2 ms·
Cold air is denser and takes more work to push through.
by kevin_thibedeau 4y ago
Cold air is denser and takes more work to push through.
- hanche 4y agoThis. At highway speeds, air resistance dominates the energy consumption. It is roughly proportional to air density, which in turn is inversely proportional to temperature. Compare a nice summer day at 300 K, say, to a really cold day at 240 K. That’s a ratio of 5:4, pretty close to the 20% figure mentioned.