My Science School

Trains use special links called couplings to clip different parts together. Trains used to be coupled by hand, which could be dangerous.

What’s a locomotive?

A locomotive is the part of the train which contains the engine. It does the work of pulling (or pushing) the train along the track. Locomotives may have to carry their fuel with them. They have special wheels to grip the track.

Who steers the train?

Trains follow the track they’re on, so they don’t need a steering wheel. A person in the junction box can change the direction of a train by moving special junctions in the track called points.

Amazing! Some trains lean over! Modern fast trains take corners so quickly that passengers might slosh around inside. Computers in the train ‘feel’ the sideways forces, and tilt the train in the other direction so that you don’t spill your tea.

Is it true? Some trains are blown along by the wind.

Yes. At least, some were, especially when fuel was hard to find. America’s Baltimore & Ohio railroad experimented with sail power in the 1830s.

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The Renault Zoom is a tiny car which can get shorter by folding its rear wheels up. This makes it easier to park in smaller parking spaces. The Zoom also has a ‘green’ electric motor, which is powered by rechargeable batteries.

Which is the cleanest car?

The NECAR 4 is powered by liquid hydrogen, which is stored in a cylinder at the back of the car. The fuel is passed through a fuel cell, which creates the electricity to power the car. These cars are quiet and efficient, and instead of dirty exhaust fumes, they only produce water.

Is it true? Cars can run on plants.

Yes. In Brazil there’s an alternative source of fuel, taken directly from a plant. One ‘petrol tree’ is able to produce nearly 20 litres of fuel. The Brazilians are planning to grow huge plantations of these trees to solve the problem of increasing fuel shortages.

Which car runs on sunlight?

Cars are being developed that can convert sunlight into electricity to power their engines. The solar-powered car of the future might look like the vehicle with solar panels on the roof.

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In the film Goldfinger, James Bond drove an Aston Martin DB5 with a passenger ejector seat. Bond used it to get rid of one of his enemies. The Aston Martin also had machine guns, armour and spikes which came out of the wheels to slash the tyres of other cars.

Amazing! When the Pope travels away from the Vatican, he takes a special car, nicknamed the ‘Popemobile’. The car has a bullet-proof glass dome. When the Pope goes on tours he stands under the dome holding on to a hand rail. His followers can easily see him, and he can see them, without the risk of attack.

Which supercar had six wheels?

The wedge-shaped Panther Six was designed by Bob Jankel in 1977. It was five metres long and over two metres wide. Both pairs of front wheels steered the car, which was never sold to the public.

Who had his Rolls Royce painted in amazing flowery patterns?

The Beatles were the world’s biggest pop group in the 1960s. Singer John Lennon painted his Rolls Royce Phantom VI with trendy colourful patterns.

Is it true? There really was a car called a Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Yes. In the 1920s, Count Louis Zborowski commissioned three incredibly fast Brooklands racing cars. The Count, a keen racer, competed in all three cars, but was killed in his Mercedes racing car in 1924.

Factory robots weld and paint cars on production lines. They are taught what to do by an engineer and then do it again and again very accurately. They work 24 hours a day and never get tired!

Who crash-tests cars?

Crash-test dummies are artificial humans which sit inside cars as they’re made to crash. The electronic dummies measure what happens to them, and if the cars’ safety features work properly. Cars which fail the tests have to be re-designed.

How are cars designed?

Every part of a car is designed using computers. Engineers draw what the parts and the car will look like, and the computer helps to control the machines which make the parts.

Amazing! When cars wear out they’re crushed into tiny cubes by a huge machine. It squashes the car first one way and then the other. The metal in the cube is recycled to make new cars.

Is it true? Cars are tested in wind tunnels.

Yes. A wind tunnel is a tube with a huge fan at one end. Engineers check how air flows around the cars. The easier it flows, the faster the car can go and the less fuel it uses.

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An internal combustion engine is the sort of engine that most cars have. ‘Internal combustion’ means that a fuel and air mixture burns inside can-shaped cylinders inside the engine.

