right brothers did 288 00:16:04,960 --> 00:16:09,320 Speaker 1: in Ohio outside of Dayton, Lorville and Wilbur Wright Um 289 00:16:09,520 --> 00:16:13,640 Speaker 1: built their own wind tunnel. These guys were just like tinkerers. 290 00:16:13,640 --> 00:16:16,440 Speaker 1: They owned a bike shop, but they were so fascinating 291 00:16:16,520 --> 00:16:19,200 Speaker 1: were following these developments in early flight that they just 292 00:16:19,280 --> 00:16:21,520 Speaker 1: kind of got into it themselves and they built themselves 293 00:16:21,520 --> 00:16:24,120 Speaker 1: a wind tunnel. They had like two different or two 294 00:16:24,200 --> 00:16:27,080 Speaker 1: hundred different types of wings. I believe that they messed 295 00:16:27,080 --> 00:16:30,480 Speaker 1: with selected the thirty best ones that they had developed 296 00:16:30,480 --> 00:16:33,040 Speaker 1: in their wind wind tunnel of their own construction and 297 00:16:33,080 --> 00:16:38,680 Speaker 1: design um And apparently I saw somewhere that by nine one, 298 00:16:38,720 --> 00:16:41,600 Speaker 1: after their wind tunnel tests, the Right Brothers, a couple 299 00:16:41,640 --> 00:16:46,440 Speaker 1: of bicycle repairment in Dayton, had the world's um most 300 00:16:46,560 --> 00:16:53,080 Speaker 1: accurate data scientific data on on flying and wings in 301 00:16:53,120 --> 00:16:56,800 Speaker 1: the world. And they'd come up with it entirely by themselves. Yeah, 302 00:16:56,880 --> 00:16:59,200 Speaker 1: and here's the thing with these wind tunnels, especially early 303 00:16:59,280 --> 00:17:02,440 Speaker 1: on in kind of still, it's not like they could 304 00:17:02,520 --> 00:17:04,600 Speaker 1: use that wind tunnel and come out with a surefire 305 00:17:04,640 --> 00:17:08,960 Speaker 1: product using math and uh and testing different designs and 306 00:17:09,040 --> 00:17:12,159 Speaker 1: shapes and tilts and angles. But it was such a 307 00:17:12,200 --> 00:17:16,760 Speaker 1: time saver and broken bone saver that you didn't just say, 308 00:17:16,920 --> 00:17:18,600 Speaker 1: all right, well, I think this might work. Let's go 309 00:17:18,680 --> 00:17:21,439 Speaker 1: and push our cousin off of a cliff or our 310 00:17:22,080 --> 00:17:24,880 Speaker 1: coach driver or whatever and see if it works. They 311 00:17:24,920 --> 00:17:27,960 Speaker 1: still had their failures, all of them did, But I 312 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:30,360 Speaker 1: mean it would have taken I mean, god knows how 313 00:17:30,359 --> 00:17:33,720 Speaker 1: many more years if they didn't, like at least start 314 00:17:33,760 --> 00:17:37,480 Speaker 1: from a point of likely success thanks to wind tunnels. 315 00:17:37,680 --> 00:17:39,400 Speaker 1: But I mean, like, look at it. They went from 316 00:17:39,560 --> 00:17:42,560 Speaker 1: they finished their wind tunnel tests in nineteen o one, 317 00:17:42,920 --> 00:17:45,920 Speaker 1: they had their first powered flight in en three. Yeah, 318 00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:48,199 Speaker 1: I mean that's so it's amazing two years and it 319 00:17:48,240 --> 00:17:51,480 Speaker 1: definitely did accelerate it too. And so you can see 320 00:17:51,520 --> 00:17:55,240 Speaker 1: from the outset that that aviation and wind tunnels just 321 00:17:55,320 --> 00:18:00,720 Speaker 1: developed together, and wind tunnels developed aviation um. But the 322 00:18:00,720 --> 00:18:02,600 Speaker 1: first wind tunnels, like you said, they had a really 323 00:18:02,600 --> 00:18:06,520 Speaker 1: big problem, and that was the air that they produced. 324 00:18:06,560 --> 00:18:11,159 Speaker 1: The stream of wind was very choppy, very turbulent, and 325 00:18:11,480 --> 00:18:15,440 Speaker 1: your data was not necessarily reliable. It wasn't too terribly 326 00:18:15,520 --> 00:18:18,159 Speaker 1: much better than say, going out into mother Nature and 327 00:18:18,240 --> 00:18:22,719 Speaker 1: subjecting you know, the same model to those winds um 328 00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:25,359 Speaker 1: And that's a big problem. So one of the first 329 00:18:25,400 --> 00:18:28,240 Speaker 1: things that they figured out how to do was to 330 00:18:28,560 --> 00:18:32,920 Speaker 1: make the wind smoother so that you could get a reliable, smooth, 331 00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:37,320 Speaker 1: steady wind um in your wind tunnel whenever you wanted 332 00:18:37,359 --> 00:18:39,639 Speaker 1: to use it. Yeah, and that's where we come to 333 00:18:39,760 --> 00:18:43,639 Speaker 1: the modern tunnel, very very smooth airflow. And they have 334 00:18:44,440 --> 00:18:48,119 Speaker 1: five basic sections of and they're you know, they're all different, 335 00:18:48,160 --> 00:18:50,760 Speaker 1: but they have five basic sections. In a modern tunnel 336 00:18:51,640 --> 00:18:55,240 Speaker 1: that's the settling chamber, the contraction cone, the test section, 337 00:18:55,280 --> 00:18:59,840 Speaker 1: the diffuser, and the drive section. So we start out 338 00:18:59,840 --> 00:19:02,639 Speaker 1: with this swirling air and it's a big choppy mess 339 00:19:03,160 --> 00:19:05,320 Speaker 1: and it enters the tunnel and we'll talk about how 340 00:19:05,359 --> 00:19:08,200 Speaker 1: in a second, because it's kind of cool, little counterintuitive, 341 00:19:08,240 --> 00:19:10,600 Speaker 1: but it makes a lot of sense. Um it goes 342 00:19:10,600 --> 00:19:13,880 Speaker 1: into the settling chamber, which does exactly what you think. 