Car acceleration vs Airplane acceleration?

Question

MY question is similar to the one already asked but has a slight difference. Here is my question:

If a car and a 747 airliner start off at the same time with maximum acceleration, at the instant of take off of the 747 is the car ahead of it or behind it.

Answer 1

it depends on the car. Yes the car would start off in front, but if the cars top speed is slower then the take off speed of a 747 then the 747 might pass it first.

Answer 2

in the long shot the airplane will win, but the car would have a strong lead, because the 747 has very slow acceleration

Answer 3

The car would be ahead.  It takes a long time (relatively spoeaking) for the 747 to develop airspeed.

Answer 4

A B747-100 take off weight is about 350 tons. By the other hand a sport car has less than 2 tons. At the moment the B747 rotates at 160 mph a sport car the reaches that velocity will be far ahead. It is because the B747 has more inertial force to overcome since is heavier.

Answer 5

Not sure?...but im almost certain that the rotation speed of a fully laden 747 is well in excess of the maximum speed of the average car?...However!...the car "should" be able to beat it down the runway!...mainly because its lighter and has direct accelleration,whereas the 747 is going to take a while to get going?...they can weigh up to 500 tons!...fully loaded...and will need to get over inertia first...you could always get Top Gear!...to try it out!...I'm sure Jeremy Clarkson would have a go...

Answer 6

If the car is 200+ mph capable, it should win with relative ease. The B747 engines doesnt produce the energy required to *accelerate* it in competition with a road car. Even if you strip the 747 to barest minimum and load only the required fuel, put afterburning engines off a Tu-160 (hypothetically) still the impressive tonnage of the B747 would be sluggish.

If there is a good headwind, the car would win the contest much more easily.

Answer 7

You may be interested in this video.  There are a handful like this on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9YsxO30P...

Answer 8

There is alot more behind who will win ..

a/c will will accelerate linear.. or otherwords, a constant rate of acceleration(with some small fluctions due to drag of the wheels, flaps )  until the thrust=drag.

Cars have Gears, meaning that acceleration is not constant overall. Each gear has a different acceleration rate, until the max power available is acheived.

third is power to weight ratio- the more object weighs, the more force is required to accelerate it. Physics 101, F=MA

In a short distance, a car would win, just because of the time required for the engines to spool up, and accelerate the aircraft, but over a long distance, the acceleration from the aircraft will over take the car.  The fastest road legal car is recorded at 253mph (Buggati Veyron) . A b747 flies at around 380kts