bates@bison.DEC (Ken Bates DTN 522-2039) (08/20/85)
I'm not a suscriber to this newsgroup, so I'm not sure whether or not it's the appropriate place for this question, but from the title it seems as good a place as any, since nobody else I've asked is absolutely sure of the answer. First some background. I own a 4 wheel drive truck, and from time to time I find myself going sideways on a hill (for various silly reasons). As anyone who has ever done this knows, it is VERY nerve racking, especially when one is on the downhill side of the truck. The typical feeling is that if the uphill side of the truck raises by only a micron or two, the entire rig will roll down the hill. One of the gadgets in the truck is a little item called a 'Lev-O-Guage', which is nothing more than a curved glass tube, fluid filled, with a ball bearing inside it. The tube itself is calibrated in degrees, giving one the degree of tilt (0-45 degrees, left or right). The purpose of the guage is so that you will know when you are about to tilt too much, and can pull back before disaster. Unfortunately, the only way I know of to find out what angle the truck will roll at is to roll it once paying careful attention to the guage. Hardly productive, not to mention expensive. When I turn a corner with the truck (on the flat), the level guage naturally indicates some degree of tilt due to the centrifugal force, and my question is if the two are similar? On a hill, a reading of 10 degrees is downright terrifying, while if I'm turning a corner, 25 degrees is no cause for concern (other than dirty looks from the passenger). The feeling of terror on the side of a hill is undoubtedly psychological, BUT: If the truck won't roll going around a corner on the flat ground with the tilt meter indicating 25 degrees, does that mean if it is stationary on the side of a hill with the guage reading 25 degrees it won't roll? If not, is there any correlation at all between the two? I seem to remember from physics classes in long forgotten years that gravity and acceleration were indistinguishable, but that was MANY years ago. Thanks in advance... -- Ken Bates uucp : decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-bison!bates arpa : bates%bison.dec@decwrl cis : 70047,1226 enet : BISON::BATES phone: (303) 594-2039 mail : Digital Equipment Corp. 301 Rockrimmon Blvd. Colorado Springs, CO 80919