What is Cars: Definition and 434 Discussions

A car (or automobile) is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transportation. Most definitions of cars say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than goods.Cars came into global use during the 20th century, and developed economies depend on them. The year 1886 is regarded as the birth year of the modern car when German inventor Karl Benz patented his Benz Patent-Motorwagen. Cars became widely available in the early 20th century. One of the first cars accessible to the masses was the 1908 Model T, an American car manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. Cars were rapidly adopted in the US, where they replaced animal-drawn carriages and carts, but took much longer to be accepted in Western Europe and other parts of the world.Cars have controls for driving, parking, passenger comfort, and a variety of lights. Over the decades, additional features and controls have been added to vehicles, making them progressively more complex, but also more reliable and easier to operate. These include rear-reversing cameras, air conditioning, navigation systems, and in-car entertainment. Most cars in use in the early 2020s are propelled by an internal combustion engine, fueled by the combustion of fossil fuels. Electric cars, which were invented early in the history of the car, became commercially available in the 2000s and are predicted to cost less to buy than gasoline cars before 2025. The transition from fossil fuels to electric cars features prominently in most climate change mitigation scenarios, such as Project Drawdown's 100 actionable solutions for climate change.There are costs and benefits to car use. The costs to the individual include acquiring the vehicle, interest payments (if the car is financed), repairs and maintenance, fuel, depreciation, driving time, parking fees, taxes, and insurance. The costs to society include maintaining roads, land use, road congestion, air pollution, public health, healthcare, and disposing of the vehicle at the end of its life. Traffic collisions are the largest cause of injury-related deaths worldwide.Personal benefits include on-demand transportation, mobility, independence, and convenience. Societal benefits include economic benefits, such as job and wealth creation from the automotive industry, transportation provision, societal well-being from leisure and travel opportunities, and revenue generation from taxes. People's ability to move flexibly from place to place has far-reaching implications for the nature of societies. There are around 1 billion cars in use worldwide. Car usage is increasing rapidly, especially in China, India and other newly industrialized countries.

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  1. I

    Disengagement of a multi plate clutch

    I am a student at a mechanical college, current topic of discussion is multi plate clutches. I understand that the clutch is engaged when the pedal is released, with allows the springs to expand, pushing together the plates, that will transfer the torque in to the drive shaft (if in very brief...
  2. V

    Will The Cars Stop In Time? - Check My Work Please :)

    Model attached below. Changed Sarah's 65 mph to m/s and got 29 m/s. Sarah's initial position is positive. Her initial velocity is negative. Her acceleration is positive; Andrew's initial position is negative. His initial velocity is positive. His acceleration is negative. Graph is attached...
  3. Grizzly_1

    The advisory speed for a car on a sloped bend

    Hello all, I am sadly stuck on the last part of a circular motion question sheet I was given for homework. I have a mark-scheme with me, but it has actually given me more questions than answers. I have attached my working, and how I arrived at my answer, and the differences it has with the...
  4. Y

    Why are Hydrogen cars not popular?

    I have no idea about this, I hope it's not a controversial subject. I know it's been around, it's not new. All I know is H2 is dangerous. Other than that, I have no idea. Just want to hear from people with scientific knowledge. Thanks
  5. berkeman

    Why do more cars now have a short "spoiler" above their rear window?

    Is there some aerodynamic advantage to these short spoilers? Or maybe does it help to keep dirt from accumulating on the rear window? It seems like I'm seeing this feature more and more lately...
  6. ryanpruette

    Solving a Puzzling Physics Problem: ##15 \pm 3\sqrt{15}##

    So this isn't actually a homework question, it's a question that was on the test I just took and I cannot figure out what I'm doing wrong. I've tried solving it three or four different ways, double checking everything, and I keep getting ##15 + 3\sqrt {15}## or ~26.6, which was not one of the...
  7. G

    The actual prospect of autonomous cars?

    What are the prospects of us having the technology sometime in the second-half of century? I've had this question for some time since I've never tackled actual engineering, but I figured I would ask anyway. Technologists can sometimes sound overly optimistic about things. The likes of...
  8. Abheer Parashar

    Are Hovering Cars the Future of Transportation?

