SOAP bubbles filled with helium are providing a new insight into how to increase the fuel efficiency of cars.
As fuel economy and carbon emissions become more important to car buyers, manufacturers have identified cutting air resistance as a cost-effective way to improve these figures and so boost their product’s appeal.
Instead of using traditional wind tunnels to examine a car’s aerodynamics, though, a team led by Angus Lock at MIRA, an automotive research consultancy based in Nuneaton, UK, use helium-filled bubbles. Using an adapted wind tunnel, the team blasts the 3-millimetre-diameter bubbles at the car,…
