VandyBrad
(Weather Hobbyist)
Thu Sep 30 2004 02:53 PM
Re: ? for Mets & long time trackers

Quote:


I don't think you mean friction.

Friction is the "force that resists the relative motion or tendency to such motion of two bodies in contact."

Wind gets slowed over land by the drag of objects on it (land, buildings, trees, et al). The resultant turbulence disrupts the "smooth" flow of the wind and causes it to dissipate energy.

Friction itself generally refers to solid objects - drag/lift refer to aerodynamic interactions.

Or else someone may have slipped crack into my Cheerios again




I think you are correct on both accounts:

1) drag/lift are appropriate terms (I am afterall a chemical engineer), although drag could be a result of friction between the ground and molecules in the air... I guess the immediate difference is that friction dissipates the energy via heat loss while drag generates turbulence as you mentioned. This turbulence would become evident as mini-vortices like was mentioned previously!

2) someone did indeed slip crack into your Cheerios.



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