Why 'Golf Ball Car' Is Pivotal in MythBusters' History

This maquette from Golf Ball Car -- which will be offered in the upcoming MythBusters auction -- is more than just a prop; according to Adam Savage, it represents a significant shift in the history of the series.

Join this channel to support Tested and get access to perks:

Tested is:

Intro bumper by Abe Dieckman

Thanks for watching!

#AdamSavage #MythBusters #GrantImahara

[SevenBates]

Casually learning about the name of the strudel (Strouhal) wave, out of nowhere, It's just one example of why I am so grateful for these videos.

[jordonfreeman]

I still remember after Adam announced the results Jamie saying “I feel like eating my beret” because he thought they wouldn’t have an effect.

[williegillie]

I’m glad to see Grant has something to be remembered with. He and Tori and Carie where all an integral part of the mythbusters team. He will be sorely missed.

[HartenDylan]

There's a 4th part to this story: The new Bugatti uses an active dimpling system for exact reason of decreasing turbulence and tightening the slip stream! Real world application that this general methodology is actually viable. Aka - Mythbusters were right.

[jimluebke]

Strictly speaking it's not a "slipstream" you're interested in here, it's a "boundary layer".

Air drag has two components - First, "surface drag", the actual friction of the air against the vehicle. Second, "form drag", the force produced by the fact that you're pushing into a lot of air in front of you, making the air pressure in front of your car a lot higher than the pressure behind your car (this pushes you back). Dimples obviously increase the surface drag on your car. However, they DEcrease the form drag.

Decreasing form drag is all about increasing the air pressure behind your car (or golf ball). How? Well, that's where the boundary layer comes in.

The boundary layer is the layer of air flowing near your car, whose flow is changed by the action of your car. If you can keep this boundary layer close to your car, this evens out the pressure of the air behind your car with the pressure in front of your car, dramatically reducing the pressure drag.

Picture a Porsche, with its iconic airfoil design. The "boundary layer" sticks close to the top of the car, not only when it reaches the highest point on the car's profile, but also as the profile starts to slope downward. The farther down the back of the car the boundary layer sticks to, the more the air pressure recovers, so the higher the pressure behind the car.

Making the flow in this boundary layer turbulent helps keep the boundary layer attached. Technically speaking, the vortices that develop in the turbulence cause higher-pressure air from the top of the boundary layer to circulate lower into the boundary layer, increasing the pressure in the parts of the boundary layer closer to the car, and helping the layer stay attached.

Dimples on a golf ball, fuzz on a tennis ball, vortex generators on a wing's leading edge, all of these have the same effect.

Sorry about the long explanation, but I wanted to go step-by-step.

[kilroy]

Interestingly, golf ball dimples are the ultimate result of players from long ago realizing that damaged golf balls flew more consistently. So manufacturers experimented and arrived at the dimples.

[poeboygolfs]

There is actually no standard number of dimples on a golf ball. Each manufacturer and each brand of golf ball can have different size, number, pattern, spacing and even shape of dimples on their golf balls. For example, Callaway golf balls are known for having hexagonal shaped dimples. Also the top selling golf ball, the Titleist Pro-V1 has a dimple pattern that incorporates dimples of different sizes. Each manufacturer's dimple pattern is used as a proprietary effort to not only reduce drag to improve the ball's speed, but also keep the ball in the air longer to improve carry distances.

[fernandotrevinocastro]

For 14% fuel eficiency i would drive a car with scales, feathers, whatever man, this fuel prices are killing me

[someoneelsedoit]

Still love how all these years later after mythbusters ended, Adam is still so sweet and fucking around with science. His deposition is like he’s always a happy child in a candy shop.

[KenLimPhotography]

One aspect I love about Mythbusters is the passion y’all had for the science and the willingness to fail and more importantly, learn from your failures and apply what was learned. Thank you for making every hour enjoyable which I still enjoy on Discovery+ to this day!

[omnipotent_arcanis]

"We wasted the time of a big three automaker for like a week; that is so cool" Some of the sweetest words I have ever heard.

[theonly]

I remember this episode when I was a kid. I told my parents "but they are taking weight off the car with the dimpples" then it almost immediately cuts to you with a milk crate of the cut outs putting them back in the car, saying "we are going to keep it fair and put the weight back in the car."

[glytchmeister]

Wasting a week’s worth of time of a world leading company is honestly a massive bucket list item

[sereth]

Seeing this about the charity for the first time. Grant's death was one of the only times I cried over a role model's death. He inspired me to be a better engineer and do innovative work. Good to see the charity going.

[samsaverino]

I swear I could listen to him tell story's all day long. I love hearing him talk, especially how you can hear the excitement in his voice. It really brings me into what he is talking about.

[dafoex]

It's perhaps a regret of mine that I'll never meet Grant. He was truly inspirational in both robotics and engineering in general, and probably one of the people that nudged me down the path of computer science I'm on today.

[CatMintKat]

Back in high school, this episode helped me make the fastest CO2 racer for my science class. I was so proud since it even beat the teacher's car ❤️

[devikwolf]

Mythbusters will always be a tremendous part of my adolescence, and all of you are in no small part responsible for keeping me interested in answering questions and building cool things. I always felt a particular connection to Grant's excitement to build new things and answer really cool questions, so I'm extremely proud to see how the Mythbusters, and in particular Adam, have honored his legacy.

I wish I'd had the chance to tell Grant personally just how much he inspired me to keep building, learning, doing, and exploring, but ALL of you helped foster that same attitude. I love all of the Mythbusters team for setting an example that an entire generation could idolize.

[tom.in.barcelona]

Adam's enthusiasm is so infectious - what an educator, seriously!

[bdubbsmark]

Mr. Savage it's an honor to take a walk with you down memory lane. Mythbusters was huge for me growing up, getting to watch you pull the curtain back so many years later has been wonderful! Thank you