    Hello everyone, I am Abheer and I am a high school student. I wanted to ask that in few sci-fi films I saw hovering cars and now I am wondering, are they really a better alternative than 'wheeled' cars in general (like saving energy being wasted due to friction and also being fast), or are they...
  9. BurpHa

    A greater force? (A train engine pulling two identical cars)

    My choice is C, which is "equal to." Here is my reasoning: The engine pulls on car 1, so car 1 is having a force acting on it, which pulls car 1 forward. Likewise, the same amount of force is applied on car 2 by car 1 by moving forward with the same amount of force from the beginning. So it is...
  10. J

    Compare aerodynmics of two cars

    Mercedes CLA has Cd =0.22(180 Blue Efficiency) and Cd=0.23(180). CLS C218 has 0.26, but CLS has wide tires, no flat bottom and other aero features like CLA. aero features of CLA: https://www.car-engineer.com/mercedes-cla-is-the-most-aerodynamic-production-car-of-the-world/ If we compare just...
  11. J3J33J333

    Why don't cars use something like a rail gun instead of combustion?

    Why don't cars use something like a rail gun instead of combustion to drive pistons?
  12. ROOT0X57B

    Force of brake pads on a wheel

    [Mentor Note -- thread moved from the technical forums to the schoolwork forums] I have a hollow-cylinder wheel model, braked with brake pads located at a distance d of the wheel's center axis. The brake pads have a contact area S. They are also forced towards the wheel with a pressure p. The...
  13. ilasus

    Determining the interval between two F1 cars

    Two cars A, B move in the same direction with the constant speeds v, u (v < u) on a rectilinear OM circuit, specially built for Formula 1 cars. Assuming that at the initial moment (t = 0), the two cars are on the starting line O (x = 0) of the OM circuit and that, during t, the cars A, B travel...
  14. A

    B Newton's second law about cars

    The car that accelerates must enter according to the equation below the external force, while such an external force does not seem to exist. The force of friction between the car and the road is in the opposite direction of motion ؟
  15. M

    B Does the Bernouli Effect Work On Cars?

    Hi Geniuses... I joined this group because I have a question I can't answer myself. This is about cars. We're all familiar with classic cars having a grill up front and a space right after it, and then usually a radiator to cool the water/coolant in the engine. The discussion we're having in a...
  16. J

    EMF radiation in electric cars

    What is power of EMF radiation inside of electric cars? What is frequency range, ELF?
  17. K

    New car headlights -- Visual issues with oncoming cars

    In recent years, I found that many cars, I don't know if their headlamps are original or customized, the light is very bright or sharp, sometimes causing me to see temporary shadow in the eye like camera flash or even a little bit faint. In addition to yellow and white light there are also many...
  18. Differential (steering gear box)

    Differential (steering gear box)

    Around the corner how a differential steering works 1975 ! Engineering Books Join our group : https://www.facebook.com/groups/2373375319542186/
  19. J

    Land Yachts -- Why don't cars and trucks also use sails?

    Land Yacht racing has been around for awhile - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_sailing a few people still trying it out The question, is has anyone seen ideas of sail-boating applied to semi-trucks, trains, even cars to improve energy efficiency? Another application - has anyone seen...
  20. peace

    Estimate the initial velocity of the cars after the collision

    What came to my mind for this question is: Consider one of the cars. The velocity and mass of this car are V and M respectively. And the velocity and mass of the piece attached to the car are m, v respectively. Before the collision, the velocity of this piece relative to this car is zero. So its...
  21. F

    Efficiency of charging new and old Li-ion batteries in electric cars

    An electric car has, say, a 50 kWhr battery. 1. How much electricity, in kWhr, is needed to add 1 kWhr of stored electricity to the battery? 2. After several years, the battery capacity has, say, fallen to 25 kWhr. How much electricity, in kWhr, is now needed to add 1 kWhr of stored...
  22. nirgro

    Help please with a physics bet (2 cars colliding vs. 1 car hitting a wall)

    so the question is this. 2 cars with the same mass hits each other at the speed of 30 miles. at which speed a car needs to hit a wall in order to get set same impect? i don't care what Will hurt the driver more. thanks!
  23. Wrichik Basu

