Ask HN: Could Nitrogen-phobic materials be used to reduce vehicle drag?

3 points by cobri 4 years ago | 2 comments

Hydro-phobic materials can be used to reduce friction with water. Understanding that there would be challenges to making it stable and long-lasting, could a similar principle be used for vehicles that need to move air out of the way?

h2odragon 4 years ago |

A static, gas repelling surface finish would be awesome. Perpetual motion, here we come; paint one side of your fan's blades with it.

There's some hints in magneto-hydrodynamics where you can move air with an electromagnetic field, and some really wild theories about what happens with varying forms of modulation applied to that. It tends to need to be in a plasma state for these things to work and that has some minor issues still.

gostsamo 4 years ago |

No, I think. As far as I know hydrophobic materials break the surface tension that water creates and this does not allow higher friction between an object and its environment. Nitrogen does not create drops and the only friction there is is the one created by kinetic impacts between the gas and the object, hence decrease the forward surface or choose a shape that does not allow for turbulations.