U_Stormcrow
Crossing the Road
^^^ Correct.
If you are lucky, tarps tear. If you are unlucky, they provide enough lift that things get thrown around. If you've ever used a kite on a windy day, you have some idea of what a mild to moderate wind can do with 1 sq ft of nylon or so.
A weak hurricane involves winds 2-3x stronger, and a small 6x8 tarp has 48x more surface area...
At 75 mph, winds exert a force of about 22.5 pounds per square foot - meaning that tarp could (theoretically) lift about 1/2 ton. A 10x12 tarp - more than a ton. Obviously, it will rip sooner and the pressure will be applied to multiple points (every stake, tie down, etc), but you get the point, there are very large forces involved.
/edit Also, its not a linear scale - at 100 mph, the wind force is something more like 40 pound per square foot, while at 25 mph, its a mere 2.5# per square foot. As with most things in physics, speed matters.
If you are lucky, tarps tear. If you are unlucky, they provide enough lift that things get thrown around. If you've ever used a kite on a windy day, you have some idea of what a mild to moderate wind can do with 1 sq ft of nylon or so.
A weak hurricane involves winds 2-3x stronger, and a small 6x8 tarp has 48x more surface area...
At 75 mph, winds exert a force of about 22.5 pounds per square foot - meaning that tarp could (theoretically) lift about 1/2 ton. A 10x12 tarp - more than a ton. Obviously, it will rip sooner and the pressure will be applied to multiple points (every stake, tie down, etc), but you get the point, there are very large forces involved.
/edit Also, its not a linear scale - at 100 mph, the wind force is something more like 40 pound per square foot, while at 25 mph, its a mere 2.5# per square foot. As with most things in physics, speed matters.
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