Car Science
By Richard Hammond
* Publisher: DK CHILDREN
* Number Of Pages: 100
* Publication Date: 2008-09-01
* ISBN-10 / ASIN: 0756640261
* ISBN-13 / EAN: 9780756640262
Product Description:
Car Science is an intuitive and user-friendly children's science book based on a topic dear to children's hearts: cars. In four sections, the book includes: a timeline of automotive invention; a "how it works" guide to modern cars, with exploded diagrams, cutaways, and computer graphics; key physics concepts, all relating to cars and how they run; and a look into the future of cars, including eco-friendly concept cars.
Introduction
Cars are crammed full of science. How fast they go, how quickly
they can stop, and how furiously they can go around a corner are all down to science.
And that’s a good thing, because two things that I really love are cars and science.
How convenient, two of my favorite things all in one.
I know people who can tell the difference between a 1985 and 1986 Ford Fiesta from
500 yards in a snowstorm and who can remember the part number for a 1965 Morris
Minor handbrake cable, but what they can’t explain to me is the difference between
power and torque.
Things like this are very useful for us to know. Lewis Hamilton and his buddies in
Formula 1 don’t just drive their cars faster and faster until they crash and then
remember to go a little bit slower the next time; they understand what makes their
cars stick to the road like an octopus wearing velcro shoes on a carpet. And because
they understand the science involved, they can help their engineers make the cars go
even faster and, therefore, win races and become rich and famous.
Lots of people driving on the road don’t really understand the science in their cars.
If they did they wouldn’t drive so close to the car in front on the highway because
they’d know about things like inertia and momentum, and would know that if the car
in front stops dead they won’t be able to stop in time. And if they knew a lot about
the science of cars they’d know that stopping suddenly from 70 mph (110 km/h)
involves a lot of forces. And tears and bruises.
It’s a huge subject, so we’ve been very sensible and split this book into four chapters:
Power, Speed, Handling, and Technology. Each chapter covers everything you need
to know to be a real driving expert. How a turbocharger works, how gasoline is
made; we’ll look inside gearboxes and learn why a Formula 1 car’s brakes glow pink
when it’s stopping. And at the end, we’ll look at the kind of cars that we might be
driving in the future.
Throughout the book we’ll be meeting one of the world’s first experts, Sir Isaac
Newton (you can’t miss him, he’s an old-looking geezer with a crazy dress sense and
a massive wig). Most of us know that one day an apple fell on Isaac’s head and he
realized that gravity existed, but he came up with lots of other brainy ideas and
theories, too, most of which are very important to cars.
We know you’ll learn a lot, and we hope you enjoy
doing so.
Summary: 9 year old son's favorite book
Rating: 5
My 9 year old son loves this book. He often watches Top Gear which features Richard Hammond. So he was tickled pink when he got one of his books. But it has so much really cool information. He has read it and re-read it so many times!
Summary: "Cars are crammed full of science!"--R. Hammond
Rating: 5
Richard Hammond is an amusing dude. He wrote "Car Science" and infused his book with humor and fun information along with science. "Cars," he says, "are crammed full of science." If you understood this, you wouldn't follow so closely behind the car in front of you. What happens when he suddenly stops? What does science have to do with speed, you might ask. Mr. Hammond would tell you that cars and speed work by the laws of science: inertia and momentum, forces and gravity, and you in a smashed car.
What do car enthusiasts and politicians have in common? Love of power. Do you know that a horse has only 0.7 horsepower? James Watt based his formula of horsepower on the power of ponies pulling so much coal up a hill in a minute, then re-figured for horses which are bigger. However, horses pull about the same power as ponies, making his figures wrong.
Do you know that the history of the car is really the history of fuel? Or that the answer to the question, How does a car work, is "like a bicyle"--pumping action!
That's how Car Science is explained: simply, verbally, visually. When Hammond uses terms like "powertrain," there is an illustration and several splots of short paragraphs to explain it. There are pistons and here is how they work: pump, crankshaft, flywheel, and good ol' inertia.
The largest engine in the world belongs to Liebherr T282, a truck which hauls vast heaps of mining rubble. Empty, it weighs 221 tons. Its 0-60 mph is never and its horsepower is 3500 (meaning it would take 3500 horses to pull this monster with an engine the size of a car).
How about piston power? A two-page spread explains a single piston (lawnmower) up to a Wankel Rotary. But listen to this description of a V8: "A big V8 is almost like a living thing: it shakes and growls, and when you rev it the hairs on the back of your neck stand up."
Have you heard of the Bugatti Veyron built by Volkswagon? Its engine fills the center of the car and is powered by 1001 horsepower, has 16 pistons and two crankshafts and four turbochargers. It goes 0-60 mph in 2.46 seconds and has a top speed of 253 mph.
Making gasoline out of black gold (crude oil) is the next topic, then the laws of motion (here Newton is introduced), those forces are detailed, gears are explained, and that concludes Part I: Power.
The next three sections are Speed, Handling, and Technology, with history, development, record breakers, stunts, black magic, all-terrain vehicles, monster trucks, G-force, the science of skids, car-crash science, hybrids, a look at the future, and concluding with a glossary and index.
This is a perfect gift for that age 9-12 male car enthusiast. Not only will he learn cars, he will gain a life-long understanding of science! Stop! The book is also good for girls and adults of any age who want to learn cars and science, too! This is an age of equal opportunity!
Summary: Finally, Someone Wrote This!
Rating: 5
Leave it to DK Publishing (of Eyewitness Books fame) to create something this cool! Yes, it's the one boys ages 7-13 have been waiting for: a reader-friendly book about cars.
Car Science is divided into four sections. The first is Power. My favorite spread in this section is "Making gasoline," but the part about gears is also fascinating, as is "Bugatti Veyron," about a car with 1001-brake horsepower, which means it can go from 249 mph to a stop in under 10 seconds.
Section 2 is Speed. It begins with a colorful chart comparing the speeds of different animals and vehicles, from a snail's .03 mph to the Thrust SSC's land-speed record of 763 mph. I also liked finding out how something as odd as a boxfish could give designers an idea for the shape of a car in "Inspired by Nature."
Section 3 addresses Handling. My favorite spread title here is "Wall of Death," with "Monster Trucks" and "Car-crash Science" tied for second.
Section 4, Technology, starts off by explaining what cars are made of, moving on to topics like scuba cars before ending happily with "Top 10 Crazy Ideas."
Car Science is written at about a 3rd grade level, but its appeal is much broader. The book serves as a luring introduction to understanding how cars work. My only request is that someone now write a book explaining cars and their engines in more detail, perhaps at a 6th-8th grade level. (The next one "up" I found was for high schoolers and adults.) In the meantime, boys--and girls--should take a look at this fast, shiny sports car of a book. VROOM! VROOM!
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