5134jtc@hou2b.UUCP (06/15/83)
The oscillations in speed that take place on a crowded highway can be understood somewhat through analogy with mechanical coil springs. (There are electrical analogs too.) Imagine a long skinny coiled spring resting on a slippery floor, and held in place at both ends. If you squeeze the middle part toward one end, then let go, you get compressions and stretchouts that bounce back and forth. The traffic stream is somewhat like this, and technical people talk about it in terms of energy storage and energy interchange. I guess there's some positive feedback that explains the crashes. Maybe someday I'll try to put together a more complete explanation and put it on net.physics (or net.math?). Better yet, maybe some up-to-date math whiz will do it so I won't have to try, and maybe goof it up. John Cocker.....hou2b!5134jtc....201-949-2595