G5_LSR_3B_5.18 Cars Present, Past, And Future

8/12/2019 G5_LSR_3B_5.18 Cars Present, Past, And Future

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/g5lsr3b518-cars-present-past-and-future 1/14

Scott Foresman Science 5.18

Genre Comprehension Skill Text Features Science Content

Nonction Sequence • Labels• Captions• Diagrams• Glossary

Technology

ISBN 0-328-13969-6

ì<(sk$m)=bdjgjj< +^-Ä-U-Ä-U



Extended Vocabulary

catalytic converterchassisdrive traininternal combustion engine

hybrid carretoolsuspensiontransmission

Vocabulary

assembly lineinventormanufacturingmicrochip

space stationtechnologyWorld Wide Web

Picture CreditsEvery effort has been made to secure permission and provide appropriate credit for photographic material.The publisher deeply regrets any omission and pledges to correct errors called to its attention in subsequent editions.

Photo locators denoted as follows: Top (T), Center (C), Bottom (B), Left (L), Right (R), Background (Bkgd).

9 (TR) Mary Evans Picture Library; 13 (TR) Motoring Picture Library/National Motor Museum, Beaulieu;15 (T) Kim Sayer/Corbis; 17 (TR) Cindy Lewis/Alamy Images; 18 Charles O’Rear/Corbis; 23 Cindy Lewis/Alamy Images.

Scott Foresman/Dorling Kindersley would also like to thank the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu/ DK Images for the use of photos on the Opener and pages 1, 5, 7, 10 (TR), 11 (TR, CR).

Unless otherwise acknowledged, all photographs are the copyright © of Dorling Kindersley, a division of Pearson.

ISBN: 0-328-13969-6

Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Printed in the United States of America.This publication is protected by Copyright, and permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to anyprohibited reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any f orm by any means, electronic,mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise. For information regarding permission(s), write toPermissions Department, Scott Foresman, 1900 East Lake Avenue, Glenview, Illinois 60025.

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 V010 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05

by Anne Cambal



2

Technology is the use of scientic knowledge for apurpose. The invention of modern airplanes, for example, is

the result of the work of many inventors who worked tocreate new devices and solve problems. Sometimes thework of inventors results in improvements rather than inthe creation of completely new devices. The Wright brothersrst ew a plane at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, more thana hundred years ago. Today’s airplanes reach speeds that theWrights never dreamed of, but they are still basically thesame type of machine as the Wright brothers’ plane.

Technology affects the way that we work. Modern

manufacturing uses an assembly line able to produce largenumbers of products. In this system, a product such asa car moves through a factory. Different groups of peopleor robots add parts to the car as it goes along.

What You Already Know

3

The invention of the microchip in the late 1950s helpedto start the computer age. Today, there are computers that t

in the palm of your hand. If your computer is connected tothe World Wide Web, you can get information about almostany subject.

Advances in technology have even allowed us to leave theEarth to explore space. In 1961 a Soviet astronaut namedYuri Gagarin became the rst human to enter space. In 1969American Neil Armstrong became the rst person to walkon the Moon. Today, several countries are working togetherto operate a space station orbiting the Earth.

Try to imagine life withouttechnology. What would youmiss the most? There would beno television, telephones, orcomputers. You would have tomake your own clothes. If youwanted to hear music, you wouldhave to play it yourself. One

invention you would probablymiss a lot is the automobile.Keep reading to learn more aboutthis important machine and theways it has changed our lives.



4

In some ways the automobile began with the inventionof the wheel. That breakthrough occurred about fourthousand years ago. The next big step was the invention of

the steam engine. In 1769 a three-wheeled, steam-poweredvehicle was invented by Nicholas-Joseph Cugnot. Thisinvention was not designed to transport people though. Itwas built to haul cannons. It moved at a maximum speed ofabout three kilometers per hour, and had to stop often tobuild up steam.

At the beginning of the 1800s, a few people in Englandhad steam-powered vehicles, which were allowed on privatetracks only. Many of them looked just like horse-drawn

carriages, but without the horses. By the middle of thatcentury, steam-powered vehicles were being used forLondon’s rst bus system.

The Horseless Carriage

Horse-drawn wagons,carriages, and carts have beenused for thousands of years.

5

The new vehicles competed with horse-drawn carriagesand railroad companies in England. These businesses urgedthe government to tax the steam-powered carriages. Unableto pay the taxes, they soon went out of business.