Why do cars have gears?

Cars have gears so that they can start off and move at different speeds. First gear is for starting off. First and second gears are for going slowly. Fourth and fifth gears are for going quickly.

Is it true? The tread of a tyre grips the road.

No. The rubber of the tyres grips the road. Tread is the pattern of grooves around the outside of a tyre. The grooves let water escape from between a tyre and a wet road so that the rubber can touch the road surface for grip.

What are springs and dampers?

Springs and dampers make up a car’s suspension, which gives the people inside a smooth ride. Springs let the car’s wheels move up and down as it goes over bumps. Dampers stop the car from bouncing after it’s passed over the bumps.

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Until the middle of World War Two, Willys-Overland Company made ordinary cars. But they became famous for producing one of the best known cars of all time. The Willys jeep was a four-wheel drive general purpose (G.P) vehicle, used by the American army.

What is four-wheel drive?

When a car has four-wheel drive, it means that the engine makes all four wheels turn. In most cars, the engine only turns two of the wheels. Four-wheel drive is excellent for travelling off-road on muddy tracks and up steep hills.

Amazing! King George V of England owned a six-wheeled limousine. It was built by Crossley in 1929, and had a 3.8 litre, six cylinder engine. The king used it for cross country expeditions, but it never went into production.

Is it true? A car has been driven on the moon.

Yes. The missions Apollo 15, 16 and 17 that travelled to Moon in the 1970s carried Lunar Roving Vehicles (LRVs) or Moon buggies. The astronauts drove the electric buggies around the Moon’s surface, looking for interesting rocks. All three buggies are still on the Moon.

Which car can swim?

The 1962 Amphicar was part car, part boat. It had two propellers at the back, and the front wheels steered it, like a rudder. The large tail fins stopped water from flooding the engine.

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In 1949, American inventor Molt Taylor built a car which could be turned into an aeroplane. By 1953, the car had flown over 40,250 kilometres. On the ground, the Aerocar towed its tail and wings in a trailer.

Is it true? American cars had the biggest fins of all.

Yes. In the 1950s, American car designers began adding pointy bits such as tail fins to their cars. Some features were copied from the jet fighters of the time! Tail fins often had rows of lights up the back. These huge and thirsty cars also had plenty of chrome bodywork.

Amazing! The driver of a Cadillac Coupe de Ville did not have to worry about blinding other drivers with his or her headlights. The car had an electronic eye which detected headlights coming in the opposite direction and automatically dipped its headlights.

Which car had gull wings?

The doors on the 1952 Mercedes 300SL opened upwards like a seagull’s wings. The idea was given up because they couldn’t be opened if the car turned over in an accident.

What was a T-bird?

T-bird was the nickname given to the Ford Thunderbird. The first model appeared in 1953. It was a huge two-seater convertible. In the 1950s, American manufacturers built many huge gas guzzlers like the Thunderbird.

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‘Tin Goose’ was the nickname of a short-lived rear-engined car called the Tucker ’48. It had many original features, such as a strong passenger safety compartment and a third headlight which swivelled as the driver turned the steering wheel.

Why was the Citroen 7CV so special?

The Citroen 7CV of 1934 was the first popular car driven by its front wheels. It was known as the Traction Avant. It was also one of the first cars to have a one-piece body shell instead of a chassis with a body built on top.

Amazing! Even as late as 1931, some cars ran on steam power. Abner Doble built his first steam car in 1905, and went on to make several luxurious examples. They had plenty of power, and ran almost silently, but at prices between $8,000 and $11,000, they were beyond the reach of the average motorist.

What was the people’s car?

The people’s car was the first Volkswagen (which means ‘people’s car’ in German). It was designed in the 1930s by Doctor Ferdinand Porsche to be a small family car which was cheap to run. It was soon nicknamed the Beetle or Bug. 40 million have been made.

Is it true? Some cars have armour.

