MadSci Network: Physics |
As a normal passenger train is traveling on a curved track, are the wheels traveling at different speeds? What I figure is that as each car is rigid for the car to turn, the wheels on the differnt tracks must be spinning at different speeds so that the car will turn. That got me thinking that one track is longer than the other. As the train as a whole gets from station A to station B in a certain time and seemingly the train is moving at different speeds on each track, for the train car to remain intact the track that the car is moving faster on must be longer. I confirmed to myself that logic by realizing that the tracks are parrelel when the train turns in a certain direction the inner track will be shorter than the outter one to remain parallel, and therefore again the wheels of the outer track must be moving quicker Sofirst of all, is any of that right? and now, considering a train has many curves in different directions, would there be a significant differnce is the lengths of the parralel tracks. Also, if you sit on the left or right side of a train will you have traveled a greater distance at the end of your trip?
Re: Do a train's wheels travel at different speeds?
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