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Radiators and shock absorbers...

Radiators and shock absorbers...

Radiators and shock absorbers...

(OP)
Here're a couple that always make me scratch my head.

We call 'em radiators but they're really convectors...

We call 'em shock absorbers but they're really dampeners...

RE: Radiators and shock absorbers...

Why are escalators and elevators named for only one direction of travel?

RE: Radiators and shock absorbers...

nanoman,
We call 'em shock absorbers but they're really dampeners...

This comes across to me as an engineering question more than a Language/Grammar Skills question so I will start a thread on  Mechanical engineering other topics so that we don't digress here.

Jesus is THE life,
Leonard

RE: Radiators and shock absorbers...

metman,

   Actually, it IS a terminology problem.   The thing on your car called a shock absorber is actually a damper.  A damper exerts force proportional to but in the opposite direction to velocity.  Damping is what makes your car or any other spring system stop bouncing after it is deflected.  

   I am not sure that "shock absorption" is a meaningful term in vibration analysis.  When you hit a bump in your car, most of the shock is not transmitted to you because the car is mounted on all sorts of springs which dissipate most of the shock by deflecting.  Your dampers (shock absorbers) actually increase the effect of a bump, at least on the first bounce.

                          JHG

RE: Radiators and shock absorbers...

The correct term is damper. A dampener is something that produces moisture.

Best regards,

Matthew Ian Loew
"Luck is the residue of design."
Branch Rickey


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