343 00:19:13,920 --> 00:19:16,760 Speaker 1: It settles that air, straightens it out. They might have 344 00:19:16,800 --> 00:19:20,680 Speaker 1: these little honeycomb holes or a screen or these panels, 345 00:19:21,119 --> 00:19:22,960 Speaker 1: and that's just sort of the initial thing to sort 346 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:25,119 Speaker 1: of get it nice and smooth and moving in the 347 00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:28,439 Speaker 1: same uniform direction. Yeah, and then it goes down. They 348 00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:31,760 Speaker 1: step it down through that contraction cone, and that just 349 00:19:32,040 --> 00:19:35,040 Speaker 1: I mean, it's like anything else. If you make the 350 00:19:35,040 --> 00:19:38,919 Speaker 1: the tube smaller, it's going to increase that velocity of 351 00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:42,760 Speaker 1: air flow. And that's where it gets to the test section, 352 00:19:42,800 --> 00:19:45,240 Speaker 1: which is whatever. And the test section depends on what 353 00:19:45,240 --> 00:19:48,119 Speaker 1: you're testing. If it's a desktop thing, the test section 354 00:19:48,240 --> 00:19:51,919 Speaker 1: might be twelve inches long and you might have a 355 00:19:51,920 --> 00:19:55,480 Speaker 1: tiny little model of an airplane wing in there, and 356 00:19:55,520 --> 00:19:57,600 Speaker 1: that's where the actual thing you're testing is and where 357 00:19:58,040 --> 00:20:02,280 Speaker 1: all the sensors are record all the data because you know, 358 00:20:02,440 --> 00:20:04,280 Speaker 1: you've got your visual that you've got these windows so 359 00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:06,439 Speaker 1: you can shoot TV commercials and you can look at 360 00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:09,919 Speaker 1: the thing. But there's also all manner of sensors to 361 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:14,200 Speaker 1: pick up on all manner of UH data and observations. Yeah, 362 00:20:14,280 --> 00:20:16,280 Speaker 1: I think that's really cool that they still you know, 363 00:20:16,359 --> 00:20:19,119 Speaker 1: when they operate wind tunnels, they still watch through the 364 00:20:19,160 --> 00:20:22,720 Speaker 1: window because there's a lot to be gained visually from 365 00:20:22,800 --> 00:20:25,919 Speaker 1: from just human beings watching this stuff, and so you 366 00:20:25,920 --> 00:20:28,600 Speaker 1: want to you want to watch it right, Yeah, for sure, 367 00:20:28,680 --> 00:20:31,360 Speaker 1: especially when they got the green smoke thing turned on. 368 00:20:33,119 --> 00:20:36,359 Speaker 1: So after it goes through the um, the test section 369 00:20:36,840 --> 00:20:40,960 Speaker 1: enters a diffuser UM which kind of it slows things, 370 00:20:41,560 --> 00:20:44,960 Speaker 1: slows things down UM and maybe just exits the whole thing. 371 00:20:45,119 --> 00:20:47,080 Speaker 1: It's kind of the opposite of the contractor it just 372 00:20:47,160 --> 00:20:51,560 Speaker 1: opens back up right exactly. So there's UM, there's there 373 00:20:51,800 --> 00:20:55,240 Speaker 1: as far as breaking. There's a lot of different kinds 374 00:20:55,320 --> 00:20:58,440 Speaker 1: of wind tunnels, as we'll see, but there's really kind 375 00:20:58,480 --> 00:21:01,760 Speaker 1: of two categories too, broad categories. You've got open and 376 00:21:01,880 --> 00:21:05,040 Speaker 1: closed circuit, and an open circuit is where you have 377 00:21:05,640 --> 00:21:08,200 Speaker 1: wind going in on one end, going through the diffuser 378 00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:09,800 Speaker 1: and the honeycomb in the test section and then coming 379 00:21:09,800 --> 00:21:13,600 Speaker 1: out the other end blowing into the room and another 380 00:21:14,080 --> 00:21:16,879 Speaker 1: with the closed circuit. It's just basically an oval and 381 00:21:16,920 --> 00:21:20,119 Speaker 1: so when the wind is generated, it goes through the 382 00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:22,320 Speaker 1: it goes through the test section out the back, but 383 00:21:22,359 --> 00:21:25,160 Speaker 1: then bends around an oval track and then comes back 384 00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:28,120 Speaker 1: around again and through the contraction coning into the test 385 00:21:28,119 --> 00:21:31,000 Speaker 1: section again and again, and can just keep going rather 386 00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:33,960 Speaker 1: than just blowing out the other side. Yeah, and here's 387 00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:36,200 Speaker 1: the part that I said wasn't intuitive, but it's really 388 00:21:36,280 --> 00:21:38,879 Speaker 1: kind of neat when you think about it. The drive 389 00:21:38,960 --> 00:21:41,680 Speaker 1: section is where this fan is, and this is what 390 00:21:41,840 --> 00:21:45,800 Speaker 1: it's just generating that air flow. And I always just 391 00:21:45,840 --> 00:21:48,520 Speaker 1: thought a wind tunnel was a fan pointing at the thing. 392 00:21:49,440 --> 00:21:53,119 Speaker 1: They're actually behind the thing, because you don't want to 393 00:21:53,200 --> 00:21:57,560 Speaker 1: push air onto something, you want air being pulled over something. 394 00:21:57,680 --> 00:22:00,119 Speaker 1: And it it just makes total sense, but you ever 395 00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:02,359 Speaker 1: really thought about it, You just I always just pictured 396 00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:05,200 Speaker 1: a big fan blowing at a car, but the fan 397 00:22:05,240 --> 00:22:07,760 Speaker 1: would actually be behind the car and it's probably looping 398 00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:11,320 Speaker 1: around and smoothing out this entire way and then being 399 00:22:11,359 --> 00:22:14,399 Speaker 1: gently pulled over the car exactly. And in just the 400 00:22:14,440 --> 00:22:17,880 Speaker 1: same way that the fastest way to cool off, say 401 00:22:17,920 --> 00:22:21,439 Speaker 1: like a server room that you don't have good cooling on, 402 00:22:21,520 --> 00:22:24,640 Speaker 1: you just throw a box fan the opposite way. So 403 00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:27,600 Speaker 1: the boxman is blowing out into the regular room, but 404 00:22:27,680 --> 00:22:29,920 Speaker 1: at the same time it's sucking the air, the hot 405 00:22:29,960 --> 00:22:32,919 Speaker 1: air out of the out of the server room, and 406 00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:35,880 Speaker 1: cool air is rushing into a place that hot air. 407 00:22:36,160 --> 00:22:40,160 Speaker 1: So you're creating like an air flow that's much less turbulent. 408 00:22:40,240 --> 00:22:43,879 Speaker 1: When the fan sucks the air out, it's much smoother 409 00:22:44,040 --> 00:22:46,320 Speaker 1: than when it blows it in, which creates a lot 410 00:22:46,359 --> 00:22:48,760 Speaker 1: more turbulence. And that was the big problem that was 411 00:22:48,800 --> 00:22:51,680 Speaker 1: facing like the Right Brothers and some of those other 412 00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:54,840 Speaker 1: early wind tunnel creators, is they their fans were blowing 413 00:22:55,280 --> 00:22:58,040 Speaker 1: on the front of their models rather than having the 414 00:22:58,040 --> 00:23:01,640 Speaker 1: fan behind it sucking the air over the models. Right. 