Yes. An armoured car is a military vehicle with steel plates on its body to make it bullet-proof. It usually has a small gun, too. Security companies often use vans with armour to transport valuable items or cash. Some limousines also have armour plating to make them bullet proof.

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The Model-T Ford was nicknamed ‘Tin Lizzie’. It was small and reliable, and cheap enough for millions of people to buy.

Who got dressed up to go motoring?

Drivers and passengers of early cars had to dress up in protective clothes before driving into the countryside. Most cars had no windscreen, doors or bodywork to keep out wind and rain, or dust and mud from the dirt roads. So people wore thick fur coats or rubber capes, peaked hats and enormous goggles over their eyes.

Amazing! In the early 1900s, there were no petrol stations. Village blacksmiths often kept a supply of petrol to sell to car drivers whose tanks had run dry. There were no garages or mechanics either, so drivers had to carry a tool kit and spare parts in their cars, in case of a breakdown.

Is it true? Henry Ford invented the production line.

No. Production lines existed before Henry Ford started making cars. But he did invent the moving line, where the cars moved along as parts were added.

Who spoke to the driver through a tube?

In some early cars, the passengers sat in the back behind a glass screen. The driver sat in the front. The passengers spoke to the driver through a metal tube to give him directions.

The Silver Ghost was one of the first cars built by the Rolls Royce Company. Only rich people could afford to buy one, and they normally employed a chauffeur to drive it! Like all Rolls Royce cars, the Silver Ghost was famous for being very quiet and extremely well made.

Which car was very cheap to run?

The Austin Seven was so economical that it used half a penny’s worth of petrol to travel a kilometre. The Seven was so tiny that it was often called a ‘toy’ car, but it was very cheap to buy.

Is it true? Taxis have always had meters.

Yes. The word taxi is short for taximeter cab. A taximeter was a meter designed in 1891 that recorded the distance that a horse-drawn cab had travelled. When engine-powered taxis were introduced in 1907, they also had to have a meter.

Who went on trips in a charabanc?

Factory workers and their families used to go on days out to the seaside or to the city in a vehicle called a charabanc. A charabanc was like a wagon with benches in the back for passengers to sit on. The first charabancs were pulled by teams of horses.

Amazing! The Bugatti Type 41 Royale was designed by Ettore Bugatti to be the most luxurious car ever. His idea was that every royal family in Europe would buy one. The car was 6.7 metres long and had a twelve litre engine. But only six Royales were ever built, and only three were ever sold. Today, if a Bugatti Royale ever appears at auction, it fetches millions of pounds.

A horseless carriage was a horse-drawn carriage with an engine in place of the horse. The first horseless carriages were powered by steam. In England by the 1830s some passenger services were operated with steam coaches. But the coaches were slow, noisy and dirty, and wrecked the cart tracks!

Who invented the first car?

Two German engineers, Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler, both built working cars in 1885. Each car had a small petrol engine to drive it.

Amazing! When mechanical vehicles first appeared in Britain, a man had to walk in front of them carrying a red warning flag (or a red light at night). The Red Flag Law was introduced because other road users, such as horse riders, complained about the danger.

Is it true? The first cars didn’t have steering wheels.

Yes. The steering wheel did not appear on cars until the late 1890s. Before that, drivers steered with a lever, like the tiller on a boat, or by spinning handles on a small upright wheel on the end of a vertical pole.

Which was the first car to be sold?

The first car to be sold was a three-wheel model built by Karl Benz. The first owner was a French engineer called Emile Roger, who bought his car in 1887. Soon Benz had a factory building cars for sale, but only a few of the three-wheelers were sold.

An aircraft carrier has a huge, empty flat deck where aircraft take off and land. The aircraft take off from the bow using a catapult. They land again from the stern. Hooks on the planes catch a wire on deck, and stop the planes with a jolt. Underneath the deck are hangars where the aircraft are stored and serviced.

Amazing! The first gun battle between two ironclads (warships with iron armour) took place in 1862 during the American Civil War. The Monitor and the Merrimack fired at each other but no great damage was done.

