Category: Autos & Vehicles

There is an old joke to the effect that the propeller is a fan in the front of an airplane used to blow air across the pilot, and keep him cool: If you don’t believe that, just watch how fast the pilot starts sweating when the propeller stops turning. While this isn’t a very accurate […]

We’ve all heard about them. Breathalyzers are part of modern culture. We read about their use in newspaper articles and magazine accounts of drunk driving arrests; we see them being used in movies. They are mounted on the walls in bars. Single-use breathalyzers are even for sale to the general public. Police officers use them […]

Rip currents, also popularly known as rip tides or undertows, are one of the major causes of sea side drowning. With the proper information, rip currents are not only identifiable, but survivable, yet many swimmers are not familiar with the conditions that create rip currents, nor the techniques necessary to escape them. Rip currents form […]

The key to gear ratios lies in two physical pieces-an input gear and an output gear. A gear is typically a round, flat piece of steel, wood or plastic with teeth around the outer edge, making it look like a drawing of the sun. Gears only work in pairs or more, as a single gear […]

One of the best places to get up close and personal lesson on large hydraulic machines is at a construction site. The thing that is most amazing about these machines is their sheer size. From backyard log splitters to the huge machines you see on construction sites, hydraulic equipment is amazing in its strength and […]

All vehicles have rack and pinion gears in their steering systems. These gears are capable of converting the rotation of the vehicle into linear motion. The steering wheel is what will rotate the gear within the rack, and as it turns, the rack will move to the right or left based on how you turn […]

Alternating current electrical power is produced in many ways: nuclear, oil, natural gas, solar, wind, and hydropower are all used to provide electrical power. However, with the exception of electrical power generated via photo-electric cells, all of this power is generated by one simple action: the turning of a generator. All the other various sources […]

At its most basic a submarine is any ship that sinks on purpose. Well, that sinks on purpose and has every intention of coming back to the surface, eventually. All ships displace a certain amount of water because of their weight and hull shape. The way that any ship (including a submarine) floats is to […]

Hybrid cars have begun to live up to their potential to provide an advance in gasoline efficiency for automobiles, but not all consumers know what a hybrid car is, or how it works. A hybrid is anything that mixes the traits of two different things to create a new whole; this is true for hybrid […]

The Industrial Revolution is said to have started with the use of hydro-powered machines water-powered lathes, mills, and metalworking plants are some examples of these early industrial machines. However, the one machine that was most important to the Industrial Revolution was the steam engine. Suddenly manufacturing machines could be set up anywhere, not just next […]