In normal activity, this shirt would look like any other. But when one is riding a motorcycle, sprinting, or moving quickly through the air for some other, more isoteric reason, it would deform. The shirt would catch just enough air to pull out into a V behind the wearer, lowering air resistance. Also possible is a stiff shirt in the shape of a teardrop.
-- Voice, Mar 20 2007

Isoteric.pdf http://cigr-ejourna...0_0013/Isoteric.pdf
[TheLightsAreOnBut, Mar 20 2007]

(?) isoteric acid http://www.parchem....me=Isoteric%20Acids
[TheLightsAreOnBut, Mar 20 2007]

for AWOL, teric http://www.huntsman...dex.cfm?PageID=5344
Ceto-Stearyl Alcohol Ethoxylates, of course. [TheLightsAreOnBut, Mar 20 2007]

isosceles?
-- po, Mar 20 2007


//isoteric// Lines of equal tericism?
-- AbsintheWithoutLeave, Mar 20 2007


I'm not very well versed in fluid dynamics, but I think you'd have to add some kind of nose cone to the front of the shirt - essentially one really big falsie - to smooth out the airflow, or else the generated turbulence will cause the material to flap.

Or add a lot of pressure inside the shirt to force it to hold its position.
-- elhigh, Mar 20 2007


Can I safely assume that this shirt will have no sleeves? Flapping arms are terrible for aerodynamics.
-- Galbinus_Caeli, Mar 20 2007


Eking out my memory of final year fluid mechanics, I would say that a nose cone out front would not reduce turbulence out back...

From experience, there's already a pressure differential between the air at the back and the air in your shirt, which consequently blows out behind you. This is because the air at the back is going substantially faster than the air in your shirt (relatively to you that is), with faster air having a lower pressure (the effect forms the basis of a wing).

If you could tailor it to blow out in a v-shape, you could indeed decrease the air resistance... However, I don't think the air pressure would be enough to combat turbulence flap.

You'd have a lot of extra material hanging down at the back in "normal activity", so that it would not look like any other, unless you're proposing using lycra or somesuch, which would cause many alternative headaches.
-- TheLightsAreOnBut, Mar 20 2007


Wonderful link, baconbrain. That's going to last with me for - oh, a while anyway.
-- TheLightsAreOnBut, Mar 20 2007


"If you could tailor it to blow out in a v-shape, you could indeed decrease the air resistance... However, I don't think the air pressure would be enough to combat turbulence flap."

You just need more air pressure! The shirt could have a conical inflatable balloon in the back. Pump it up with sufficient pressure, and it'll hold its shape.
-- IJK, Mar 20 2007


Is shirt-related drag a big problem while riding a motorcycle? Aren't you supposed to wear leather jackets? (for safety purposes)

I think the least aerodynamic part of riding a motorbike is your chest, unless you lean into the ride, in which case a V on your back won't help. You could just form the bike so that leaning into the wind causes your body to fit 'into' the bike, creating the streamline, but this is already baked.
-- emjay, Mar 21 2007



random, halfbakery