    Handling brake failure/stuck accelerator in auto transmission cars

    It's been a year since I was issued my driving licence. I have never driven automatic transmission cars, so my idea about them is very faint. I know that there is no clutch pedal, and one doesn't have to shift gears while driving forward - that's it. Last day, I was watching a TV show where...
  24. Graador

    Kinetics Problem: Head-On Collision Between Two Cars

    Since the mass of both vehicles is the same, it's possible to calculate Ki which happens to be 512,5J and from there, multiply it by 0,25 since 75% of the energy is gone and I end up with 128,125J. Now my problem is that for the velocity, I have: 25,0 + -20,0 = V1 + V2 which is 5,00 = V1 + V2...
  25. M

    Automotive Exploring Combustion Engines for Cars & Planes: Student Research Ideas

    Hi All, I am helping a student (9th grader) develop a research topic related to his interests in physics for an independent study program he is applying for at our school. My background is Geology, so I am not too knowledgeable regarding topics in physics. This student is interested in...
  26. S

    Does ECO mode in electric cars make sense?

    I just saw a video about an electric car which has an ECO mode. In ECO mode the car has less power. So let's say in normal mode the car has 100 kW and in ECO mode 60 kW. But why should the range of the car be greater if it has less power? Because as far as I know to reach a speed of v it...
  27. B

    Cars Collide on a Hill, Conservation of Momentum

    QUESTION: ----------- For the purposes of this problem, we will define the direction of Vehicle A's initial velocity as the positive direction: While driving on a road that is inclined at an angle of 10 degrees above the horizontal, Vehicle A and Vehicle B are in a head-on collision lasting...
  28. Like Tony Stark

    Reaction force acting at the wheels of cars when turning

    Well, I considered the two wheels as two different bodies and I wrote Newton's equations for both of them I considered the wheel closer to the centre of the circle, we have: ##\mu N_1 =mR\dot (\theta)## So we can find ##N_1## Doing the same thing, we can find ##N_2## ##\mu N_2 =m(R+d)...
  29. B

    Could steam cars be possible in the 2020s?

    I was wondering if electric could be use to boil the water to power a steam car for modern use ?? Also why haven't steam cars being developed more for the 2020's?
  30. S

    Technology behind the small jump-starters for cars?

    What's the technology used by the small devices that can jump start cars? Is it batteries? - capacitors? Fuel cells?
  31. N

    Electric cars: What do you think?

    I have been thinking about electric cars from an engineering point of view. I came to the conclusion that they are not worth it, for a number of reasons I will list below. What do you guys think? 1) Energy to charge the batteries must come from somewhere. If the source of the energy is nuclear...
  32. T

    A question about battery powered cars

    I have a question about battery cars. in our common household electrical appliances like the Fan, light i.e. gadgets having regulator attached to it consumes the same amount of energy whether in full power or at the lowest. Because the extra power will be channelled through resistance inside the...
  33. F

    MHB Need help with formula to value used cars. Please

    Hello there I am trying to develop to formula that will derive a used cars value from a database of used car values. Assume we are trying to value Car A. The first step is to form a sample of cars matching Car A for each header of the database columns (make, model, variant, engine size...
  34. Santilopez10

    Relative motion between cars with different types of movements

    I think my approach is quite wrong, still I gave it a shot: First I know that ##v_A=13.3 m/s=r\omega=60\omega \rightarrow \omega=0.2 \frac{rad}{s}## Then $$\vec a_A=-r\omega^2 e_r=-2.4 e_r$$ But ##e_r=\cos{\theta}i+\sin{\theta}j## and substituing the latter in the acceleration equation I have...
  35. K

    Calculating Speed Between Two Cars

    Hi, I found a programming problem that calculated the speed between two cars as below and I would like to know how the calculation is done. it is about determining the speed of two cars. The coordinate reference system (y,x) is attached to the ego vehicle (as shown in the attached figure). The...
  36. N

    Could Radioisotope Thermoelectric generators power electric cars?

