Henry Baker: << The real question is why boats stear from the rear (other than the fact that it is more comfortable for the captain to be there (not crashing up & down in the front), and perhaps it is the case that even with more modern technology, no one bothered to re-think where the best place to put the rudder would be. >> On a small motor vessel driven by a single screw propeller, a considerable amount of steering force is generated by the action of the propeller stream on the rudder, which therefore has to be in line with and adjacent to the propeller. Given an inboard engine and the necessity for the thrust to lie along the axis, the only alternative would be to mount both at the bow, where they constitute a menace to themselves and everything else in the vicinity, and are lifted clear of the water at speed by the bow wave. WFL On 6/24/13, meekerdb <meekerdb@verizon.net> wrote:
To travel in a circle requires acceleration toward the center, which requires a force in that direction. A ship or yacht generates lateral force on the hull/keel by having an angle between the direction the vessel is pointing and its veolcity vector. It points inward relative to the circle, so the bow travels a smaller radius and less far than the stern.
Brent Meeker
On 6/24/2013 2:50 PM, James Propp wrote:
I intended this to be an applied math question, not a pure math question. So I'm asking about real yachts, not models thereof, and the only assumption I'm making is that reasonable people can agree on what counts as a yacht and what doesn't.
Jim Propp
On Monday, June 24, 2013, Dan Asimov <dasimov@earthlink.net> wrote:
What assumptions are you making?
--Dan
On 2013-06-24, at 1:55 PM, James Propp wrote:
Do the front and back of a yacht travel the same distance?
(Let's assume that the earth is flat for purposes of this problem.)
Here's a question that I think is equivalent: If a yacht travels in a circle, do the front and back ends of the yacht travel on circles of the same radius?
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