I didn't quite know where I should post this so I guess this is fine. If you put a hight powered positively charged magnet around all the cars in the world, then turned them on when you were driving you would be forced not to hit other vehicals...sorry about the spelling. I know there would be many draw backs for this theory, but they could be worked out.
Nice Hi JimmyJames, It could work, but there are some practical drawbacks. For example: you would no longer hit the car in an accident, but the magnetic force could push you towards that giant oaktree standing next to the road. I think few people will choose for the oaktree. Bye! Crisp
your on to something here JJ .... think about it what will screw up a cell phones better than a big magnet ? so once youve entered your car you have to hang up , there you go better driving and less accidents. your a genius sir !!!
hmmm, yeah great theory!!! It'll take a lot of batteries producing so much power... Batteries (and the magnet) DO weight something...that'll cost more energy, more petrol, that's not good for the environment I think. You should have to change all car at once, else you will be attracted to other 'older' cars....that'll give nice collisions. And changing all cars at once, no country can afford that. (but one good point: the magnets will clear the road from nails etc. so tire-punctures will almost be impossible, GREAT! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!)
Accidents? It's driving school for all! Young and old, professional and hot heads! School every year! Pray! It want hurt to pray!Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
accident proofing cars I've kind of put a little thought into this myself, about how to reduce accidents while driving, and the idea I came up with was a radar system. Basically each car is equipped with a small radar unit and computer that can compute the speed/distance of cars around you, and calculate the stopping distance required based on your speed. The computer would automatically adjust your speed as you approached other cars so you would be able to drive so fast that you couldn't brake in time. If you did not touch the brake at all, the computer will have automatically slowed the car to a stop. The computer would control a combination of your brakes and governor setting. Sprout
Sorry Sprout ... The radar bit has already been worked on, by Mercedes-Benz I believe, in conjunction with 'cruise control' and braking. So to speak, an intelligent cruise control. It works fine ... in very limited situations. It's something like what was tried years back with automatic headlight dimming - let the electronics do the job. Only problem was, even when it came to the relatively simple task of deciding whether or not to dim the headlights, there wasn't sufficient discrimination. So, even now, about some twenty years later and with a lot more computing power, you don't see cars with automatic headlight dimmers (at least, not that I'm aware of). The ability to be situationally aware of all the traffic around your vehicle and properly anticipate what has to be done when things change quickly is something that most drivers have difficulty with. The most common response is to 'stand on the brake' - which usually leads to complete loss of control, thus the development of ABS. An improvement that permits the driver to maintain steering control, but is still not up to all situations. To develop a computer system, based on radar, that would be situationally aware to the degree required is, at least for now, rather impractical. Now if you're talking about putting cars on 'electronic rails', that has been done. And it works, but again under limited circumstances, like on limited access 'super' highways, but not on general access roads - too many variables. 'fraid you're going to have to come up with a better idea.
um.. My theory was one of those "what if" kinda thoughts. I wasn't a serious thought, but on the other hand I wasn't joking. You know what I mean?
This seems to violate fundemental laws of magnetism. ONe can not create only magnetic monopoles. Both "north" and "south" poles would be created, which would actually cause cars to be attracted to eachother, causing many many accidents. Truck
I have thought exactly about that for a while ago! What a coinsidence! One problem is that it is not good to be close to electromagnetic stuff because it has the same problem as the mobile phones - it gives cancer!
setbacks.... if cars were to have this magnetic lining around it, don't you think it would attract other magnetizable things (metal stuff) just lying on the road. Maybe there's a screw on the road somwhere and you happen to pass by it, don't you think it could be magnetized enough to come up and scratch the paint of your car? Or you're on the highway, and suddenly you're about to crash into a lightpole because of the magnetic attraction. What if someone with a cell phone pass too close to a car while crossing the street? their phone goes dead. And what happens when you're trying to park? you have to be 5 feet away from the cars around you? it just seems like there's too many things to worry about.
Self Sustaining Highway-System JimmyJames, you might have possibly solved the gasoline crisis in America. OK. Think about this. Giant magnets. Moving in a line. Over and over again. I would think that all you have to do is stick a peice of copper by the road and you'd have ELECTRICITY! You could use this electricity to power the magnets, accelerate the cars, power the stoplights, subways, etc, etc. Also, you could solve the monopole magnet thing by sticking the south poles facing outwards in a radial form, and then the force of the north poles repelling each other inside the car could make the fram of the car more sturdy.
Think again. Giant magnets are heavy and require loads of power, so, there you go, you have loss of energy everywhere (heat, friction). It'll start a gasoline crisis.
01001010 said: Honestly, I think that might not be such a bad idea. You may have solved how to enforce the no phones while driving problem. AnotherHuman I don't think I have taken the time to welcome you to Sciforums. Glad to have you! And yes you certainly have a point with the fact that electromagnets (such as transformers) are power wasters.
STUPID Im really sorry but I have to say this. That is one of the stupidest ideas I ever heard of!! Pretend you are on the going to the sun road in montana. It is basically a road on the edge of a cliff. few barriers to stop you from going over. Its closed in the winter. Getting to the point. pretend you are about to skid and tap another car. Instead you get pushed off the cliff with magnets and die a horrible painfull death. It sure beats the alternative of tapping someones car and possibly scratching it! I'm sorry but I had to say that. There are so many flaws it wouldnt even be worth fixing. But you tried, hey. The stupidest idea is always the one untold (usually)
