Help.... the speed of concorde and a bullet train?

Question

what made it possible for concorde and the bullet train to go at such a fast speed, besides their engine?

And how fast do they go?

Answer 1

They just put oversize engines in each, and good aerodynamics.

The Concorde has four strong jet engines appropriate for supersonic fighters or bombers.

The Shinkansen and French TGV just have big traction motors on the bogeys, and a few extra on the first and last car.  Making trains powerful enough has never been a problem - their power source is external (the overhead wire and the power plant that feeds it).  Modern AC drive electric motors can apply thousands of horsepower per wheel.

The bullet trains currently in use are regular railroad, with steel wheels running on steel rails on ties and ballast.  They are >NOT< magnetically levitated.  That technology is too expensive for practical use.

The train doesn't really need the aerodynamics, just look at the 200mph Budd RDC car that the Americans ran in the 1960s (on very bad track, by the way.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budd_Rail_D...

Answer 2

The design of the Concordes or SSTs allowed them to reach speeds up to Mach 2 or about 1,500 mph or 1275 knots. Here's a link with more information about the SST. Just click on it:

http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geu.f9rNhH0x...

The bullet train uses magnetics to "float" the craft about an inch above the rails. The average speed of one of Japans bullet trains is 164 mph. Here's a link that'll tell you more about them:

http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geu8scqdhHc6...

Answer 3

Concord I believe mach 2 (about 1200 mph) and the bullet train around 200 - 300 mph. both are just guesses. Both were specially designed to operate at their respective speeds. Aerodynamics and with the bullet also track design and electromagnetism.

Answer 4

Concorde was a delta-wing (also known as V-wing) aircraft, in other words, instead of having wings projecting at or near 90 degrees from the fuselage, the wings were swept back to a triangular form with the trailing edge of the wing meeting the rear of the plane and no tail plane, so that from above the aircraft had the shape of an arrow head. The fuselage itself was also more streamlined than on a conventional plane, with a special nose for travelling at supersonic speed which could be lowered for take-off and landing.

This type of design enabled the aircraft to travel at supersonic speed (i.e. faster than 750 mph, the speed of sound) and withstand the stresses caused by the 'sonic boom' - the wave of air pressure which builds up when the aircraft approaches the speed of sound and then breaks through it. An aircraft with conventional wings could not travel at supersonic speed because the stresses would damage the wings and fuselage.

Concorde's top speed was twice the speed of sound, or 1,500 mph, or 'Mach 2'. The aircraft was developed after the success of the British Vulcan bomber, the first aircraft to have a V-wing, which could travel at Mach 2.

The Japanese 'Bullet Train' can travel at around 200mph. This is made possible by every carriage in the train being fitted with extremely powerful electric motors. Normally an electric train has motors in only one or two of its carriages. Also the line on which it runs is very straight, so that speed restrictions are kept to a minimum.

Bullet Trains have streamlined front ends which resemble that of aircraft fuselage - the first series in particular had a front end that looked like a plane cockpit. This helps to reduce drag at high speed, which is further helped by skirting on the lower part of the carriage and around the gangways between the carriages.