By the early 1900s steam-powered cars were being builtin the United States. The most famous was the StanleySteamer, named for the builders Francis and Freelan Stanley.A Stanley steam car set a world speed record of over twohundred kilometers per hour in 1906.

Inventors around the world also worked with othersources of power, such as kerosene and electricity. Carswith electric engines were especially popular in the 1800sand early 1900s. Electric vehicles were very quiet, so theydidn’t scare their passengers or other drivers’ horses. Butelectric cars were not very practical. They had to stop oftento recharge their batteries.

This steam carriage from the 1850s wasbased on horse-drawn carriages.



8

Mass ProductionAt the beginning of the 1900s there were several

thousand cars in use in the United States. Only the veryrich could afford these cars. Driving a car was more of an

expensive hobby than a useful way to get around. Soon allof this would change. Mass production would make theautomobile the most popular method of transportation inthe United States.

In the beginning every car was made to order, so each carwas unique. The rst car to be standardized was Benz’s 1894Velo. More than one hundred Velos were built in 1895.

The use of the assembly line made automobiles much cheaper to build.

9

The rst U.S. auto to be mass produced was the 1901Oldsmobile called the Curved Dash. Unlike other cars atthe time, Oldsmobiles were built on an assembly line. In1901 an amazing 425 Curved Dash Oldsmobiles were built.

It was Henry Ford, however, who really began modernauto manufacturing. Ford improved the assembly lineprocess by adding a conveyor belt. Before, cars had to bepushed from one group of workers to the next.The conveyor belt did this automatically, allowing the

assembly line to move much faster. By 1916 Ford’s companywas assembling two thousand cars every day! Ford’s changesdecreased the cost of cars so much that many more peoplecould afford to buy them. He built over 15 million ofhis Model T automobiles between 1908 and 1925. Whenit was introduced, the Model T cost $850. By 1925 bettermanufacturing methods had decreased the price to $300.

The Model T Ford was affordable enough for millions of people to buy.



10

A Century of Cars1900–1939

These years brought great changes in automobiles—howthey looked, how they were manufactured, and how they

were powered.At the beginning of the 1900s, headlights and windshieldwipers were invented and soon became standard features.Gasoline engines became the most common source of autopower. These engines were more convenient to use thansteam or electric engines. Gas-powered cars could also travelat a faster rate. In 1906 the Rolls-Royce company was startedin England. It produced luxury cars, such as the SilverGhost. This model earned a reputation as the best car in the

world. The very rst Rolls-Royce, built in 1906, still runs.

1909 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost: Rolls-Royce started makingexpensive, high-quality cars in 1906.

11

The electric starter wasadded to cars after 1911. Beforethis, cars had to be started witha hand crank. Cars also beganto have tops on them that

helped keep out rain and wind.A running board, which lookedlike a step, was added toeach side to help driversand passengers step upinto their vehicles.

In the 1930s cars becamemore powerful and morecomfortable. Their bodies had

smooth shapes that cut throughthe air easily. An improvedsuspension system made theride smoother on bumpyroads. Improved brakes andengines brought more safetyand increased speed.

1936 Austin Ten:This car is enclosedto protect passengersfrom the weather.

1935 Auburn 851Speedster: Thiscar has a smooth,streamlined shape.



12

1940–1969The automatic transmission was a major breakthrough

in the 1940s. It shifted the car’s gears automatically, makingdriving easier. This era also saw advances in headlights.

European and American car designs began to differ inthe 1950s. European cars tended to be small and light. InAmerica, however, cars became longer, larger, and heavier.American cars were designed for style and comfort instead

of efciency. They had ns at the back and cone-shapedparts at the front. The 1959 Cadillac had ns almost fourfeet high! The large American cars had more power thanthose in Europe, and also provided a smoother ride.Unfortunately, they also burned more gas. Power steeringand power brakes helped make these large, heavy cars easierto drive. Air conditioning and electric-powered windowsalso became available.

American cars of thisperiod were large, heavy,and comfortable.

13

The VolkswagenBeetle was the rst

German car imported tothe United States. At rst,these small, efcient cars werenot very popular. Only two Beetles were sold when theywere rst offered in the United States in 1949. Americanswere used to bigger, more comfortable vehicles. Before long,however, Americans began to want smaller cars, and importsstarted selling well in the United States. Smaller cars usedless gas and were easier to park than large cars. In response,

American automakers began designing smaller cars calledcompacts. The Nash Rambler was the rst Americancompact car.

