What will they think of next to make our cars more efficient? Well, it seems that one hot topic right now is morphing car skins that reduce drag. This basically means imperfections would be created and the surface texture altered on the go, through the use of clever new materials and techniques.
It’s been proven that a streamlined profile is not enough to make a shape as aerodynamic as possible. Apparently, an uneven skin can further aid in this respect, much in the same way modern golf balls are dimpled, instead of being perfectly smooth, so that they fly further.
This is done because these surface imperfections cause turbulence, though since they are not huge craters, these mini-vortices are only present on the surface layer of air. Contrary to what common sense might dictate, this can actually help reduce drag at high speed, even if at lower speeds it might actually increase it.
Mechanical engineer Pedro Reis and his team at MIT have created a ball whose surface can morph from smooth to dimpled and it is believed that the same (smorph) material could be used on cars (airplanes and even buildings too).
Keep an eye on this over the next few years, because it just might be the next big thing in efficiency and/or performance.
Photos via MIT , Story References: Wired
By Andrei Nedelea