    Could electric cars be given longer range by radioisotope thermoelectric generators like they use to power spacecraft in deep space?
  37. G

    Safety and the increasing automation of cars

    The recent 737 tragedies have shown us, I think, a few pointers about automation of planes. Of course, investigation is ongoing but my understanding is that the input from a faulty angle-of-attack sensor and an automated system which the pilots couldn’t switch off contributed. Two worries here...
  38. U

    Calculating Separation of Cars in a Convoy Moving at Max Speed

    Homework Statement In a convoy on a long straight level road, 50 identical cars are at rest in a queue at equal separation ## 10 m ## from each other. Engine of a car can provide a constant acceleration of ##2 m/s^2##. And brakes can provide a maximum deceleration of ##4m/s^2##. When an order...
  39. Hiero

    Probability of exactly n cars passing in time T

    Homework Statement In a short time dt, the probability that a car passes an observer is dt/τ. In a random time interval of length T, what is the probability P(n) that exactly n cars pass the observer? The Attempt at a Solution I can only see how to find P(0) the probability that no cars pass...
  40. T

    Cars rounding a slippery banked corner in the rain

    Homework Statement The question is from Fundamental Physics 10th Edition, Walker Resnik Holiday: A banked circular highway curve is designed for traffic moving at 60 km/h. The radius of the curve is 200 m. Traffic is moving along the highway at 40 km/h on a rainy day.What is the minimum...
  41. T

    Finding the minimum distance between two cars

    Homework Statement We have two cars moving like the picture. we want to find their minimum distance using relative motion. I) Consider a coordinate system on M, which has two axis. one axis is in direction of MP and the other is perpendicular to that (Something like r_hat and θ_hat). Find the...
  42. I

    Setting two expressions equal to each other

    Homework Statement Two cars are facing each other on a long straight airport runway. They are initially separated by a distance of 1 km. Car A begins to accelerate towards the other car at a uniform 0.5 ms^-2. Ten seconds later car B begins to move towards the other car with a uniform...
  43. C

    Force of friction in turning cars

    I read an article where the author tried to find the maximal speed a car can have when taking a turn of certain radius. They represented the car as a point and claimed that the force of friction is the centripetal force - acting perpendicular to the trajectory of the car. I do understand why...
  44. S

    Research about magnetic stick-on signs for cars

    <Moderator's note: advertisement link removed.> So I was making a research and would highly appreciate your help. I am making a research about car magnets as to how it is being made, materials, etc. any additional information from you would highly be appreciated...
  45. V

    Designing Car Floatation Devices: What Alternatives to Sodium Azide?

    I need to make the design of car floatation devices. In my case, the airbag/raft is for floating the car in case of floods. I am considering to use Sodium Azide, just like in car airbags, but it inflates very fast and shrinks in a short time. Is there any other chemical reaction that can produce...
  46. vysqn

    Ek vs engine power in cars and space

    Help me please:) (1) An idealized engine with constant torque curve means constant acceleration. So for example if there is no air resistance and no frictions and car is on fixed gear and at 3000Rpm it produces 50Hp so at 6000Rpm will produce 100Hp. So he doubles the speed , doubles power and...
  47. M. M. Fahad Joy

    What will be the final velocity and direction of two colliding cars?

    Homework Statement A car of 800 kg was going towards east with a velocity of 36km/h and an another car of 1600 kg was going towards west with a velocity of 54km/h. After collision, in which direction and with how much velocity will the cars go? Homework Equations $m_1u_1+m_2u_2 = (m_1+m_2)v$...
  48. Kenneth Boon Faker

    Why do cars crash? (Instead of passing through each other)

    If everything is made of atoms, and if atoms have so much empty space inside them - and if the building blocks of atoms are made up of wave-like particles that aren't solid (strictly speaking) - then why do cars crash and billiard balls bounce off each other, as opposed to passing through each...
  49. J

    Automotive Wind Turbine on the grill of the car

    Hi, I'm currently in High school so I'm uncertain whether this could be feasibly possible. I read on another thread that Wind Turbine's produce too much drag to actually be beneficial to your car and energy. BUT, they all discussed the wind turbine being on the top of the car. I was thinking...
  50. doglover9754

    Gas Usage in Cars: Effects on Environment

    My parents were driving over the weekend with the windows open and I came up with another bunch of questions. With the windows open, would you use more gas than with them closed? I figured that when the windows are open and wind is blowing in, the wind is pushing in the opposite direction that...
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