Long Beach State - Dr. Edelman with Dynamometer
Circa 1977. Dr. Walter Edelman Jr., Mechanical Engineering professor is shown next to a Ford Falcon on the dynamometer that's located between E3 ad E4. I'm unsure why Dr. Edelman wore coveralls while the assisting technicians bore regular street clothes.
A student favorite, Dr. Edelman was not only a competent instructor, but one who enjoyed conversing with his students about many topics. He had keen observations about technical matters that he conveyed to us. For example, during one of our Engineering Day open house events, there was on display a Honda Civic station wagon that had its entire roof covered with a panel full of solar electric cells. Of course the car generated wide interest among guests at the open house. Later on that week during class, Dr. Edelman discussed the practicality of that system to generate power for the car. On the chalkboard he wrote down a generous estimation of the square footage of the solar panels. He then multiplied that area by the maximum specific rate of solar energy that reaches the earth per unit area. To be generous again, he assumed 100% conversion from solar to electrical energy (a thermodynamic impossibility, but again, this was a calculation for demonstration purposes). The result of the calculation was that at best, the solar panel could only generate a fraction of one horsepower. Thus powering even a light weight car such as that Honda Civic exclusively on real time generated power was far from being realistic.
The Falcon displays a California plate with the letter 'E' inscribed within a diamond shape, for vehicles that would be Exempt from registration fees.
Long Beach State - Dr. Edelman with Dynamometer
Circa 1977. Dr. Walter Edelman Jr., Mechanical Engineering professor is shown next to a Ford Falcon on the dynamometer that's located between E3 ad E4. I'm unsure why Dr. Edelman wore coveralls while the assisting technicians bore regular street clothes.
A student favorite, Dr. Edelman was not only a competent instructor, but one who enjoyed conversing with his students about many topics. He had keen observations about technical matters that he conveyed to us. For example, during one of our Engineering Day open house events, there was on display a Honda Civic station wagon that had its entire roof covered with a panel full of solar electric cells. Of course the car generated wide interest among guests at the open house. Later on that week during class, Dr. Edelman discussed the practicality of that system to generate power for the car. On the chalkboard he wrote down a generous estimation of the square footage of the solar panels. He then multiplied that area by the maximum specific rate of solar energy that reaches the earth per unit area. To be generous again, he assumed 100% conversion from solar to electrical energy (a thermodynamic impossibility, but again, this was a calculation for demonstration purposes). The result of the calculation was that at best, the solar panel could only generate a fraction of one horsepower. Thus powering even a light weight car such as that Honda Civic exclusively on real time generated power was far from being realistic.
The Falcon displays a California plate with the letter 'E' inscribed within a diamond shape, for vehicles that would be Exempt from registration fees.