Physics of Caterpillar Tracks :: physics tank tracks

Ein truth time you see one of the CATs clearing the hill at university of the snow, you probably dont see anything dreaded about it. However, caterpillar tracks used on it are just ingenious and its invention is comparable to the invention of the wheel.HistoryFirst fomites powered by the travel engine started to appear in the early 1800s. Various machines started slowly replace horses. It was especially true for the jobs that required a lot of power. Transportation, of course, was the first and the most upright adopter. Goods could be carried across large distances with relative ease. No wonder that farmers were also eager to adopt engines. By that time most of the work was done victimization horses and basic tools.ProblemsSteam powered harvesters and tractors were introduced by the end of 19th century. It started to gradually replace horses. However in some regions they created new problems as well. Vehicles proved to be too heavy for soft soils and often stuck and even sunk. Expe riments with various sizes of wheels didnt produce good results. Increasing size of wheels just made vehicles heavier and more difficult to operate.genus Benzoin Holt of Holt Manufacturing figured that using an old trick of pouting planks before the wheel would improve cross-country ability. By doing so, it provides solid plane for better traction and lower gouge on the ground since size of the plank is larger then of the wheel.BasicsThe main advantage of the track over the wheels is that it can distribute a very large force over a large area. That means that instead of applying all the force on little area where wheels touch the ground, it applies it over the intact area of the track.In physics terms it can be expressed as P = F / Awhere P is pressure, F is force and A is area.Less force applied to every square meter means that its harder for the heavy vehicle to sink into the ground. Another benefit of the tracks is that large area of connexion allows to have a very good tracti on with the ground. That is why tracks are used for mission critical jobs, including military use and high cost operations, such as excavations and space rocket movements.DrawbacksEven though caterpillar tracks provide very good cross-country ability, they have its drawbacks. Because of the weight and the construction of tracks speed of the vehicle is limited in comparison to the wheeled machines.