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Consider a trailer with a front wheel something like the diagram below.

enter image description here

A cable is wrapped around the smaller spool and then attached to a truck far to the right. When the truck drives away, accelerating smoothly with constant acceleration on a level or even slightly uphill road. the trailer will move faster than the truck at all times, until it catches up with the truck and it will also neatly wind the cable back onto the spool.

The question is, how does the trailer go faster than the truck towing it. What is the physical and mathematical explanation and the intuitive explanation?

This was inspired when looking into devices that claim to explain how a wind driven vehicle can move faster downwind than the wind propelling it.

enter image description here

The initial expectation is that when the truck moves off to the right, the cable will apply a counter-clockwise torque to the axle and the trailer will tend to roll backwards off to the left. Instead, there appears to be a clockwise torque on the spool that winds in the cable and makes the trailer move faster than the truck towing it.

KDP
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2 Answers2

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If we have a condition, when the truck moves forward with velocity $v$, the wheel of the trailer rotates $n$ times in time $t$, it follows that the amount of rope wound onto the spool in time $t$, is $2 \pi r \times n$ where $r$ is the radius of the inner spool. Therefore the velocity $u$ of the trailer must be the velocity of the truck or the rope plus the amount of rope that is wound in, in time $t$:

$$u = v + \frac{2 \pi r n}{t}. \tag{1}$$

The spool and the wheel rim must rotate the same number of times $(n)$ in a given time so the velocity of the trailer can also be described by:

$$u = \frac{2 \pi R n}{t}, \tag{2}$$

where $R$ is the outer radius of the trailer wheel. Equating $(1)$ and $(2)$ to each other gives us:

$$v + \frac{2 \pi r n}{t} = \frac{2 \pi R n}{t} $$

$$\rightarrow v = \frac{2 \pi (R-r) n}{t}. \tag{3}$$

Dividing equation $(2)$ by $(3)$ gives us the ratio:

$$\frac uv = \frac{1}{(1-r/R)}$$

$$\rightarrow u = \frac{v}{(1-r/R)}. \tag{4}$$

This result implies that as $r$ approaches $R$, the ratio $u/v$ is unlimited. This bothered me at first until it occurred to me that when $r=R$, equation $(3)$ tells us $v=0$, so when $r=R$ the result of equation $(4)$ is $0/0$ which is undefined. The reason $v$ goes to zero is because the equations assume a no slipping condition and the only truck velocity that can satisfy that condition when $r=R$ is zero. When $r=R$ the trailer wheel must slip without rotating if the truck has a non-zero velocity.

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That takes care of the quantitative mathematical aspect. Qualitatively, when the truck is going to the right, the road friction applies a torque that tries to turn the wheel clockwise and the rope applies a torque that tries to turn the spool counter-clockwise. The lever arm $R$ of the road friction torque is greater than the lever arm of the spool $r$, so the road friction torque dominates and the spool and wheel must turn clockwise. Since the spool is winding in rope, the spool and the trailer must be going faster than the rope and the truck. The difference in radii gives us a mechanical advantage and the whole system acts as a geared system, that trades high torque and low rpm for low torque high rpm and speed. The power in, is equal to the power out (when ignoring friction losses), so there is no violation of the energy conservation principle.

To convince myself that the equations are valid, I constructed this GeoGebra construction to make sure everything works out as it should. To use the simulation, just slide the time slider to the right. The ratio of $r$ to $R$ can be adjusted with another slider.

With a bit of imagination, the above mechanism can be applied to the wind-powered land vehicle that goes faster directly downwind than the wind propelling it. See this Veritasium video or this. The vehicle has a propeller with an adjustable pitch and also a chain drive with its own gear system and together they provide a geared system that can multiply the speed of the input force (the wind) at the cost of having low torque and slow acceleration.

M. A.
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KDP
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The point at which the wheel contacts the road acts as a (rolling) lever fulcrum.

The point at which the cable begins wrapping pulls the wheel forward, rotating around the fulcrum, causing the wheel to "fall forward", but the continuous sequence of contact points converts the falling into rolling.

The center of the wheel is further from the fulcrum than the cable wrap point, so it must move faster and farther, but with less force.