Every time you see one of the CATs clearing the hill at university of the snow, you probably don't see anything amazing about it. However, caterpillar tracks used on it are just ingenious and its invention is comparable to the invention of the wheel.
History
First vehicles powered by the steam engine started to appear in the early 1800s. Various machines started slowly replace horses. It was especially true for the jobs that required a lot of power. Transportation, of course, was the first and the most beneficial adopter. Goods could be carried across large distances with relative ease. No wonder that farmers were also eager to adopt engines. By that time most of the work was done using horses and basic tools.
Problems
Steam powered harvesters and tractors were introduced by the end of 19th century. It started to gradually replace horses. However in some regions they created new problems as well. Vehicles proved to be too heavy for soft soils and often stuck and even sunk. Experiments with various sizes of wheels didn't produce good results. Increasing size of wheels just made vehicles heavier and more difficult to operate.
Benjamin Holt of Holt Manufacturing figured that using an old trick of pouting planks before the wheel would improve cross-country ability. By doing so, it provides solid plane for better traction and lower pressure on the ground since size of the plank is larger then of the wheel.
Basics
The main advantage of the track over the wheels is that it can distribute a very large force over a large area. That means that instead of applying all the force on little area where wheels touch the ground, it applies it over the whole area of the track.
In physics terms it can be expressed as P = F / A
where P is pressure, F is force and A is area.
Less force applied to every square meter means that it's harder for the heavy vehicle to sink into the ground. Another benefit of the tracks is that large area of contact allows to have a very good traction with the ground. That is why tracks are used for mission critical jobs, including military use and high cost operations, such as excavations and space rocket movements.
Drawbacks
Even though caterpillar tracks provide very good cross-country ability, they have its drawbacks. Because of the weight and the construction of tracks speed of the vehicle is limited in comparison to the wheeled machines.
The very first snowmachines had tracks with very bad traction. But you must realize that they weren't driving in the same conditions snowmachines of today can handle. Old machines were limited to readily used trails and very little powder. The tracks used on the old machines looked like the one shown in the picture below. The traction, the little raised bits of rubber, was minimal and the tracks weren't very economical either. The first attempts at making a track was using steel, which was too heavy, and rubber, which was to flexible and brittle at cold temperatures. Eventually manufacturers found the key ingredients. Kevlar tracks with imbedded nylon strands to reinforce and improve strength. A kevlar track is now the standard in today's snowmachines.
spectators in case of a crash, and the track is said to be the safest and
Electric traction had numerous advantages over steam railroads. One major advantage was electric locomotive’s ability to pull heavier loads than steam locomotives (Bezilla, 30-31). One statement from electrical manufacturers’ stated that an electric locomotive could pull from five times its own weight on a 2% grade, whereas a steam locomotive on the same grade could only pull two times its own weight (Bezilla, 31). In addition to this, the electric motors could sustain higher currents for a short time in order to increase horsepower dramatically; steam engines had no analogous feature (Bezilla, 31). These factors combined allowed for electric locomotives to accelerate more rapidly, even while pulling more weight, than steam locomotives (Bezilla, 31). The electric motor also had less moving parts and thus needed less maintenance than complex steam engines (Bezilla, 31). For example, the Pennsylvania Railroad’s electric locomotives in 1940 were typically running 90% of the time, but the steam locomotives that the electric ones replaced had only ran 69% of the time (Bezilla, 32). The...
New technology took off right away! Steamboats were invented in the early 1800's, but it took until the 1820's to make them a common site on U.S. rivers. In the 1840's their popularity kept rising as they continued to increase the amount of trade possible. The reaper, for farming, was also developed in 1831. This allowed more farming in the west on the prairies.
Wrought iron was a very popular material during the Industrial Revolution, but by the Second Industrial Revolution, steel had taken its place. Iron was then improved to be malleable and has been steel’s runner up ever since. Rubber and plastic were also created in this time frame, as scientists began to research macromolecular chemicals and synthetic materials. Electricity was still being explored during these years, as minor improvements were made increasing the quality and reliability while reducing the cost. One of the most important inventions to come out of the Second Industrial Revolution was the airplane. In 1903 the Wright brothers used their knowledge of mechanics and aerodynamics to create the first airplane, by 1914 the end of the Revolution the autopilot system was developed, and just thirty years after the Wright brother’s first flight, the first commercial airline business was created. Revolutionizing the system of production in agriculture had a slow start, because most of the work in agriculture was performed by human hands, such as tending to the crops or weeding. Once internal combustion engines were created they were applied to this problem. Right before WWI, tractors and combines began surfacing in the agriculture industry, changing it forever.
