Matthew Sill's article, Physics and the Automotive Industry, on the physics behind automobiles seemed lacking in major areas. Though dressed up nicely with fancy images, the key topics are poorly developed, and a lot is left to be looked up in a different publishing. While the introduction contains a solid background briefing on the history of the world of automotives, it fails to touch on what points will be discussed in the article. The thesis statement is well constructed, but Sill weaves on and off the path to supporting it. Overall the article is a good way to get your feet wet in automobile physics, but it lacks professionalism and all but leaves the reader running on empty. .
The article itself discusses the science behind the ever-changing automobile industry. It is organized into two main categories, Performance and Economy, both of which contain various subcategories in order to further organize the material. The performance section was, in my opinion, the better of the two sections, as it went into more detail on the factual aspects of each section rather than to dwell on the authors own opinions and assumptions. "Performance" was broken down into four parts: Speed, Drag force, Horsepower, and Handling. The author does a good job explaining the naturally constant proportion of speed to drag force. Sill describes that as the car moves faster, the drag force increases, and because the drag force can not be easily reduced the cars, therefore, tend to max out at 200mph. But again, Sill leaves the paragraph undeveloped. He brings up other factors that affect speed but fails to even touch on what they are about. Sill, in his speed section, talks about drag and horsepower, which each have their own sections, instead of discussing the other factors he listed, such as torque and aerodynamic lift. .
This theme of underdeveloped ideas is present throughout the rest of the article as well.