415 00:23:02,119 --> 00:23:06,280 Speaker 1: So these little models they're kept in place, sometimes around wire, 416 00:23:06,400 --> 00:23:10,320 Speaker 1: sometimes around these middle poles. Uh sometimes I think they 417 00:23:10,440 --> 00:23:14,240 Speaker 1: really super high tech ones use um super strong magnets 418 00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:16,640 Speaker 1: to actually hold them in place, which is pretty cool. 419 00:23:17,480 --> 00:23:20,800 Speaker 1: And then again you've got all these sensors all over 420 00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:24,080 Speaker 1: the place attached to the model measuring I mean, we'll 421 00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:27,000 Speaker 1: see it gets really really deep. But just at the 422 00:23:27,040 --> 00:23:30,760 Speaker 1: outset you can measure like wind velocity and air pressure 423 00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:35,600 Speaker 1: and temperature, and if you're talking about airplanes, roll and 424 00:23:35,680 --> 00:23:39,560 Speaker 1: yaw and drag and lift, and I mean, you can 425 00:23:39,600 --> 00:23:41,879 Speaker 1: kind of do anything you want in there. And if 426 00:23:41,920 --> 00:23:44,080 Speaker 1: you have, like if you're testing an airplane or a 427 00:23:44,119 --> 00:23:47,120 Speaker 1: scale model of the airplane you're gonna build, it's on 428 00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:50,359 Speaker 1: something called the sting, which is a pole basically that 429 00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:55,760 Speaker 1: goes into the airplanes bottom. But but then inside the airplane, 430 00:23:55,840 --> 00:23:57,919 Speaker 1: the airplane is not attached to the pole. It's attached 431 00:23:57,920 --> 00:24:00,200 Speaker 1: to something called a balance. And it's like all those 432 00:24:00,240 --> 00:24:03,840 Speaker 1: sensors you just mentioned all in one instrument, like a 433 00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:08,000 Speaker 1: cylinder tube, and as the airplane moves and pitches and 434 00:24:08,119 --> 00:24:11,920 Speaker 1: yaws and rolls and and gallops and all that stuff, 435 00:24:12,320 --> 00:24:16,080 Speaker 1: not gallops, So I made that part up. UM, it's 436 00:24:16,119 --> 00:24:19,639 Speaker 1: it's acting on those sensors and the motion, the mechanical 437 00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:23,040 Speaker 1: motion on those sensors is translated into an electrical impulse 438 00:24:23,240 --> 00:24:26,040 Speaker 1: and that travels down the stinger into the computers which 439 00:24:26,080 --> 00:24:28,520 Speaker 1: are picking up all of this data in real time 440 00:24:29,040 --> 00:24:33,200 Speaker 1: and UM logging it and creating new new versions of 441 00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:37,360 Speaker 1: the UH the model based on that stuff. It's pretty amazing. 442 00:24:37,600 --> 00:24:40,520 Speaker 1: What's even more amazing that makes sense that that exists today, 443 00:24:40,880 --> 00:24:44,199 Speaker 1: That's existed since like the forties or the fifties, and 444 00:24:44,359 --> 00:24:47,400 Speaker 1: in much more primitive form, but essentially the same thing 445 00:24:47,840 --> 00:24:50,639 Speaker 1: that we use today, the same kind of balance what 446 00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:53,680 Speaker 1: has been around for decades. Wasn't there a Simpsons joke 447 00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:58,080 Speaker 1: about y'all control? Yes, yeah, when they had one of 448 00:24:58,119 --> 00:25:03,920 Speaker 1: those like backyard pockets now with yaw control and didn't 449 00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:06,320 Speaker 1: like buzz Aldrin or something, say like, wow, look at 450 00:25:06,359 --> 00:25:10,360 Speaker 1: that y'all control. I think so that was good stuff. Uh. 451 00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:13,119 Speaker 1: Some other things that they measure, which you might not 452 00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:19,800 Speaker 1: really think about existing is viscosity and compressibility, or the 453 00:25:19,840 --> 00:25:23,960 Speaker 1: tackiness or the bounciness of the air itself. So when 454 00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:26,520 Speaker 1: you're thinking about air blowing over a car driving down 455 00:25:26,560 --> 00:25:28,359 Speaker 1: the road, you don't think of that air is like 456 00:25:28,400 --> 00:25:31,600 Speaker 1: being sticky necessarily. But when that air is moving over 457 00:25:31,680 --> 00:25:33,320 Speaker 1: the hood of that car, in the top of that 458 00:25:33,400 --> 00:25:36,440 Speaker 1: car or the plane or whatever it is, Uh, those 459 00:25:36,480 --> 00:25:38,800 Speaker 1: little molecules are gonna hit the surface and just very 460 00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:42,040 Speaker 1: very briefly, they're going to cling to that surface, and 461 00:25:42,320 --> 00:25:44,960 Speaker 1: that even for that brief brief amount of time. It's 462 00:25:44,960 --> 00:25:48,199 Speaker 1: gonna create a little boundary layer of air next to 463 00:25:48,280 --> 00:25:50,880 Speaker 1: the thing that you're trying to measure air flow over. Yeah, 464 00:25:50,960 --> 00:25:52,760 Speaker 1: which is, like I said, a very big deal. And 465 00:25:52,920 --> 00:25:56,119 Speaker 1: and yeah, an individual air molecule is going to stick 466 00:25:56,240 --> 00:25:59,880 Speaker 1: for a nano second, just some ridiculously short amount of time. 467 00:26:00,119 --> 00:26:03,399 Speaker 1: But there's so many air molecules that they essentially just 468 00:26:03,440 --> 00:26:05,880 Speaker 1: replace each other as fast as they can move. And yes, 469 00:26:05,920 --> 00:26:09,640 Speaker 1: they create this this this boundary layer. And as far 470 00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:15,040 Speaker 1: as aerodynamics is concerned, your your say, your car blow 471 00:26:15,160 --> 00:26:17,840 Speaker 1: go like driving through this wind that's that's sticking to 472 00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:21,560 Speaker 1: it um now has a different shape. That boundary layer 473 00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:25,600 Speaker 1: creates a different shape or extends it outward beyond the 474 00:26:25,640 --> 00:26:31,280 Speaker 1: actual physical shape of the car. And so, yes, very 475 00:26:31,359 --> 00:26:34,080 Speaker 1: much so. And then so so when you're trying to 476 00:26:34,119 --> 00:26:35,840 Speaker 1: test like how fast the car is going to go, 477 00:26:35,880 --> 00:26:37,760 Speaker 1: how many miles per gallon it's going to get that 478 00:26:37,840 --> 00:26:41,040 Speaker 1: kind of stuff. That boundary layer makes a tremendous amount 479 00:26:41,040 --> 00:26:44,199 Speaker 1: of difference because it changes physically changes the shape of 480 00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:47,159 Speaker 1: this this thing when it's out there traveling at high speeds. 