Inspired by the plane thread...
F=ma, as everyone knows. In space, as long as you keep providing a source of thrust, you keep accelerating. On earth, the law isn't quite as intuitive, because we always have these lousy sources of friction that eventually become great enough to perfectly counteract our driving force. Hence, top speed.
With cars, top speed is pretty much pitting the force of the engine against wind resistance.
However, with a conveyor belt, that won't be a factor. There's some friction from where the belt goes around the rollers, but that's about it (assuming no funny loading, or anything)
Let's say that we get three different engines (electric, gas, whatever), of three different power ratings. We hook them all up to a conveyor belt, and set them to accelerate as fast as possible. Obviously the most powerful engine will accelerate the fastest, but will their be a difference in "top speed"? Or will every engine keep accelerating the belt until it breaks under the strain?
F=ma, as everyone knows. In space, as long as you keep providing a source of thrust, you keep accelerating. On earth, the law isn't quite as intuitive, because we always have these lousy sources of friction that eventually become great enough to perfectly counteract our driving force. Hence, top speed.
With cars, top speed is pretty much pitting the force of the engine against wind resistance.
However, with a conveyor belt, that won't be a factor. There's some friction from where the belt goes around the rollers, but that's about it (assuming no funny loading, or anything)
Let's say that we get three different engines (electric, gas, whatever), of three different power ratings. We hook them all up to a conveyor belt, and set them to accelerate as fast as possible. Obviously the most powerful engine will accelerate the fastest, but will their be a difference in "top speed"? Or will every engine keep accelerating the belt until it breaks under the strain?
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