"Jeff Wisnia" wrote in message
. ..
Hatunen wrote:

On Sat, 25 Oct 2008 20:48:21 -0400, Jeff Wisnia
wrote:



I remember the first time I visited Daytona Beach, maybe 40 years ago,
and just HAD to try driving my rental car down the beach.

Of course I got it stuck in the sand. And, along came a guy with a Jeep
and a tow line who got me free and off the beach for IIRC just $5.

The thing I never forgot about it was his tow line which was a giant
piece of elastic (bungee?) cord maybe 20 feet long unstretched. After
attaching it to my car he roared off ahead of me and that damn line
looked like it stretched three times its length before my car started
moving.

I never really understood what principle was involved in the use of an
elastic tow line, but I'd be happy to find out here.


A stretch as far as you describe seems a bit excessive, the
reason for using elastic gtwo ropes is to prevent either breakage
of the tow rope or ripping off your bumper or whatever due to a
sudden shock, for instance, when the towing car gets the rope
fully extended and it suddenly jerks on your car.



That akes sense now that I think about it...

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
The speed of light is 1.98*10^14 fathoms per fortnight.
Also, because of the inertia of the fast moving tow vehicle, the elastic tow
rope can exert a pull greater than the tow vehicle can exert from a
standstill. A non-elastic tow rope can do the same thing if the vehicles can
stand the shock but the elastic works much better.

Don Young