Sunday, September 29, 2013

P6 Group 1-- Hovercars

"The taxi lifted straight up. Gaal stared out the curved, transparent window, marvelling at the sensation of airflight within an enclosed structure...the vastness contracted and the people became ants in random distribution." (Asimov 9)

We chose to examine the viability of a hovercar. It has been a staple in sci-fi novels seemingly the moment the genre was conceived. They promise to be fuel-efficient, free up roadway congestion, easier to maneuver, and really cool to look at. In theory, hovercars are pretty feasible to make. If you slap a magnet on the bottom of the car, you can be repelled from the metals in the Earth, allowing you to float. However, this appears to be rather unstable, as the hovercar would have issues with staying in its correct orientation and not toppling over. Furthermore, we do not know if the cars will be cost-efficient or will be any better than our current ground vehicles.

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