Aerodynamics

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Title
Aerodynamics

Problem Scenario
Will less drag effect fuel mileage?

Broad Question
Will having less drag on a truck bed improve fuel mileage?

Specific Question
What will improve most fuel mileage?

Hypothesis
I hypothesis if I remove the tailgate from a truck bed, this will create less drag so the truck will move easier and improve fuel mileage.

General Plan
To have a comparison between a trucks air drag on the back bed with a sensor on a toy trucks bed to see the drag.

Experimental Design
(add the correct headings from the experimental design page before beginning)

What is your experimental unit?
One truck, one Flow system, and the toy truck bed and a force sensor.

Number Of Trials:
For part A was ten days, For part B was one day.

Number Of Subjects In Each trial:
I used two treatments One with the flow system and one with the actual truck.

Number of Observations:
With part A and B I was always taking observations but I recorded them as well.

When data will be collected
Part A was done during February 16, to February 26th, Part B was done March 1st.

Where will data be collected?:
All the data was collected then put on a spreadsheet on Google.

Resources and Budget Table

 * Item || Number needed || Where I will get this || Cost ||
 * || Flow system || home || 5$ ||
 * || Truck bed || home || free ||
 * || Actual truck || home || free ||

Detailed Procedure
First I took my Trucks and over ten days and drove 2 miles, for 5 of those the tailgate was up and then I refilled the tank. The otheres were with the tailgate down and then I refilled it again. My second Experiment was to make a flow system and mounted a force sensor and had running water go through it while there was a toy truck bed to see if there was less pressure with or without the tailgate.

All Raw Data

 * with tailgate || without tailgate ||
 * 16.25 G || 8.125 G ||

Results
The graphs data shows that I used less fuel when the tailgate down and I used more when the tailgate was up.

Conclusion
I accept my hypothesis because i said removing the tailgate would improve fuel mileage and the data shows my hypothesis is right.