Dimple power. (Letters).In the article "Bugs BUGS Bayesian Inference Using Gibbs Sampling BUGS Birmingham University Guild of Students (Birmingham University's student union) BUGS Basic UXO (Unexploded Ordnance) Gathering System on Mars" (SN: 5/25/02, p. 330), it struck me that the helicopter lander's blades might be helped considerably by their undersides' being dimpled like a golf ball. Those dimples supply significant lift during a ball's flight. The helicopter wings would seem to benefit in the same way. I suspect that the dimples near the outer radius might be different in size and depth from those near the inner radius because of the difference in surface speed. DANFORD ANDERSON, GREEN BAY, WIS. Dimples on spinning golf balls reduce air resistance and increase lift by creating turbulence turbulence, state of violent or agitated behavior in a fluid. Turbulent behavior is characteristic of systems of large numbers of particles, and its unpredictability and randomness has long thwarted attempts to fully understand it, even with such powerful tools as in the air flowing past the balls. In principle, dimples would also reduce drag for aircraft, says Anubhav Datta of the University of Maryland University of Maryland can refer to:
a term used to describe a variety of papulonodular dermatoses in horses, including 'heat bumps', 'feed bumps', 'protein bumps', 'wheat bumps' and others. No specific disease or etiology has been assigned to the term and veterinary dermatologists wish it would disappear from use. or dips, called boundary-layer trips, on wings and blades. The Mars helicopter blades that Datta and his colleagues designed include such trips.--P. WEISS WEISS Workshop on Industrial Experience with Systems Software |
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