[Shotimes] Pontiac unveils SHO successor?

[Ron Porter]

Not a relevant example. Pencils don't have wheels or steering.

Try a toy car. No easier to push or pull it.

Better yet, try this. Let's say you are driving with someone, and your car
dies in the middle lane. Do you push it off the road, or do you pull it off
the road?

These examples are as irrelevant as a pencil or rope example. I have had
steep driveways on a few houses, and the only way to get up them in snow
with the SHO way to drive up backwards.

Ron Porter

-----Original Message-----
From: shotimes-admin@autox.team.net [mailto:shotimes-admin@autox.team.net]
On Behalf Of bjshov8
Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 11:40 PM
To: shotimes@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [Shotimes] Pontiac unveils SHO successor?


It's an engineering principle called "stability".  The tires/engine/etc.
don't know if they are pushing or pulling and they don't care.  It is up to
the rest of the mass of the car as to how it wants to move when the tires
try to move.  When it involves force, resistance and movement, a "pull" type
system is more stable than a "push" type system.

It's pretty easy to see this for yourself if you lay a long pencil on a
table then try to use one finger pushing on the eraser to try to push it
straight across the table.  It may go straight or it may decide to go
sideways.  OTOH if you use your thumb and first finger to pinch the pointed
end of the pencil and pull it across the table, it is easy to make it go
straight.

The old joke is that for successful engineering you don't pull water and you
don't push rope.



> I'm gonna have to disagree with ya on that one Don. How is it 'easier' to
> pull something vs push? How exactly do the tires and engine know whether
> they are pulling something rather than pushing it?
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