Mythbusters- Right Turn Only MiniMyth

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Can you save gas by always making right-hand turns, thus avoiding the need to idle at traffic lights? Kari Byron, Tory Belleci and Grant Imahara put the mystery to rest.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• mythbusters
• myth
• experiment
• science

[Jonez69]

Fuck these ads, they don't even sell that product in Finland -,-

[eMCeeShyGuy]

Whats the science behind it

[SiMclarenNFS]

@eMCeeShyGuy Its about the fuel pump... When you do left corners, the fuel goes to the right, where the pump is... More fuel on the pump, more fuel going to engine and more fuel being wasted...

[TheManiteeHD]

its legal to turn "right on red" in most states in the US so you dont have to sit and wait at stoplights to turn left. also, you are turning into the nearest lane when you turn right, and you turn into the farest lane when you turn left

[13098519]

This is bullshit because you still have to yield to cars on some right hand turns. Secondly the only reason they saved 2lbs of fuel is because they coasted that whole hill instead of a portion of it like in the first run. 

And the only way you can accurately test this myth is if you do it at the same time and same day which they did not. There could of been less traffic. Also they used a fuckin delivery truck, of course that shit is gonna waste gas on start ups.

[comradebashu]

@eMCeeShyGuy i would bet it has more to do with the fact that left hand turns typically involve stopping before completing the turn even on a green light, thus since the right hand route has more consistent motion it would use less fuel since the car doesn't need to waste energy speeding back up, no science to prove this but seems right lol

[rmiller415]

@eMCeeShyGuy When an object is in motion it doesn't have to overcome as much friction as it would from stopping. Making left hand turns means more stopping and to get back up to speed you'd expend more fuel. Since you're much more likely to stop completely at a left turn and to then sit and idle for a time, you'll generally expend more energy moving your vehicle.

[minime123iscool]

In america, the smaller turn is turning right so you use less fuel.

[TheAlexagius]

feul cell?

[sergiovalle21]

how is that possible?! I will like mythbusters give us more to the answer!!

[isilder]

This is just impossible to believe, the amount of fuel different is just too much .

they've made some mistake.

The science is that idling burns fuel and stopping and starting burns fuel, but the right hand route took longer and they still had to stop at red lights while going straight... still, the difference in the fuel usage is just way too much to beleive.