9781422282977

STEM IN CURRENT EVENTS  Agriculture  Energy  Entertainment Industry  Environment & Sustainability  Forensics  Information Technology  Medicine and Health Care  Space Science  Transportation  War and the Military

TRANSPORTATION

Park With a Smart Watch?

The Future of Flight

Maglev Trains: Powering the Trains of Tomorrow

STEM IN CURRENT EVENTS

Agriculture Energy Entertainment Industry Environment & Sustainability Forensics Information Technology Medicine and Health Care

Space Science Transportation War and the Military

STEM IN CURRENT EVENTS

TRANSPORTATION

By John Perritano

MASON CREST

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© 2017 by Mason Crest, an imprint of National Highlights, Inc.

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Series ISBN: 978-1-4222-3587-4 ISBN: 978-1-4222-3596-6 ebook ISBN: 978-1-4222-8297-7

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Contents

Introduction: Moving Along..............................................................................6 1 Science and Transportation. ............................................... 12 2 Technology and Transportation........................................26 . 3 Engineering and Transportation. ......................................38 4 Math and Transportation.................................................... 52 Find Out More. ...................................................................................................62

Series Glossary of Key Terms..........................................................................63

Index/Author..................................................................................................... 64

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Words to Understand: These words with their easy-to-understand definitions will increase the reader’s understanding of the text, while building vocabulary skills.

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Research Projects: Readers are pointed toward areas of further inquiry connected to each chapter. Suggestions are provided for projects that encourage deeper research and analysis. Series Glossary of Key Terms: This back-of-the-book glossary contains termi­ nology used throughout this series. Words found here increase the reader’s ability to read and comprehend higher-level books and articles in this field.

Entrepreneur Elon Musk has been at the forefront of revolutionary transportation ideas. First, he started the Tesla electric car company, then invested heavily in private space travel. Next up? The Hyperloop!

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Science and Energy

INTRODUCTION Moving Along

Words to Understand drag  resistance experienced by an object that is moving through air or water friction  resistance experienced by an object when it rubs up against another object supersonic  faster than the speed of sound

W hether in a horse-drawn card, a wind-powered ship, or an electric car, transportation is central to our lives. Humans have always been interested in going from here to there safely, directly, and in the least amount of time. Some people such as Elon Musk, however, are not satisfied with thewaywe humans currently travel. In 2013,Musk,who has given the world the Tesla electric car and private spaceflights to the International Space Station, proposed a newmode of travel—the Hyperloop—that he hopes will revolutionize transportation just as steamships, automobiles, and airplanes did.

8

S T E M I N C U R R E N T E V E N T S

The Hyperloop is a system of steel tubes and futuristic-looking pods that Musk says will cut travel time between San Francisco and Los Angeles, California, to less than 30 minutes. Currently, it takes an automobile about 6 hours to make the 382-mile (614 km) trek north along Interstate 5—the most direct route. Flying takes about an hour, while traveling by train is a 12-hour ride.

The Hyperloop’s pods would zip through the tubes nearly as fast as a supersonic jet, roughly nine-tenths the speed of sound.

Concept drawings for the Hyperloop include the idea of passenger pods that would travel in and out of the long tubes that form the system.

9

Introduction

That’s 760 miles (1,223 km) per hour, which is 110 mph (177 kph) faster than a commercial aircraft travels. “The Hyperloop [or something similar] is, in my opinion, the right solution for the specific case of high traffic city pairs that are less than about 1,500 km, or 900 miles, apart,” Musk wrote when he announced the idea. In order to achieve such ear-popping speeds, Musk needs to create an envi- ronment inside theHyperloop that cuts down on air density and drag . To that end, Musk and his scientists propose elevating two tubes (one going north, the other south) alongside Interstate 5. Special electronics and machines will

Thinking It Through

When it comes to a project such as the Hyperloop, figuring what works also means figuring out what doesn’t work. Musk looked at sev- eral ways to move his pods through the tubes. He thought about using powerful fans to push the capsules. While it was possible to build such fans, having a 350-mile- long column of air moving at such speed would create an enormous amount of friction inside the tube, slowing the pod considerably. Musk also ruled out using vacuum tubes because it is hard to create a perfect vacuum in tubes that might crack or leak.

reduce the air pressure in the tubes to one-sixth of that on Mars. Theoretically, that will help a Hyperloop pod speed along amazingly fast as it meets less air resistance.The pod will be on a cushion of air pumped through small holes in its metal skis, like a puck in an air hockey game. An electric compressor on the front of the pod will help move the capsule along by pushing air to the back. Engineers will also place special motors, like those on some roller coasters, at key places along the Hyperloop to keep the capsule moving forward.

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S T E M I N C U R R E N T E V E N T S

Experts estimate it will cost between $6.5 and $7 billion to build the Hyperloop.

Although thefinancial and technical chal- lenges are numerous,Musk vows to push on. In 2015, his rocket company, SpaceX, announced a competition for engineers to come up with the best design for the

See the ideas behind the amazing Hyperloop

pod. SpaceX also plans to build a one-mile test track for those who enter the competition.Musk is taking the ideas of Hyperloop transportation on the same journey of innovation that he took cars and space travel. Vac-Trains Musk isn’t the only innovator trying to speed things along. Although he believes vacuum tubes are not the most efficient way to move people, teams of researchers in the United States, China, and elsewhere are looking at ways to create a vacuum train that could hit speeds of up to 2,500 miles (4,000 km) per hour, cutting the commute fromEurope to NorthAmerica to just one hour. The idea is to pump all of the air out of a sealed tube and shoot a train or some other contraption through it like a bullet through the barrel of a gun. In a vacuum tube there is little air resistance to slow down the train.

TheHyperloop and theVac-Train are just two of several futuristic modes of transportation that could reshape the world.Whether

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Introduction

The game of air hockey depends on a thin, constant layer of air pushing up against the puck. Scientists are looking at a similar system for trains.

it is nuclear power, electromagnetic energy, chemical reactions, and, yes, even air hockey technology, scientists, innovators, and engineers are poised to shake up transportation technology in future years. Some of what they are considering includes wing- shaped aircraft, robotic cargo ships, and cars that can drive themselves.

All aboard!

The familiar sight of a two-winged, multi-jet passenger aircraft has been part of the skies for more than half a century. But new ideas in flight are changing what might be landing near you soon.

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Science and Energy

SCIENCE AND Transportation

1

Words to Understand aerodynamics  the study of objects moving through air composite  made of two or more materials electrons  negatively charged subatomic particles hybrid  a vehicle with an engine that runs on electricity and some type of chemical fuel neutrons  subatomic particles that have no electrical charge protons  positively charged subatomic particles quantum  the smallest unit to measure a physical property, such as light solvent  a substance that dissolves another substance

F or most people, flying is the fastest form of transportation. A traveler can take a plane from one end of the planet to another in a relatively short period. But, when it comes right down to it, today’s airliners haven’t really changed much since your grandparents were parents.Airliners still rely on two wings, jets engines (or propellers), a fuselage, a tail, and vertical and horizontal stabilizers that allow the plane to ascend and descend in a controlled manner.

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S T E M I N C U R R E N T E V E N T S

Innovation aimed at space travel has migrated to possible future airplane design, as shown with this sleek, wing-body construction of the Boeing X-48C.

Yet by the time your children are able to have children, the fundamentals of air flight will be radically different. Scientists today are looking for ways to apply the laws of aerodynamics to build airliners that use less fuel, run quieter, and are able to stay aloft longer.