=Rolling Resistance.=--When the wheel of a vehicle rolls over a road surface, both the wheel and the surface are distorted. If the wheel has steel tires and the road surface is plastic, there will be considerable distortion of the road surface and very little of the wheel. A soft rubber tire will be distorted considerably by a brick road surface. Between these extremes there are innumerable combinations of tire and road surface encountered, but there is always a certain amount of distortion of either road surface or wheel, or of both, which has the same effect upon the force necessary for translation as a slight upward grade. When both the tire and the road surface strongly resist distortion (as steel tires on vitrified brick paving), the resistance to translation is low but the factor of impact is likely to be introduced. Where impact is present, energy is used up in the pounding and grinding of the wheels on the surface, and this factor increases as the speed of translation, and may be a considerable item. Impact is especially significant on rough roads with motor vehicles, particularly trucks, traveling at high speed. These two factors (impact and rolling resistance) combined constitute the major part of the resistance to translation for horse drawn vehicles. =Internal Resistance.=--For horse drawn vehicles, the internal resistance consists of axle friction, which is small in amount. For self-propelled vehicles, the internal resistance consists of axle friction and friction in the driving mechanism, of which gear friction and the churning of oil in the gear boxes is a large item. Internal friction is of significance in all self-propelled vehicles and especially so at high speeds. =Air Resistance.=--At slow speeds, the resistance of still air to translation is small, but as the speed increases, the air resistance increases rapidly and at the usual speed of the passenger automobile on the road becomes a very considerable part of the total resistance to translation. This factor has no significance in connection with horse drawn vehicles, but is to be taken into account when dealing with self-propelled vehicles at speeds in excess of five miles per hour. Many determinations of tractive resistance with horse drawn vehicles have been made from time to time and these show values that are fairly consistent when the inevitable variations in surfaces of the same type are taken into account. Table 4 is a composite made up of values selected from various reliable sources and Table 5 is from experiments by Professor J. B. Davidson on California highways. TABLE 4 AVERAGE TRACTIVE RESISTANCE OF ROAD SURFACES TO STEEL TIRED VEHICLES Surface Tractive force per ton