By 1960 almost a third of the cars sold in the UnitedStates were compacts. American compacts had morepowerful engines than earlier compact cars, despite theirsmaller size. Automatic transmission became much morecommon during the 1960s.

The 1959 Cadillac was a verylarge, heavy car.

The Volkswagen Beetle was therst small car to be imported tothe United States.



14

1970–TodayIn the early 1970s large cars were still the best-selling

American models. Auto manufacturers, however, continuedto build compacts to compete with foreign imports.

Then the United States was affected by a huge increase inthe price of oil. Many of the countries that produced oildecided to stop selling it. It became very scarce, which drovethe price up. This was called the energy crisis. There werelong lines of cars at gas pumps, and the gas often ran outwhile customers waited. Because of the energy crisis,American consumers and auto manufacturers became moreinterested in fuel-efcient cars. People were only allowed tobuy a small amount of gas each day, which they quickly used

up in their inefcient cars. Some larger-model cars could goa mere eight miles on a gallon of gas. But compacts could goas far as thirty-ve miles.

Auto technology continued to make advances. Theenergy crisis triggered a lot of research into more efcientengines. Catalytic converters were added to cars in the1970s. These devices reduce the amount of pollution thatcars make.

15

In the 1980s cars from Japan became popular withAmericans. Many of these cars were small and light.They had small engines that didn’t use much gas. Japaneseauto plants were built in the United States to help meetthe demand for these cars. In the 1990s pollution-control

laws were passed by some American states and Europeancountries. They required improved gas mileage and lesspollution. Automakers began to experiment with electriccars again. Although electric cars make little pollution,they cannot travel very far without recharging their batteries.Today, car companies are looking for new power sourcesthat make less pollution. Scientists know that the Earth willeventually run out of oil. A new power source must befound before this happens.

1971 Chevrolet Nova:This Nova was a mid-sized car, but it had alarge engine that useda lot of gas.

Honda Civic



16

Car PartsThe rst thing most people

notice about a car is the body.A car body is designed to be

both stylish and efcient. Awell-designed body allows air topass over it with little resistance.This lets the car move more easilyand use less fuel. Underneath thebody is the chassis, or frame andsupporting parts.

In order to move, a car needsan engine, a fuel system, an

exhaust system, and a coolingsystem. The drive train deliversthe engine’s power to the wheels.This system is made up of thetransmission, driveshaft, andaxles. The suspension systemincludes the springs and otherparts that make the car ridesmoothly. It keeps the car’s ride

smooth. The control systemconsists of the steering and brakecomponents. Cars also have safetysystems, which include seat beltsand air bags. Air bags inatewhen a car crashes, keepingthe passengers from hittingthe windshield.

cylinder—where thefuel is burned to forcethe piston down

piston and connectionrod turn the crankshaft

piston

17

Most cars have internalcombustion engines. This typeof engine burns fuel in cylindersinside the engine. Cylinders areclosed tubes. Inside each one is a

piston, which moves up anddown. Gasoline and air enterthe top of each cylinder. Thena spark plug lights the gas onre, causing it to expand andpush the piston down. Thepiston is connected to acrankshaft, which changesthe up and down motion

of the pistons into aspinning motion.This spinning istransferred to thewheels to movethe car.

Internal combustionengines are used inalmost all modern cars.

valves let fresh fuel intothe cylinder and spentgases (exhaust) out

spark plug

A car’s controls are located onthe dashboard.



18

Car ConstructionDesigning and building a car requires the knowledge and

skills of different types of workers. Automakers must decidewhat the car will look like, how it will work, and to whom it

will be sold.The actual construction of cars takes a lot of people,materials, and money. Once the design of the new model hasbeen approved, the factory where it will be built needs to beretooled, or set up to build the new type of car.

Robots such as these make modern assembly lines very efcient.

19

Workers in the factory are stationed on an assembly line.It works in almost the same way as Henry Ford’s assembly

line in the early 1900s. Workers operate machines, robots,computers, and other equipment. The cars move from onegroup of workers to another automatically.

Sections of the car called subassemblies are put together.Then the subassemblies are combined to make a whole car.Whenever possible, robots are used to speed up work on theassembly line. Robots are very efcient, and they can dowork that is too dangerous for humans. Quality inspectorswatch over each step of the assembly process.