Before building the vehicle, a sketch was performed to blah blah. It was made of three wheels, one in front and two in the back, a base made of Legos, and mousetrap on the base. Once the design was accepted, construction of the front axle began. The small wheel was placed on the middle of the axle followed by two legos on the outer edge to connect to the base. These Legos were held in place by blank. The two pieces were then connected to a flat rectangular Lego that was placed under a longer rectangular Lego. This was known as the base and where the mousetrap was taped to. After the base and front axle were finished, the drive axle was constructed. The drive axle had the same concept as the front one, but a longer axle and connecting Legos were used instead. The connecting Legos were outside the wheels and connected to a thin rectangular Lego that was placed under the same Lego known as the base. A white wheel was placed in the middle of the drive axle to wrap the string around, as shown in Figure 5, but soon realized it did not have enough friction with the axle to propel it, so it was removed. The vehicle was then taken to Trial 1. During trial 1, it collapsed due to the length and lack of strength of the base. The vehicle was modified because of this reason. The black connecting Legos of the drive axle were moved to inside the two wheels, and the base was shortened by placing it
By the first century Advertisement, steers and stallions were utilized as a part of factories, driving machines like those fueled by
For centuries, human beings have unknowingly used the very physics principles seen in the roller coasters of today in pursuit of not only thrills, but also survival. As early as 30000 years ago, our ancestors were using some of the most basic laws of physics seen in roller coasters today to their advantage. Although they didn’t quite understand why, when they threw a wooden spear high into the air at a woolly mammoth the spear would fall to the ground accelerating at every second. Of course, they were demonstrating gravitation. Physicists of the 16th century knew how to harness the law of gravity as well, using it to construct the first roller coaster- consisting of simple ice slides accelerating down 70-feet slopes before crashing into giant piles of sand (the latter part demonstrating another important physics principle: inertia.) As the centuries prog...
One important piece of technology is the steam train. Development for the steam train first started with not the train itself, but the engine used to run it. Development for the steam engine first started in the late 17th century, by English inventor Thomas Savery. Although the steam engine was at first designed to remove water from mines, the design as improved by another English inventor, known as Thomas Newcomen, but that wasn’t the last improvement of its design. It was again improved by a Scottish inventor called James Watt. This is the design that would inspire the steam train.
Steam engine use throughout the several professions revolutionized numerous aspects of Western European Society. The first important use of the steam engine came in 1776. The steam engine was used to show the Cornish miners how successful it could be in removing the water from the mineshafts. This proved to be of great importance to the Cornish, because one of their biggest problems was the flooding of the mining shafts. The Penetration of the Industry by Steam Power.
The circle of traction is a important racing concept with applications from physics. From newtons equation f=ma we know that the more force we apply to an o...
“Even though roller coasters propel you through the air, shoot you through tunnels, and zip you down and around many hills and loops, they are quite safe and can prove to be a great way to get scared, feel that sinking feeling in your stomach, and still come out of it wanting to do it all over again (1).” Thanks to the manipulation of gravitational and centripetal forces humans have created one of the most exhilarating attractions. Even though new roller coasters are created continuously in the hope to create breathtaking and terrifying thrills, the fundamental principles of physics remain the same. A roller coaster consists of connected cars that move on tracks due to gravity and momentum. Believe it or not, an engine is not required for most of the ride. The only power source needed is used to get to the top first hill in order to obtain a powerful launch. Physics plays a huge part in the function of roller coasters. Gravity, potential and kinetic energy, centripetal forces, conservation of energy, friction, and acceleration are some of the concepts included.
People needed faster and more reliable means of transporting the large number of products being produced from factories. Wooden sail boats became steam powered boiler ships made out of iron and steel that more effectively and reliably moved goods from one place to another while steam powered trains took the place of horses, carts, and wagons and made land travel swift and safe. Practical steam engines and new ways of travel had abrupt effects on employment, resulting in even more factories and mills, and centering even more on cities (“Industrial Revolution,” History.com). Communication improved as well, not just by people being able to travel from one place to the next more quickly. Telegraphs and eventually the telephone and radio resulted in handwritten letters no longer having to survive week long trips, but instead being relayed halfway around the globe in just minutes (Deane 72-74).
...th their steam locomotive were a great asset in this new era, moving big amounts of coal and goods in record time.
The average driver doesn’t think about what keeps their car moving or what keeps them on the road, but that’s because they don’t have to. The average driver doesn’t have to worry about having enough downforce to keep them on the road or if they will reach the adhesive limit of their car’s tires around a turn. These are the things are the car designers, professional drivers, racing pit crews, serious sports car owners, and physicist think about. Physics are an important part of every sports and racing car design. The stylish curves and ground effects on sports cars are usually there not just for form but function as well allowing you to go speeds over 140 mph in most serious sports cars and remain on the road and in reasonable control.