General Questions

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Further to Duke's answer to Casio:

The aircon refrigerant is also a lubricant for the pump mechanisms. So if there's no cold air coming out, switch off the aircon. I had a car re-gassed, and it cost me £60. Subsequently, components had to be replaced that cost £200 (inc another re-gas).
 
Better yet, whole galaxies can collide. :D

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Does meat in the freezer actually go off? The labels like to say "use within 1 month" but I think that's like putting a best-before on bottled water.
 
Does meat in the freezer actually go off? The labels like to say "use within 1 month" but I think that's like putting a best-before on bottled water.
A lot of stuff I buy actually says "Use or freeze by." Now, if the meat you are buying was frozen in shipment and then thawed when they put it on sale then you likely do not want to freeze it again.


And of course, meat left in a freezer too long can get freezer burn, and no one likes that. You can hold off freezer burn by double bagging/wrapping your meat. But it is never permanent.
 
Well it says the meat is suitable for freezing anyway, so that's not the issue. And I do wrap the meat cause otherwise I'd have 4 chicken breasts stuck together and would only need one...

I'm in the good me thinks.
 
I usually try to use the meat in my freezer within 6 months, but it should be good for up to a year.
 
Does meat in the freezer actually go off? The labels like to say "use within 1 month" but I think that's like putting a best-before on bottled water.
A number of enzymatic reactions aren’t completely stopped by freezing temperature – considerably slowed, yes, but not stopped. Also, keep in mind that the temperature inside isn’t consistently 0°C, because you open the door several times a day.
 
A number of enzymatic reactions aren’t completely stopped by freezing temperature – considerably slowed, yes, but not stopped. Also, keep in mind that the temperature inside isn’t consistently 0°C, because you open the door several times a day.
Yeah I realised that, but wasn't sure to what effect.

Going from Duke's answer I should be more than fine. I don't keep my meat for long really, a month at most, it's just as a student I'd much rather freeze all of it and worry about defrosting it than let any go to waste.
 
A number of enzymatic reactions aren’t completely stopped by freezing temperature – considerably slowed, yes, but not stopped. Also, keep in mind that the temperature inside isn’t consistently 0°C, because you open the door several times a day.

Your freezer should actually be below -20°C to be classified as such.
 
Excluding the BAR 007, what is the highest speed ever achieved in a Formula One Car?
 
The aircon refrigerant is also a lubricant for the pump mechanisms. So if there's no cold air coming out, switch off the aircon. I had a car re-gassed, and it cost me £60. Subsequently, components had to be replaced that cost £200 (inc another re-gas).
Does this apply to systems that simply lost their charge from lack of use, or only to ones that have leaked? I've never really planned on repairing the A/C in my BMW (I'd consider it if I got my hands on the old, illegal refrigerant), but I have run it out of curiosity.
 
Systems that have lost their charge from lack of use HAVE lost their charge from leaks. It's a closed system and in a perfect world should maintain charge forever. If you do not use it, the seals dry out and the refrigerant leaks.

The refrigerant, be it freon (banned) or one of the newer ozone-friendlier compounds, also contains oil that lubricates the compressor and all the gaskets. This is another reason why most modern cars, at least since the advent of non-freon refrigerants, automatically turn on the AC when you run the defroster - it guarantees that the system will be run periodically over the winter to keep it working properly and reduce the leaks.
 
First Air-Con related question.

2. My front De-mister doesn't work. When I turn the knob to demist, I get the slightest trickle of air out of it and the rest just comes out from my front vents. Which doesn't really help de-mist the car. If I got my car re-gassed would that be an easy fix at the same time, cause I'm thinking maybe the knob is broken or something. Or is that something more evil

The fact that the air path almost doesn't change means one of two things. If the knob has a mechanical linkage to the air baffles, then something's jammed or loose. If the knob merely selects which vacuum solenoid to activate, then you probably have lost the vacuum source for the system, but it could still just be something jammed.


Systems that have lost their charge from lack of use HAVE lost their charge from leaks. It's a closed system and in a perfect world should maintain charge forever. If you do not use it, the seals dry out and the refrigerant leaks.