What was a pocket battleship?

Pocket battleships were small, fast, German ships in the 1930s. Only three of them were built. Each had six huge guns, armour more than 60 millimetres thick and powerful diesel engines.

Is it true? Some ships are nuclear-powered.

Yes. Some large submarines, some aircraft carriers and some ice breakers have nuclear-powered engines. They can travel for several months without having to re-fuel.

Which ship is invisible?

The United States Navy ‘stealth’ warship doesn’t show up clearly on enemy radar. Like the stealth aircraft, its special shape and paint scatter enemy radar signals making it very difficult to detect.

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The biggest submarines are nuclear-powered naval submarines. The biggest of all are Russian Typhoon Submarines. They’re 171metres long (as long as two football pitches) and weigh 26,500 tonnes. They can stay under water for months on end and sail around the world without refueling.

What was a U-boat?

U-boats were German submarines used in World War One and World War two. U-boat is short for underwater boat. U-boats sank thousands of ships. They crept up silently, hidden under the water, and fired missiles called torpedoes. The torpedoes zoomed through the water and exploded when they hit the ships.

Amazing! The first working submarine looked like a wooden barrel. It was built in 1776 and was called Turtle. The operator sat inside and pedalled to make its propellers turn. Turtle was designed to attack ships by diving under them and fixing a bomb to their hulls. But it was never successful.

Is it true? Submarines use sound to see.

Yes. A submarine’s sonar machine makes beeps of sound that spread out through the water. If the sound hits an object in the water, it bounces back to the submarine and is picked up by the sonar machine. The machine works out how big the object is and how far away it is.

What is a periscope?

Submarine crews use their periscopes to see ships on the surface above them when submarines are submerged. The top of the periscope sticks just above the surface. It works using several lenses and prisms (triangular pieces of glass).

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A micro-sub (also called a submersible) is a small submarine, often used for exploring under the sea. One of the latest micro-sub is Deep Flight1, Which can dive to a depth of 1,000 metres.

Is it true? Submarines can dive to the bottom of the ocean.

No. The deepest a normal submarine can dive is about 700 metres. If a submarine went any deeper the huge water pressure would crush its hull and water would flood in.

Amazing! Divers who repair undersea pipelines and oil rigs wear strong diving suits, like mini submersibles. They can dive to about 300 metres. The divers have to breathe oxygen mixed with helium, which gives them very squeaky voices!

What are Alvin and Jason Junior?

Alvin is a submersible that carries a crew of three. Jason Junior is a robot submersible that can be operated from Alvin or from a ship on the surface. In 1985, Jason Junior discovered the wreck of the ocean liner Titanic at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

How deep can submersibles go?

Special, extra-strong-hulled submersibles called bathyscaphes can dive many kilometres under the sea. In 1960, the bathyscaphe Trieste made the deepest dive ever -- an incredible 10,911 metres into the Marianas Trench in the Pacific Ocean.

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Lifeboats are rescue boats that don’t sink even if they capsize (turn upside down). A lifeboat has a watertight cabin that makes it bob back upright. It has a strong hull and powerful engines for travelling quickly through rough seas.

Amazing! The famous passenger liner Titanic was supposed to be unsinkable. But it sank on its maiden (first) voyage after hitting an iceberg in the North Atlantic Ocean in 1912.

What is a lightship?

A lightship is a ship with a lighthouse on its deck. Lightships are anchored near shallow water or dangerous rocks to warn sailors to keep clear. Most lightships have no crew because they are controlled automatically from shore.

Is it true? Life savers row through surf to rescue people.

Yes. Lifeguards row boats designed to break easily through surf near the beach. When they’re off duty, lifeguards also race their boats.

Which boat puts out fires?

Fire-fighting tugs are like fire engines at sea. They’re designed to put out fires on ships, oil rigs, or in buildings on shore. They have powerful pumps which pump water from the sea to spray at fires.

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