481 00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:49,600 Speaker 1: So one of the great benefits of an air tunnel 482 00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:53,000 Speaker 1: is you can test, like, what boundary layer is produced 483 00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:56,200 Speaker 1: by this particular shape of this car under this condition. 484 00:26:56,440 --> 00:27:01,160 Speaker 1: You know, if it's um humidity, but you know forty 485 00:27:01,200 --> 00:27:04,760 Speaker 1: degrees ferrent height. Uh, and they're traveling at eighty miles 486 00:27:04,760 --> 00:27:07,800 Speaker 1: an hour, what kind of boundary layers produced? Okay, well 487 00:27:07,800 --> 00:27:10,960 Speaker 1: what about seventy five an hour at the sixty percent humidity. 488 00:27:11,119 --> 00:27:13,760 Speaker 1: You can just change all these variables, and the wind 489 00:27:13,800 --> 00:27:17,880 Speaker 1: tunnel allows you to simulate it in in in Basically, UM, 490 00:27:18,440 --> 00:27:22,120 Speaker 1: get all this data in real time. UM. Just lickety 491 00:27:22,200 --> 00:27:24,760 Speaker 1: split basically. Although one other thing, I just want to 492 00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:26,760 Speaker 1: say this, we're making it sound like this is fast. 493 00:27:27,040 --> 00:27:29,720 Speaker 1: This is actually, and has been, especially until the age 494 00:27:29,760 --> 00:27:33,000 Speaker 1: of computers, very arduous work. Because if you wanted to 495 00:27:33,080 --> 00:27:36,119 Speaker 1: change one variable, if you said, well, this headlight is 496 00:27:36,160 --> 00:27:38,800 Speaker 1: actually causing way too much drag, you would have to 497 00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:40,880 Speaker 1: switch that headlight out with your next model and run 498 00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:42,840 Speaker 1: the same tests over and over and over again with 499 00:27:42,880 --> 00:27:46,760 Speaker 1: the different different um conditions and log all that data. 500 00:27:47,080 --> 00:27:49,840 Speaker 1: So it was really arduous before computers, and you kind 501 00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:52,520 Speaker 1: of get the idea that aerodynamics as a field of 502 00:27:52,520 --> 00:27:57,080 Speaker 1: study is really given over to computation. Like there has 503 00:27:57,119 --> 00:27:59,280 Speaker 1: been a huge savior for that field and helped it 504 00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:02,560 Speaker 1: along and saved a lot of people a lot of time. Yeah, 505 00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:07,040 Speaker 1: and you mentioned things like humidity and temperature um. There 506 00:28:07,040 --> 00:28:08,879 Speaker 1: are all different kinds of wind tunnels, and they can 507 00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:11,800 Speaker 1: be very specific as to what they want to test 508 00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:16,320 Speaker 1: or very broad, but they're they're all able to do 509 00:28:16,400 --> 00:28:18,919 Speaker 1: things like that. You can dial in a temperature, you 510 00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:21,879 Speaker 1: can dial in um atmospheric pressure if you want to 511 00:28:21,880 --> 00:28:24,560 Speaker 1: see what something' is like on Mars, which they have 512 00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:26,320 Speaker 1: to do if you want, like the Mars Rover to 513 00:28:26,359 --> 00:28:29,800 Speaker 1: be successful. They can. They can ice up a plane 514 00:28:29,840 --> 00:28:33,840 Speaker 1: wing just by introducing refrigerated air and spraying a mist 515 00:28:33,880 --> 00:28:36,639 Speaker 1: of water that freezes and lands on the wing, and 516 00:28:36,680 --> 00:28:40,520 Speaker 1: you can simulate all these different things humidity and temperature, 517 00:28:40,560 --> 00:28:45,640 Speaker 1: And it's just amazing that that they thought to to introduce. 518 00:28:45,920 --> 00:28:48,280 Speaker 1: You know, at first they started out probably just looking 519 00:28:48,320 --> 00:28:52,200 Speaker 1: at aerodynamics of flow over a thing, but as they 520 00:28:52,240 --> 00:28:55,400 Speaker 1: got more and more specific with their needs, they just said, 521 00:28:55,440 --> 00:28:57,200 Speaker 1: you know that we can design these tunnels to kind 522 00:28:57,200 --> 00:28:59,840 Speaker 1: of do anything we want to do, like recreate any 523 00:28:59,840 --> 00:29:02,680 Speaker 1: and vironment you can think of. Basically, Yeah, it's true, 524 00:29:02,680 --> 00:29:05,240 Speaker 1: and I mean like as as we started to build 525 00:29:05,280 --> 00:29:08,760 Speaker 1: planes that go faster and faster. We started building tunnels 526 00:29:08,760 --> 00:29:12,280 Speaker 1: that simulated that really high speed travel, and so we 527 00:29:12,360 --> 00:29:16,480 Speaker 1: have hypersonic and supersonic um wind tunnels that don't use 528 00:29:16,520 --> 00:29:19,200 Speaker 1: fans at all, but they use like bursts of compressed 529 00:29:19,240 --> 00:29:23,200 Speaker 1: air that blow right onto the model. Those do blow 530 00:29:23,280 --> 00:29:26,880 Speaker 1: at the thing instead of sucking behind it. Right. Um. 531 00:29:26,960 --> 00:29:29,760 Speaker 1: But it's it's a huge release of of air that 532 00:29:30,040 --> 00:29:32,560 Speaker 1: is traveling so fast it simulates you know, like a 533 00:29:32,680 --> 00:29:37,520 Speaker 1: jet flying through you know, hundreds of you know, millions 534 00:29:37,520 --> 00:29:40,360 Speaker 1: of miles an hour probably yeah, or hey, what's it 535 00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:46,720 Speaker 1: like for a rocket human capsule too, uh to come 536 00:29:46,760 --> 00:29:49,960 Speaker 1: back into Earth's atmosphere at the and and not burn 537 00:29:50,080 --> 00:29:53,160 Speaker 1: up like they can simulate those temperatures. Yeah, there's one 538 00:29:53,200 --> 00:29:57,480 Speaker 1: in I think North Carolina. No University of Texas at 539 00:29:57,560 --> 00:30:02,600 Speaker 1: Arlington has something that can simulate that goes up Torees Ferren. 