Out of all of the episodes from its 14 years on air, “Mythbusters” co-host Adam Savage’s favorite result’s the 2009 golf ball automobile experiment. This automotive experiment required the team to cover a fourth-generation Ford Taurus in a whole bunch of kilos of clay and carve dimples into its surface to see if it could improve the Taurus’ fuel efficiency. How could covering a automobile in dimples even begin to enhance the unique design’s aerodynamics? It really works on golf balls, so why wouldn’t it work on a automobile? At the very least that’s what the parable posited.
As a golf ball flies through the air, the dimples create turbulent air that truly forms a slipstream across the surface of the ball, allowing it to fly further than it could if it were smooth. The parable that the team put to the test was if adding the identical dimples to the surface of a automobile would increase its fuel efficiency.
Savage is especially pleased with this experiment since it was designed and executed using reasonable scientific methodology, where early within the show’s tenure the co-hosts were still finding their footing as a science show. The “Mythbusters” teamed up with groups from the Academy of Art University’s automotive department, used NASA technology to check prototypes, and executed elaborate tests to achieve their conclusions. Savage considers this experiment to be the “Mythbusters” team’s finest execution of myth busting, though the outcomes actually proved the parable was accurate.
Following a series of precise fuel economy tests between the unmodified Taurus and the golf ball Taurus, they concluded the golf ball automobile got about 14 percent higher fuel efficiency than the stock automobile. To contextualize a 14-percent gain in fuel efficiency, that may take a 25 mpg rating up to twenty-eight.5 mpg, or a 30 mpg rating to a 34.2 mpg rating.
The “Mythbusters” results were so drastic that it even got the eye of a Big Three automaker who attempted the identical experiment with a preexisting clay model, though they claim to have found different results. Savage said it felt good to waste an enormous company’s time and it felt good to be influencing skilled scientists. Thanks in your service, Mr. Savage.
This Article First Appeared At jalopnik.com
