Car physics

[tarik666]

Hey guys I need a bit of help with car physics type thing. I am trying to create a simulation of a car moving in a straight line. I have been searching the internet for two days but have not been able to find much.

I want the user to input the cars torque and then on a little simulation the user presses up and it does exactly what a car would do if you pressed down on the accelerator.

I need some help thou. What I have figured out lately is things live
velocity
acceleration
mass
momentum
torque
rpm
horsepower
force
energy
air resistance
friction

but I want to completely simulate a car on a road with air resistance. I have tried and tried but my figures are not. I need some formulas like how to convert the energy into speed and how to convert horspe power into energy.
I have a formula for converting torque and rpm into horsepower but I have no idea how to convert torque into rpm. Any help would be appriciated. Thanks

[jemidiah]

A project like this would require a *lot* of physics, and even then you'd have to make approximations. Just to simulate a car's suspension takes a fair amount of work. I could give a few differential equations--say F_{air resistance} is proportional to v. But I have no idea what the constant of proportionality is, or how well that approximation holds up at extremes.

All in all, you're asking a very complex question if you really want an exact simulator--may I ask why?


Oh, to convert energy into speed use 1/2 mass*velocity²=kinetic energy. Differentiate to find something similar for power. Since you asked to convert horsepower to energy I'm not really sure if you have the math/physics background for this yet, though maybe you do.

[krtxmrtz]

Make sure you're able to simulate the kinnematics of a dimensionless point first. You still need a good number of physics formulas for that.