540 00:30:02,840 --> 00:30:05,440 Speaker 1: It's crazy, man, it is. It's a wind tunnel for 541 00:30:05,440 --> 00:30:07,160 Speaker 1: all in times of purpose. It's a wind tunnel. But 542 00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:09,600 Speaker 1: they have built these things so that they can simulate 543 00:30:09,600 --> 00:30:12,800 Speaker 1: basically any any climate. And you know, we talked about smoke, 544 00:30:13,040 --> 00:30:15,480 Speaker 1: and it's always fun in those TV commercials to see 545 00:30:15,480 --> 00:30:18,080 Speaker 1: the smoke blowing over the thing. And it's a nice 546 00:30:18,160 --> 00:30:21,320 Speaker 1: visual to sell cars that look super aerodynamic in our 547 00:30:21,680 --> 00:30:26,239 Speaker 1: super aerodynamic. But that visible flow isn't just you know, 548 00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:29,360 Speaker 1: for the stoners in the lab department, like late at 549 00:30:29,440 --> 00:30:31,880 Speaker 1: night to play around with, although they probably do that, 550 00:30:32,520 --> 00:30:37,000 Speaker 1: but they flow visualization is a real technique. Um, you 551 00:30:37,080 --> 00:30:39,920 Speaker 1: might just have colored smoke, you might have liquid, like 552 00:30:39,960 --> 00:30:42,480 Speaker 1: a mist of liquid. You might have they use this 553 00:30:42,600 --> 00:30:46,560 Speaker 1: colored oil sometimes that uh you can see like the 554 00:30:46,560 --> 00:30:49,360 Speaker 1: wind pushing the oil along the surface of whatever model 555 00:30:49,840 --> 00:30:52,600 Speaker 1: you're using, and then they've got these high speed cameras 556 00:30:52,600 --> 00:30:55,920 Speaker 1: capturing all of it. And again it's just, um, it's 557 00:30:55,920 --> 00:30:59,440 Speaker 1: another variable they can actually look at rather than just 558 00:30:59,560 --> 00:31:03,320 Speaker 1: using numbers and data. Yeah, I saw one, um one 559 00:31:03,600 --> 00:31:07,160 Speaker 1: was taking photographs of like two thousand frames per second. 560 00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:09,840 Speaker 1: That speed it was, but it was they were testing 561 00:31:09,880 --> 00:31:12,280 Speaker 1: like a rocket or something or model of it. Should 562 00:31:12,320 --> 00:31:15,320 Speaker 1: we take a break, Yeah, let's all right. We'll be 563 00:31:15,400 --> 00:31:17,600 Speaker 1: right back with more on wind tunnels right after this. 564 00:31:43,280 --> 00:31:45,480 Speaker 1: So Chuck, I was like a lot of this really 565 00:31:45,520 --> 00:31:47,200 Speaker 1: breaks my brain. It's one of those things we're like, 566 00:31:47,240 --> 00:31:49,520 Speaker 1: oh yeah, I totally get this on the surface. Let 567 00:31:49,520 --> 00:31:52,320 Speaker 1: me scratch a little deeper. I don't understand this at all. 568 00:31:52,640 --> 00:31:56,080 Speaker 1: And the reason why is because you know, aerodynamics requires 569 00:31:56,680 --> 00:32:00,480 Speaker 1: a lot of math and formula and all sorts of 570 00:32:00,520 --> 00:32:04,000 Speaker 1: calculations that I'm not contrated that I'm not currently capable 571 00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:06,280 Speaker 1: of doing that. But one of the things that I 572 00:32:06,320 --> 00:32:10,160 Speaker 1: tried to shake down was when you do a scale 573 00:32:10,240 --> 00:32:14,200 Speaker 1: model of something, do you have to scale down the conditions? 574 00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:18,840 Speaker 1: And it turns out I wasn't the first one to 575 00:32:18,880 --> 00:32:21,880 Speaker 1: think about this. Other people have, including people who work 576 00:32:21,880 --> 00:32:25,440 Speaker 1: in wind tunnels, and apparently they do not do that. 577 00:32:25,480 --> 00:32:28,160 Speaker 1: They will say, subjected to the same wind speed as 578 00:32:28,160 --> 00:32:30,400 Speaker 1: they would like the full size one, but then they 579 00:32:30,400 --> 00:32:34,280 Speaker 1: go back and use math to adjust um these that 580 00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:36,840 Speaker 1: all the different variables and again, you know, we talked 581 00:32:36,840 --> 00:32:43,360 Speaker 1: about pitch and y'all, role um, drag lift, all sorts 582 00:32:43,360 --> 00:32:45,840 Speaker 1: of stuff. I'm sure quite a few things and variables 583 00:32:45,880 --> 00:32:48,840 Speaker 1: that you and I haven't even come up with um 584 00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:52,000 Speaker 1: or run across during our research. But in each one 585 00:32:52,040 --> 00:32:55,600 Speaker 1: of these interacts with each other thing, right, So it's 586 00:32:55,600 --> 00:32:57,560 Speaker 1: like one of those things where you know you have 587 00:32:58,000 --> 00:33:01,960 Speaker 1: a eleven possible hoppings for a pizza and that creates 588 00:33:02,360 --> 00:33:06,440 Speaker 1: twelve million potential combinations. It's a brain breaking amount of 589 00:33:06,480 --> 00:33:10,880 Speaker 1: math involved exactly. So that's what they're doing. To scale 590 00:33:10,920 --> 00:33:13,280 Speaker 1: it down and scale it up. They can say, oh, well, 591 00:33:13,360 --> 00:33:16,240 Speaker 1: it produced this data. If we run it through these 592 00:33:16,280 --> 00:33:21,280 Speaker 1: these you know, formula um like, we can show that actually, 593 00:33:21,400 --> 00:33:24,000 Speaker 1: like it will have this effect in the in the 594 00:33:24,040 --> 00:33:27,200 Speaker 1: real world. They're using that level of math. Anybody who 595 00:33:27,280 --> 00:33:31,440 Speaker 1: can do that with math, I admire them deeply. If 596 00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:33,520 Speaker 1: you're listening out there and you can do stuff like 597 00:33:33,560 --> 00:33:35,960 Speaker 1: that with math, my hat is off to you because 598 00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:37,720 Speaker 1: I will never be able to do that, and I 599 00:33:37,760 --> 00:33:41,080 Speaker 1: admire you. Yeah, And you know what, we've taken some 600 00:33:41,120 --> 00:33:42,880 Speaker 1: heat for kind of beating up on math a little 601 00:33:42,880 --> 00:33:46,040 Speaker 1: bit is like boring because we were English and journalism 602 00:33:46,120 --> 00:33:50,480 Speaker 1: guys and history guys. But uh, I've really come to 603 00:33:50,480 --> 00:33:54,280 Speaker 1: appreciate math and doing this show. I'm no better at 604 00:33:54,320 --> 00:33:57,960 Speaker 1: it and don't care to be, but I appreciate the 605 00:33:59,040 --> 00:34:00,760 Speaker 1: You know, math is the one thing that doesn't care 606 00:34:00,800 --> 00:34:04,120 Speaker 1: about what you think about it. It doesn't care about opinions, 607 00:34:04,120 --> 00:34:07,720 Speaker 1: and there's no interpretation or nuance. It's just it's just math. 608 00:34:08,440 --> 00:34:11,920 Speaker 1: And like what makes like to look at these to 609 00:34:11,960 --> 00:34:13,920 Speaker 1: look at a math equation that would take a model 610 00:34:13,960 --> 00:34:16,480 Speaker 1: of an airplane and a tiny little thing and a 611 00:34:16,520 --> 00:34:18,680 Speaker 1: tiny wind tunnel and then say, well, now we just 612 00:34:18,719 --> 00:34:20,279 Speaker 1: scale it up to this, and this is how you 613 00:34:20,320 --> 00:34:22,759 Speaker 1: do it right, just multiplied by time. It makes me 614 00:34:22,880 --> 00:34:26,799 Speaker 1: so nervous, But a real mathematician would be like, this 615 00:34:26,840 --> 00:34:28,880 Speaker 1: is the last thing you should ever be nervous about, 616 00:34:28,960 --> 00:34:31,919 Speaker 1: because it's it's just math. It's just right there. Well, 617 00:34:31,960 --> 00:34:34,160 Speaker 1: it's just and they probably the idea of them of 618 00:34:34,200 --> 00:34:36,920 Speaker 1: doing public speaking would probably scare the Jesus. And the 619 00:34:36,920 --> 00:34:41,160 Speaker 1: thing is exactly like, different things attract different people, and 620 00:34:41,239 --> 00:34:43,239 Speaker 1: that's great because that makes the world a lot more 621 00:34:43,360 --> 00:34:45,319 Speaker 1: rich and complex that you have all these different people. 622 00:34:45,360 --> 00:34:47,239 Speaker 1: If everyone was in the math, it would be a 623 00:34:47,280 --> 00:34:50,160 Speaker 1: pretty boring place, or if everybody hated math would be 624 00:34:50,200 --> 00:34:52,920 Speaker 1: a pretty boring place to Like, you need all different kinds, 625 00:34:52,960 --> 00:34:56,400 Speaker 1: different strokes for different folks. Makes the world go round, 626 00:34:56,440 --> 00:34:58,359 Speaker 1: I think, is the rest of them. All. Right, Let's 627 00:34:58,400 --> 00:35:00,640 Speaker 1: talk about some of these wind as in the world, 628 00:35:00,680 --> 00:35:04,400 Speaker 1: because they're amazing. NASA has one at Ames Research Center 629 00:35:04,560 --> 00:35:07,520 Speaker 1: in San Jose or near San Jose, biggest in the world, 630 00:35:07,719 --> 00:35:12,160 Speaker 1: biggest one hundred and eighty feet tall, dude four hundred 631 00:35:12,160 --> 00:35:15,040 Speaker 1: feet long, and the test section on this thing is 632 00:35:15,080 --> 00:35:17,759 Speaker 1: eight ft tall and a hundred twenty ft wide, so 633 00:35:17,840 --> 00:35:21,080 Speaker 1: you can put a full size jet plane in that thing. Yeah. 634 00:35:21,120 --> 00:35:23,480 Speaker 1: I saw that. I was like, well, what kind and 635 00:35:23,520 --> 00:35:27,080 Speaker 1: they said seven thirty seven. Yeah, that's pretty good that kind, buddy, 636 00:35:27,239 --> 00:35:30,439 Speaker 1: pretty pretty good size. So yeah, that's a I don't 637 00:35:30,440 --> 00:35:32,719 Speaker 1: know if they call it this, but I hear here 638 00:35:33,360 --> 00:35:36,920 Speaker 1: henceforth call it the Big Man with jam. Yeah. It 639 00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:40,759 Speaker 1: uses six four story high fans, each of which is 640 00:35:41,440 --> 00:35:47,440 Speaker 1: powered by six two thousand, five hundred horsepower motors. Six 641 00:35:47,520 --> 00:35:50,279 Speaker 1: fans each as tall as a four story building. That man, 642 00:35:50,320 --> 00:35:52,680 Speaker 1: that's amazing. A hundred and fifteen mile in our winds 643 00:35:52,719 --> 00:35:55,520 Speaker 1: is where it tops out, yeah, which is pretty great. 644 00:35:55,800 --> 00:36:02,239 Speaker 1: Um that there's also a lot apparently. I was reading one, 645 00:36:02,440 --> 00:36:06,160 Speaker 1: um uh, some like blog posts I think on like 646 00:36:06,239 --> 00:36:09,319 Speaker 1: a Formula one site, and they were talking about how 647 00:36:09,360 --> 00:36:12,719 Speaker 1: like every single company, every single racing team has in 648 00:36:12,800 --> 00:36:15,399 Speaker 1: its facility of full size wind one like it can 649 00:36:15,440 --> 00:36:17,640 Speaker 1: hold a full size Formula one car the cost of 650 00:36:17,640 --> 00:36:22,160 Speaker 1: like six million dollars or whatever. But they are um 651 00:36:22,320 --> 00:36:28,720 Speaker 1: like cutting edge as far as um aerodynamic study is concerned. UM. 652 00:36:28,760 --> 00:36:30,560 Speaker 1: And the reason why is because like if you can 653 00:36:30,640 --> 00:36:36,040 Speaker 1: shave a second off of somebody's time just by reconfigure 654 00:36:36,080 --> 00:36:38,400 Speaker 1: the engineers reconfiguring the shape of a fin or a 655 00:36:38,400 --> 00:36:41,800 Speaker 1: tail or something like that. That's that you just it 656 00:36:41,960 --> 00:36:44,080 Speaker 1: just paid for itself basically because it may have just 657 00:36:44,200 --> 00:36:49,719 Speaker 1: one like the you know, good job there, Yeah, thank you. 658 00:36:49,880 --> 00:36:54,279 Speaker 1: So there are NASCAR's obviously obviously got a couple of 659 00:36:54,280 --> 00:36:57,719 Speaker 1: these things in North Carolina. The home of NASCAR Aerodin 660 00:36:58,360 --> 00:37:01,640 Speaker 1: wind Tunnel. UM that is in North Carolina, and it 661 00:37:01,760 --> 00:37:05,279 Speaker 1: tests full sized stock cars. There's no one called wind 662 00:37:05,280 --> 00:37:08,520 Speaker 1: shear there. Um. This is a closed circuit tunnel that 663 00:37:08,600 --> 00:37:11,719 Speaker 1: actually has a treadmill in it for cars. It's got 664 00:37:11,719 --> 00:37:14,400 Speaker 1: a built in rolling road. Yeah, saw that in a 665 00:37:14,400 --> 00:37:18,799 Speaker 1: few places, like BMW has one with the rolling road. 666 00:37:19,239 --> 00:37:21,319 Speaker 1: You know what's interesting to me too, is so we 667 00:37:21,360 --> 00:37:25,240 Speaker 1: saw that the aviation industry and UM and wind tunnels 668 00:37:25,280 --> 00:37:28,000 Speaker 1: kind of grew hand in hand. The auto industry didn't 669 00:37:28,040 --> 00:37:31,400 Speaker 1: really look up wind tunnels until about the fifties is 670 00:37:31,400 --> 00:37:34,759 Speaker 1: when they really started running their cars through those, and 671 00:37:35,239 --> 00:37:38,799 Speaker 1: they went, boy, these cars are not aerodynamic. Now look 672 00:37:38,840 --> 00:37:42,560 Speaker 1: at it. Look at that yaw control. Though. Yeah, I 673 00:37:42,560 --> 00:37:45,240 Speaker 1: love those old cars. Though I used my old Plymouth 674 00:37:45,320 --> 00:37:49,440 Speaker 1: Valiant that I used to have. Um. This is obviously 675 00:37:50,080 --> 00:37:53,000 Speaker 1: way before anyone ever thought of anything like anti lock breaks. 