Re: Liquid Ballast vs. Iron Weights

Posted by MarkB on July 29, 2004 at 15:48:25 from (64.31.11.186):

In Reply to: Liquid Ballast vs. Iron Weights posted by 720Deere on July 29, 2004 at 06:26:53:

This is simple. Fluid-filled tires will require more horsepower to turn than the same tires with external ballast.

Why? The fluid inside the tires does not rotate, while the tire does rotate. The water exerts a small amount of friction against the tire, which causes the tire and fluid to heat up. This heat is lost energy, which translates to lost power. The amount of power consumed by this parasitic drag is infinitesimal relative to the total power produced by the motor, but it is real.

The cast iron weights, on the other hand, create almost no drag. (Assuming that they are fastened good and tight to the wheels.)

Duane had the right idea, but he has it backwards: it's the hard-boiled egg that will spin the longest, not the raw egg.

Benjb had some interesting math, but he answered the wrong question. He calculated the rotational inertia of the ballast, which affects the power required to accelerate the tractor to operating speed. That is of little consequence. First, the tractor spends most of its time at a constant operating speed. Second, when you stop you recover the energy that was used to accelerate the tractor, assuming you don't touch the brakes.

Follow Ups:

• Re: Liquid Ballast vs. Iron Weights Ron 03:09:25 07/30/04 (3)
  • Re: Liquid Ballast vs. Iron Weights MarkB 04:00:01 07/30/04 (2)
    • Re: Liquid Ballast vs. Iron Weights Ron 04:37:09 07/30/04 (1)
      • Re: Liquid Ballast vs. Iron Weights buickanddeere 08:29:20 07/30/04 (0)
• Re: Liquid Ballast vs. Iron Weights benjb in NE 20:22:20 07/29/04 (0)

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