Category Science

There are very strict formulas or rules about how racing cars are built. Formula One cars’ size, shape and petrol tank are all governed by rules, so that every race is fair.

Amazing! Although go-carts are much smaller than other racing cars, they can reach speeds of up to 250 kph! Carting is very popular among young drivers, and many Formula One stars, like Michael Schumacher, used to race carts.

Is it true? Modern racing cars have wings.

Yes. They are at the front and back of the car. A racing car’s wings are carefully designed to stop the car from taking off. As air passes over the wing, it pulls the car down on to the track. This gives the driver better control and roadholding.

What’s an Indycar?

Indycar racing takes place at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in America. They have powerful engines and huge fins.

Which cars race for 24 hours?

Sports cars race around the Le Mans circuit in France for 24 hours. Two or three drivers take turns at the wheel to drive the car as far as possible.

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In 1970, American Gary Gabelich drove his rocket-powered car, The Blue Flame, at 1,016 kph through the Bonneville Salt Flats, and it’s still the world’s fastest rocket car. When he wasn’t breaking records, Gary also raced dragsters and worked as a test astronaut.

Who put a rocket on a bike?

Richard ‘Rocketman’ Brown started building The Challenger in 1996. It has three rocket engines, which produce about 12,200 horsepower per tonne, taking it to 530 kph!

Is it true? Some cars need parachutes.

Yes. Some cars are so fast that brakes alone aren’t powerful enough to stop them. Parachutes drag these cars back to lower speeds when they’re travelling very quickly. Thrust SSC has four parachutes to bring it back below the sound barrier.

Who went faster than the speed of sound in a car?

Briton Andy Green set a world record in 1997, when he drove the jet-powered Thrust SSC at 1,227.985 kph through the Nevada desert.

Amazing! As early as 1904, some cars could travel at more than 160 kph! Louis Rigolly was the first person to reach this speed in his enormous 100 horsepower Gobron-Brillie car, during the July Speed Trials in Ostend, Belgium. Luckily he didn’t crash. Seatbelts hadn’t been invented and Rigolly only wore a cloth cap to protect his head!

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In 1825, George Stephenson raced his engine Locomotion against a team of horses, and won. For the first time ever, he showed that a mechanical vehicle could travel more quickly than a horse-drawn carriage.

Amazing! Racing machines have been around for a very long time. The Romans used to race horse-drawn chariots more than 2000 years ago. Their chariots had two wheels which were connected by a wooden axle. It must have been a bumpy ride. The drivers used to stand up to drive, for balance. The more horses, the faster the chariot went.

Is it true? In 1897, a cyclist beat a motorbike in a race.

Yes. A man called W.J. Stocks pedalled over 43 kilometres on his bicycle in one hour, and beat a motorbike by 270 metres. The rider of the motorbike was not happy. He said that the crowd was too noisy and had put him off!

Who first raced in cars?

The first ever race was in 1894 between Paris and Rouen in France. The Count de Dion won in a steam-powered car, which could only manage 18 kph. Early motor races showed people that cars were as fast and reliable as horses.

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BOEING 747

All Modern aeroplanes have similar features, although those of airliners such as the Boeing 747 are larger and more complex than those of smaller aeroplanes. The fuselage is a strong tube inside which the passengers, crew and their baggage travel. Wings support the aeroplane in the air by creating a force called lift. Engines provide a forward force called thrust, which pushes the aeroplane forwards against the resistance of the air (which is called drag). The fin and tail-plane keep the plane flying straight and level. Hinged sections called control surfaces (the rudder, elevators, and ailerons) steer the aircraft through the air.

The 747 is 70.7 m long. Its wingspan is 64.3 m. Take-off weight is 400 tonnes, including 150 tonnes of fuel, stored in tanks in the wings.

The Boeing 747-400 is the latest model of the world’s largest airliner, known as the “Jumbo Jet”. It can carry up to 569 passengers (but normally carries 420 in first, business and economy cabins), and cruises at up to 985 kilometres per hour, at an altitude of 10 kilometres. Its maximum range is 14,100 kilometres – more than a third of the way round the world.

As an aeroplane moves forwards through the air, air hitting the leading edge of the wing separates above and below the wing. Because of the curved shape of a wing, called an aerofoil, the air that flows over it is faster than that flowing underneath. This creates higher air pressure under the wing than above it. The difference in pressure pushes the wing upwards with a force called lift.

CONTROLLING LIFT

The amount of lift from a wing increases with the aero-plane’s speed and also with the angle of attack, the angle at which the wing hits the air. At lower speeds, the pilot maintains lift by raising the nose of the plane to increase the angle of attack. But if the angle becomes too great, air cannot flow smoothly over the top of the wing and lift is lost. This is called a stall.

At low speed during take-off and landing, flaps extend from the trailing (rear) edge of the wing. On the 747, each set of flaps has three sections. There are also small flaps on the leading edge of the wing. Flaps increase the size of the wing, and so create extra lift. For take-off, flaps are partly extended. For landing they are fully extended. Spoilers flip up from the upper surface of the wing. They break the flow of air over the wing, reducing lift.

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JET AIRCRAFT

The jet engine was developed in the late 1930s, both by Hans von Ohain in Germany and Frank Whittle in Britain. The first jet aircraft flew in 1939. Jet engines powered new jet fighters with swept-back wings, such as the MiG-15 and later the Mirage, and a new generation of airliners. Rocket-powered aircraft such as the X-15 were built for research into high-speed flight. The X-15 still holds the world speed record of 7274 kilometres per hour.

The introduction of long-range, economical, jet-powered airliners, such as the De Havilland Comet and the Boeing 707, the first “big jet”, led to a huge boom in airline travel. The first (and so far the only) supersonic airliner, the Concorde, was introduced in 1969, and the first wide-bodied airliner, the Boeing 747, came into operation in 1970.

The latest airliners, fighters such as the Eurofighter, and bombers such as the Northrop B-2, have sophisticated control systems, such as “fly-by-wire”. In an aircraft with a fly-by-wire system, the pilot controls where the aircraft goes, but a computer actually does the flying. In an airliner, fly-by-wire can prevent the pilot making mistakes such as stalling. In a fighter, it allows the pilot to make manoeuvres that would be impossible if he or she were using a standard mechanical control system.

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