GETTING around can be a real drag. Cars, planes and boats use a lot of energy
just overcoming air or water resistance. Now engineers have come up with a way
of cutting this drag by up to 30 per cent by covering the surface of cars and
ships with tiles that carry millions of tiny jet nozzles.
Any object moving at speed through air or water generates vortices in the
turbulent fluid layers close to its surface. As the vortices collide with each
other, they break up and lift away, causing the drag that slows the object
down.
Slightly disturbing…
