| Chronology | Current Month | Current Thread | Current Date |
| [Year List] [Month List (current year)] | [Date Index] [Thread Index] | [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] | [Date Prev] [Date Next] |
Here's the fourth shot... talk to a truck driver... find about about
jack-knifing.
Assuming we are talking about an articulated truck... i.e. a semi-truck...
i.e. a cab pulling a trailer...
the driver and brake system must avoid locking up the rear wheels and/or
getting more braking up front than behind. Otherwise the trailer
jack-knifes.
Perhaps someday cab units and trailers will both have antilock brakes. But
until that day, the truck driver simply cannot jam on the brakes like a car
driver might do. Of course the car driver would be better off if he didn't
jam on the brakes. But the truck driver is way worse off than the car
driver if the truck driver jams on the brakes and does a jack-knife. Not
only does he lose control, the chances of a rollover of the trailer and cab
are greatly increased, and the trailer or load could roll onto the cab area
or onto cars.
I think this is a physics example of the "tail wagging the dog."
Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D. Phone/voice-mail: 419-358-3270
Professor of Chemistry & Physics FAX: 419-358-3323
Chairman, Science Department E-Mail edmiston@bluffton.edu
Bluffton College
280 West College Avenue
Bluffton, OH 45817