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by troymc 136 days ago
For most cars driving through air, at sea level, on planet Earth, at normal speed, the drag force F is proportional to the square of the speed (v^2).

That's not exponential because the speed (v) is not in the exponent. In fact, it's quadratic.

Corollaries: The power required to push the car at speed v will be proportional to Fv ~ v^3. The gas spent over time t ~ energy spent ~ power time ~ v^3 * time.

1 comments

Yeah sorry for my bad memory, you're right to correct it.