676 00:37:53,520 --> 00:37:55,040 Speaker 1: And one of the most fun things I would do 677 00:37:55,480 --> 00:37:57,960 Speaker 1: when I was driving with friends on an empty road 678 00:37:58,000 --> 00:38:00,479 Speaker 1: late at night was get up to about fifty miles 679 00:38:00,480 --> 00:38:03,680 Speaker 1: an hour and just slam on the brakes. It was 680 00:38:03,760 --> 00:38:06,600 Speaker 1: so much fun, man, it was great. You would just go. 681 00:38:08,920 --> 00:38:11,560 Speaker 1: You would slide about a hundred feet before finally coming 682 00:38:11,600 --> 00:38:14,600 Speaker 1: to arrest. That was a great impression of slamming on 683 00:38:14,680 --> 00:38:16,719 Speaker 1: the brakes too, by the way, it was good and 684 00:38:16,760 --> 00:38:19,279 Speaker 1: you know it. It was like we called it the 685 00:38:19,280 --> 00:38:21,719 Speaker 1: sled because it was just this big, heavy hunk of metal. 686 00:38:21,800 --> 00:38:24,560 Speaker 1: It's not like I was sliding all over the road. 687 00:38:24,600 --> 00:38:28,000 Speaker 1: I was just sliding very straight in a line. What's 688 00:38:28,040 --> 00:38:34,640 Speaker 1: the opposite of aerodynamic that Plymouth Valiant? There you go, um, 689 00:38:34,840 --> 00:38:38,839 Speaker 1: sluggish like a what sponge? Yeah, that's about right. So UM, 690 00:38:39,400 --> 00:38:42,280 Speaker 1: I think we should wrap this up on the future 691 00:38:42,320 --> 00:38:44,680 Speaker 1: of wind tunnels because people have been saying like, well, 692 00:38:44,719 --> 00:38:48,680 Speaker 1: wind tunnels are are dead. Now we've got computational fluid dynamics, 693 00:38:48,680 --> 00:38:51,960 Speaker 1: which is basically computers can figure all this out if 694 00:38:51,960 --> 00:38:56,080 Speaker 1: you put a shape into you know, auto CAD and say, computer, 695 00:38:56,320 --> 00:38:58,680 Speaker 1: figure out what you know will happen if I try 696 00:38:58,680 --> 00:39:02,560 Speaker 1: to fly this under these conditions, It'll tell you um. 697 00:39:02,640 --> 00:39:04,719 Speaker 1: And they people have said, well, you know, it takes 698 00:39:04,760 --> 00:39:06,400 Speaker 1: a lot of work and a lot of money to 699 00:39:06,640 --> 00:39:10,279 Speaker 1: run and build and use wind tunnels. UM. So I 700 00:39:10,320 --> 00:39:12,839 Speaker 1: think they're probably going away people who work in wind 701 00:39:12,840 --> 00:39:15,760 Speaker 1: tunnels saying no, to not do away with the wind tunnels. 702 00:39:15,800 --> 00:39:20,040 Speaker 1: We need them still because yes, computation UM helps a 703 00:39:20,080 --> 00:39:23,640 Speaker 1: lot with the early work, but when you finally have 704 00:39:23,840 --> 00:39:26,440 Speaker 1: something that you need to prove, you really kind of 705 00:39:26,440 --> 00:39:29,439 Speaker 1: want to see it in real life to make sure. Yeah, 706 00:39:29,480 --> 00:39:32,400 Speaker 1: you want to see that smoke yourself. UM. And you 707 00:39:32,440 --> 00:39:35,440 Speaker 1: know computer simulations can't simulate green smoke very well. You've 708 00:39:35,440 --> 00:39:37,640 Speaker 1: got to see that in real life. So they they're 709 00:39:37,640 --> 00:39:41,120 Speaker 1: saying that this is complementary technology and that they really 710 00:39:41,719 --> 00:39:43,680 Speaker 1: we need to keep our wind tunnels around because we 711 00:39:43,719 --> 00:39:46,000 Speaker 1: still need them. Yeah. And I think we'd also be 712 00:39:46,080 --> 00:39:50,359 Speaker 1: remiss if we didn't say it's not just um vehicles 713 00:39:50,400 --> 00:39:53,120 Speaker 1: and seeing how like a space shuttle or a car 714 00:39:53,360 --> 00:39:56,680 Speaker 1: or a plane or a dune buggy might might run 715 00:39:56,800 --> 00:39:59,359 Speaker 1: in the wind. Um. If you want to see how 716 00:39:59,400 --> 00:40:03,080 Speaker 1: airflow if X like a computer U and components in 717 00:40:03,080 --> 00:40:06,040 Speaker 1: a computer, you can yeah, good point, like how they come, 718 00:40:06,120 --> 00:40:08,680 Speaker 1: how they cool computer chips. If you want to figure 719 00:40:08,680 --> 00:40:10,960 Speaker 1: out the very best design for a wind turbine or 720 00:40:11,000 --> 00:40:14,200 Speaker 1: wind farm, then you can use air tunnels. Um. There 721 00:40:14,239 --> 00:40:16,160 Speaker 1: are lots of other different uses that you don't think 722 00:40:16,200 --> 00:40:19,879 Speaker 1: about just on kind of everyday products. Sometimes. Yeah, there's 723 00:40:19,920 --> 00:40:22,359 Speaker 1: a I have to say, there's a a Virginia Tech. 724 00:40:22,400 --> 00:40:26,800 Speaker 1: There's an ann echoic, an echoic I believe, wind tunnel 725 00:40:27,160 --> 00:40:29,839 Speaker 1: where they test wind turbines to see what kind of 726 00:40:30,000 --> 00:40:32,759 Speaker 1: noise they're going to make. And they have so the 727 00:40:32,840 --> 00:40:36,960 Speaker 1: walls are as far as the wind is concerned, it 728 00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:40,000 Speaker 1: has four walls, but as far as sound is concerned, 729 00:40:40,000 --> 00:40:42,560 Speaker 1: it has three because one of the walls is made 730 00:40:42,560 --> 00:40:44,879 Speaker 1: of kevlar, so wind won't go through it, but sound 731 00:40:44,920 --> 00:40:46,959 Speaker 1: will code right through it like it's not even there. 732 00:40:47,320 --> 00:40:49,960 Speaker 1: So they can take accurate measurements of what's going to 733 00:40:50,040 --> 00:40:53,640 Speaker 1: happen when the wind hits this turbine, what kind of 734 00:40:53,680 --> 00:40:56,279 Speaker 1: sound is it going to make? And they're making the 735 00:40:56,320 --> 00:40:59,360 Speaker 1: country folk who live among wor wind turbines much happier. 