Modern cars are much safer than cars of earlier decades.This is because the government tests cars to nd out howwell they protect passengers in a crash. Car companies testtheir cars also, to nd new ways to make them safe. Safetytesting is done by placing dummies in a car and crashing itinto an object. Sensors record how much force the crashputs on the dummies.

Cars are crash-tested using dummies tohelp nd new ways to make cars safer.



20

Impact of the CarThe auto industry is one of the biggest industries in the

world. It produces cars, trucks, buses, and motorcycles. Itemploys millions of people and makes billions of dollars.

Almost 60 million new vehicles are built each year, withabout a quarter of them built in the United States.The automobile affects the way that people live, work,

and travel. In just one hundred years, people in the UnitedStates have come to rely on cars and trucks.

Too many cars lead to clogged roadways.

21

But cars cause many problems. Many highways androads are needed to keep these vehicles moving. Cars alsocreate a need for gas stations, towing services, and stop lights.

Trafc jams and noise sometimes make cities unpleasant.

Thousands of people are injured in auto accidents eachyear. Pollution from cars makes people ill and hurts theenvironment. Large amounts of electricity and naturalresources are used to build all of these cars. Automakersand owners around the world depend on oil, which isquickly running out.



22

Future CarsThe design of cars is always changing. Air and noise

pollution, as well as limited oil resources, are seriousproblems that may be overcome by future cars.

Hybrid cars—vehicles powered by more than one energysource—have been around for a long time. The KriegerCompany marketed a hybrid gas/electric car in 1903.Hybrid cars are usually more fuel-efcient than standardgas-powered cars.

These cars are becoming popular again. In 1999 the rstmodern hybrid car was released to the American market.Because so many people want to buy hybrids, some buyershad to wait six months to get them.

Scientists are also looking for ways to improve electriccars. They are trying to make batteries that are lighter andlast long enough to be practical. Just having efcient electriccars won’t solve pollution problems, however. We need apollution-free way to generate the power that will chargethese cars’ batteries.

gasoline engine

battery

electric motor

a hybrid gas/electric car

23

Special devices called fuel cells may power the carsof the future. Fuel cells convert a gas called hydrogen to

electricity without producing any pollution. Fuel cells area bit like batteries, but instead of recharging them, yousimply add more hydrogen.

The problem with hydrogen fuel cells is that producinghydrogen takes a lot of energy, which must come from apollution-free source. Also, hydrogen is a gas. It must bepumped into a tank at high pressure in order to be heldinside a car. Another way to get hydrogen is to take it froma fuel such as alcohol or natural gas. Unfortunately, this

process creates some pollution.The need for better car designs continues. It is a difcult

problem. The solution must combine a clean, quiet, efcientengine and an affordable cost. With more cars on the roadevery year, the importance of environmentally safe carscontinues to grow.

Cars in the future may be powered by fuel cellsthat convert hydrogen into electricity.



24

Glossarycatalytic converter a device that reduces the amount of

pollution in a car’s exhaust

chassis the frame and supporting parts ofa car

drive train the system in a car that brings powerfrom the engine to the wheels

internal combustion an engine that produces power byburning fuel inside of the engineitself

hybrid car a car that is powered by more thanone source of energy

retool to set up a factory to produce a newtype of product

suspension the system that lets a car ride moresmoothly over rough roads

transmission the part of a car’s drive train thatcontrols how fast the wheels spin inrelation to the speed of the engine

engine

1. Why is it important for modern cars to befuel-efcient?

2. How did Henry Ford make automobilesaffordable enough for most people?

3. Why were foreign cars unpopular when theywere rst sold in the United States?

4. In the early 1900s therewere three main types of fuel used to powercars. Write to explain which one(s) became

widely used throughout that century andwhy. Include details from the book tosupport your answer.

5. Sequence Put the following events inthe proper sequence. Hybrid cars successfullyre-introduced; Henry Ford builds twothousand Model T’s per day; Benz’s three-wheeled vehicle; electric starter added to

cars; compact cars introduced; Cugnot’ssteam-powered vehicle.

What did you learn?

i i i i i i i l.li l i i l ll i i i i i .

l ll : i .

i i i i i i l li i i i i l I l i i i l I .

li i l l l li i l li I .

l i l ll i li i l i i i .

I :

i i I . ll i . i i i i .i li i i i i i l i li i

i i i i i l i i i l ii l i i li i . i i i i i i

i i l i Illi i .

G5_LSR_3B_5.18 Cars Present, Past, And Future

Documents

Transcript of G5_LSR_3B_5.18 Cars Present, Past, And Future