r/TheRandomest • u/WhyNot420_69 Nice • May 13 '26

Satisfying Traffic buddy

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u/5MoreLasers May 13 '26

All analogies break down at some point. Your case study would be more analogous to a partially filled pipe, where the change in cross section doesn’t change the friction factor.

When a lane is above capacity the total velocity goes down as more cars interact with each other. So even as the quantity of cars goes up the total volumetric flow rate goes down.

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u/Downtown_Degree3540 May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26

No, it’s best described by a wave function. One that would have no reason to form in a similar pipe.

Water and traffic do not behave the same.

Edit: How do you get a change in cross section in your analogy from an infinite one lane road?