736 00:40:59,719 --> 00:41:03,800 Speaker 1: That's awesome. Yeah, So that's it for wind tunnels, everybody. 737 00:41:03,880 --> 00:41:06,800 Speaker 1: There's probably more to it, but it's far, far beyond 738 00:41:06,880 --> 00:41:10,000 Speaker 1: chucks or my grasp. So again, hats off to all 739 00:41:10,000 --> 00:41:14,319 Speaker 1: the aerodynamicists in all of their maths. Ah. If you 740 00:41:14,480 --> 00:41:16,880 Speaker 1: want to know more about wind tunnels, go check stuff 741 00:41:16,880 --> 00:41:18,680 Speaker 1: out on the internet. I hear there's a man with 742 00:41:18,760 --> 00:41:21,520 Speaker 1: the page boy haircut who does a pretty mean demonstration. 743 00:41:22,080 --> 00:41:26,319 Speaker 1: No no, no, that's just the printing press. Okay, I 744 00:41:26,360 --> 00:41:30,759 Speaker 1: thought he was a factotum. He might be renaissance man. Um. Well, 745 00:41:30,800 --> 00:41:33,479 Speaker 1: since I said renaissance man, everybody, it's time for listener mail. 746 00:41:35,840 --> 00:41:38,160 Speaker 1: I'm gonna call this on Wetlands. And this is one 747 00:41:38,239 --> 00:41:41,880 Speaker 1: from Brian from Queens and this is very cool. I 748 00:41:41,880 --> 00:41:45,040 Speaker 1: didn't realize this. There was a a music venue in 749 00:41:45,040 --> 00:41:46,799 Speaker 1: New York when I used to live up in New 750 00:41:46,880 --> 00:41:50,480 Speaker 1: Jersey called Wetlands that I would go to, and I 751 00:41:50,520 --> 00:41:52,560 Speaker 1: never knew that was kind of a cool story behind it, 752 00:41:53,400 --> 00:41:55,040 Speaker 1: and now I do. So this is from Brian and 753 00:41:55,080 --> 00:41:57,160 Speaker 1: he says, you know, the New York City area is 754 00:41:57,239 --> 00:41:59,880 Speaker 1: surrounded by salt marshes and there are tons of or 755 00:42:00,080 --> 00:42:03,320 Speaker 1: it says, protecting New York City's natural flood and pollution 756 00:42:03,360 --> 00:42:07,040 Speaker 1: guards as you described them um in the nineties and 757 00:42:07,080 --> 00:42:10,160 Speaker 1: throughout the eighties and nineties that the Wetlands Preserve. It 758 00:42:10,320 --> 00:42:14,279 Speaker 1: was an activist nightclub named for the land that Lower 759 00:42:14,360 --> 00:42:17,600 Speaker 1: Manhattan was built on. The club was on Hudson in Tribeca, 760 00:42:18,320 --> 00:42:20,720 Speaker 1: very much Downtown Manhattan, which back in the early settlement 761 00:42:20,719 --> 00:42:24,719 Speaker 1: by the Dutch was in subsequent subsequent takeover by the 762 00:42:24,760 --> 00:42:29,759 Speaker 1: English was all Salt Marshes. Wetlands Preserve, colloquially referred to 763 00:42:29,800 --> 00:42:32,400 Speaker 1: as the Wetlands was open from eighty nine to two 764 00:42:32,440 --> 00:42:35,680 Speaker 1: thousand one. Dual purpose was to create an earth conscious, 765 00:42:35,680 --> 00:42:39,319 Speaker 1: intimate nightclub that would nurture live music, integrated with a 766 00:42:39,360 --> 00:42:43,600 Speaker 1: full time environmental and social justice activist center in the 767 00:42:43,640 --> 00:42:46,600 Speaker 1: club's basement. Wait, what was the years that was open? 768 00:42:47,320 --> 00:42:50,520 Speaker 1: Eighty nine to two thousand one? There is a hundred 769 00:42:50,560 --> 00:42:54,480 Speaker 1: percent chance that Jewel played there. He doesn't list to it, 770 00:42:54,640 --> 00:42:57,279 Speaker 1: but I bet she did. Okay, whoa he lists? He 771 00:42:57,320 --> 00:42:59,160 Speaker 1: lists a few, but he also links to many more, 772 00:42:59,160 --> 00:43:01,399 Speaker 1: and she's probably in there. I think I saw wean 773 00:43:01,440 --> 00:43:05,080 Speaker 1: there if I'm not mistaken. But he said downstairs. Activist 774 00:43:05,080 --> 00:43:08,760 Speaker 1: planned protests, made pamphlets, wrote letters to politicians and lobbies, 775 00:43:08,800 --> 00:43:13,640 Speaker 1: generated boycotts and educated club patrons, while upstairs we hosted 776 00:43:13,719 --> 00:43:17,360 Speaker 1: or they hosted some formative performances for legendary rock brands 777 00:43:17,520 --> 00:43:21,880 Speaker 1: like Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews, Merein Five, Oasis, Widespread Forget, 778 00:43:21,960 --> 00:43:26,160 Speaker 1: Jewel Fish, Rise Against Fishbone, Bikini Kill, Blind Melon, and 779 00:43:26,280 --> 00:43:31,400 Speaker 1: Jewel Yes. The nightclub raised revenue for the Activism Center's 780 00:43:31,480 --> 00:43:37,040 Speaker 1: effort efforts, and the intern Activism Center staff and volunteers 781 00:43:37,160 --> 00:43:41,239 Speaker 1: educated nightclub patrons on environmental, social justice, and animal rights 782 00:43:41,320 --> 00:43:46,720 Speaker 1: issues through posters, educational displays, literature, et cetera, and film screens. 783 00:43:47,520 --> 00:43:51,480 Speaker 1: The New York based Wetlands Activism Collective continues. The club 784 00:43:51,560 --> 00:43:54,239 Speaker 1: is shut down, but they continue it's environmental, social and 785 00:43:54,280 --> 00:44:00,200 Speaker 1: political activism to this day. And that is from Brian Stolary. Nice, Ran, 786 00:44:00,239 --> 00:44:01,440 Speaker 1: that's pretty great. I never knew that. I think it 787 00:44:01,480 --> 00:44:04,000 Speaker 1: went to a couple of shows at Wetlands. Oh you did, 788 00:44:04,120 --> 00:44:06,480 Speaker 1: and I never knew that there was something else going 789 00:44:06,480 --> 00:44:08,839 Speaker 1: on there, and I kind of had forgotten about it. 790 00:44:09,440 --> 00:44:11,320 Speaker 1: I wonder if when you showed through, like the Cops 791 00:44:11,400 --> 00:44:18,680 Speaker 1: Cop Narc that was Brian. You said, Yeah, Brian Stolary, 792 00:44:18,880 --> 00:44:21,440 Speaker 1: that's pretty cool. Thanks for filling in the blanks for 793 00:44:21,520 --> 00:44:23,759 Speaker 1: us there Brian um and if you want to be 794 00:44:23,800 --> 00:44:26,839 Speaker 1: like Brian and filling some blanks for us, you can 795 00:44:26,880 --> 00:44:29,920 Speaker 1: send us an email send it off to Stuff podcast 796 00:44:30,040 --> 00:44:36,080 Speaker 1: at iHeart radio dot com. Stuff you Should Know is 797 00:44:36,080 --> 00:44:38,719 Speaker 1: a production of iHeart Radio's How Stuff Works. For more 798 00:44:38,760 --> 00:44:41,200 Speaker 1: podcasts for my heart Radio is at the iHeart Radio app, 799 00:44:41,280 --> 00:44:43,920 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.