I saw this article the other day, maybe in a Popular Science magazine.
Golf balls are dimpled to improve their aerodynamics, but cutting down on drag and help them "cut" through the air.

The theory is that if you created a golf ball type, dimpled skin for a car, the drag on the car should be reduced, and thus improve mileage.

At the next level, I wonder how this could help the aerodynamics of an airplane.

Perhaps only certain sides of the car/plane benefit from having this "skin" on them.

-Raj (Seattle)

Nope. Dimples work on golf ball shaped objects and at golf ball speeds. If you get outside of either of those conditions, then they are counterproductive.

They have tried this out and mileage went down.

it worked on cars @ 35 mph what about small planes?????

whats the speed of golfball figure the same of small aircraft 80-110 mph??

which they proved on the show

quote:

Originally posted by AbsolutRaj:
I saw this article the other day, maybe in a Popular Science magazine.

It was probably the July issue of Popular Mechanics, where Adam and Jamie talk about the recently aired episode where they test golf ball dimples on a car.