The refrigerant, be it freon (banned) or one of the newer ozone-friendlier compounds, also contains oil that lubricates the compressor and all the gaskets. This is another reason why most modern cars, at least since the advent of non-freon refrigerants, automatically turn on the AC when you run the defroster - it guarantees that the system will be run periodically over the winter to keep it working properly and reduce the leaks.

That and the fact that dry air demists much better than damp air, and drying is a big result of air conditioning. My '75 Plymouth Fury pimp-mobile (which was only 8 years old when I got it) engaged the A/C for defrosting, if memory serves. I know every car I've owned since '85 has.
 
I believe you can use liquid oxygen in an engine, but you'll have a lot of problems with maintaining the proper air-fuel ratio... since liquid oxygen packs more tightly into a given volume than regular oxygen, and your car's AF Metering and ECU are programmed for air that's at least 80% nitrogen. Not to mention the fact that liquid oxygen passing by the airflow sensor will probably freeze the thing and snap it apart like a frozen hair.

Would be interesting to see what happens, though... if the heat from running excessively lean counterbalances the cooling effect of injecting liquid oxygen, or if the whole thing freezes or blows up within the first few seconds.
 
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Excluding the BAR 007, what is the highest speed ever achieved in a Formula One Car?

369.9km/h by BMW Williams' Antonio Pizzonia at the 2004 Italian GP, Monza. At least, it was the fastest achieved up until then, and speeds sunk in the following years.
 
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I believe you can use liquid oxygen in an engine, but you'll have a lot of problems with maintaining the proper air-fuel ratio... since liquid oxygen packs more tightly into a given volume than regular oxygen, and your car's AF Metering and ECU are programmed for air that's at least 80% nitrogen. Not to mention the fact that liquid oxygen passing by the airflow sensor will probably freeze the thing and snap it apart like a frozen hair.

Would be interesting to see what happens, though... if the heat from running excessively lean counterbalances the cooling effect of injecting liquid oxygen, or if the whole thing freezes or blows up within the first few seconds.

Surely Liquid Oxygen would just freeze any moving parts it went near? You'd be pretty stuffed.

Post above. Towing purposes would be my guess, though it is on the back, towed backwards wouldn't make any sense...
 
They are tow points, for hauling the car safely out of the kitty litter without damaging any vital components.
 
Every race car will have a red towing eye/hook front and back.

Road cars have them too, but they are detachable. Mine lives in the boot next to my spare wheel and atttaches behind a panel on the bumper at the back, and the front one goes through the grill. It attaches by screwing into the chassis.

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The wee panel on the bumper, underneath the right hand tail light, detaches to let the towing hook in.

They look similar to this
bmw72158108670.jpg
 
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And if you go on track, you want it attached and as obvious as possible, as marshalls will tend to attach the tow rope to whatever they can see to get the car out of the way quickly. A secure towing eye screwed into your chassis is preferable to a carabiner-shaped hole in your rear splitter...
 
Two antennas?
The one on the glass connects to the mobile phone attachment that was on the car when I got it.

And if you go on track, you want it attached and as obvious as possible, as marshalls will tend to attach the tow rope to whatever they can see to get the car out of the way quickly.
Which is why they usually have a great big arrow pointing to them.
 
And generally the word TOW in coloured duct tape.
 
ie:



It's actually painted bright red ...except it's mostly worn off through over-usage :indiff:
 
The one on the glass connects to the mobile phone attachment that was on the car when I got it.
I removed mine about a week after I got my car, since it was not embedded in the glass, but just held on with some heavy-duty, but peel-able adhesive. Behind the interior side of the rear glass, there was another piece of antenna, and a wire behind that. It was also held on with a similar adhesive. I detached the wire and tucked the tip of it back under the headliner.
 
369.9km/h by BMW Williams' Antonio Pizzonia at the 2004 Italian GP, Monza. At least, it was the fastest achieved up until then, and speeds sunk in the following years.

So that's around 230mph?
 
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