Transport
Discover facts about transport. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Transport
Goodyear once built an inflatable airplane
Because actively inflating your desperate getaway vehicle with a glorified bicycle pump is exactly what you want to do in an active war zone. The highly…
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Walking on a highway median guarantees a citation
If you decide to take a leisurely stroll down the grassy strip separating speeding lanes, expect flashing lights to pull up quickly. Authorities strongly…
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Why some logging trucks wear their wheels like backpacks
Hauling a completely empty, incredibly long skeletal trailer back into the deep woods is a fantastic way to burn extra fuel and ruin tires. Many heavy timber…
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Why mail trucks put the steering wheel on the right
The driver sits completely on the wrong side purely so they can reach curbside boxes without standing up. Walking was deemed significantly too inefficient for…
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China sends an empty train to check the tracks
When your trains go 200 miles per hour, hitting a stray branch isn't a minor bump, it's a catastrophe. To avoid turning their ultra-modern locomotives into…
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Why motorcycles don’t rely on gyroscopic forces
For decades, we falsely assumed two-wheeled death machines stayed upright purely because spinning wheels act like gyroscopes. Physicists finally built…
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Why your car visor leaves sunlight's worst gap
No matter how much you unclip, twist, and angrily adjust that floppy interior flap, the glaring light will magically find the exact one-inch gap between the…
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Why airships dump water to climb
To gain altitude quickly, blimps and zeppelins rely on the oldest trick in buoyancy. They simply open a valve and dump hundreds of gallons of literal water…
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Early car radios needed their own battery
Imagine wanting to listen to the news so badly you give up half your legroom. The first commercial car radios in the 1930s were colossal vacuum-tube…
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Ancient Roman roads are still used by cars
Modern cities struggle to patch a pothole without it opening back up a week later. Meanwhile, the ancient Romans layered stone, gravel, and volcanic ash so…
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Unicycle saddles feature bulky bumpers on both ends
When you inevitably abandon ship, the saddle is going to smash into the pavement. Knowing this, unicycle seats are designed with thick, replaceable plastic…
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Why a mile means 1,000 Roman paces
If you hate the imperial system, blame the Romans. "Mile" is derived from "mille passus," which was exactly 1,000 paces by a Roman legionary. It’s entirely…
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White remains the universally most popular car paint color
People buy white vehicles foolishly thinking they look perpetually clean. In reality, it just heavily highlights every single speck of road grime you encounter.
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Balloon envelopes consist of specialized ripstop nylon
When your life depends on a single layer of fabric heavily containing superheated air, a tiny tear cannot be allowed to spread. The fabric is stitched in a…
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Queen Victoria wouldn't let her train exceed 40 mph
The monarch was utterly terrified of momentum. She mandated that her royal train never surpass a sluggish 40 miles per hour, aggressively yelling at operators…
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Why a unicycle makes slouching impossible
Slouching is physically impossible when your entire center of gravity rests precisely on a single axle. If you try to aggressively lean forward like on a…
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London cable car transports commuters across the dark Thames
Pitched as a transit revolution, it mostly serves to slowly dangle passengers over an industrial stretch of water. It is the perfect commute for those who…
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Ancient Chinese wheelbarrows could carry passengers
Forget luxury carriages; the premium ride was a highly balanced wheelbarrow. Ancient Chinese transit masters figured out that a well-designed wheelbarrow…
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Hang gliders rely entirely on shifting human body weight
With no mechanical flaps or rudder pedals, hang glider pilots steer entirely by throwing their own mass around inside a hanging harness. Want to dive?…
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Hand trucks use basic leverage to move massive boxes
Shoving a metal plate under a heavy refrigerator is only half the battle. By utilizing the long metal handle as a lever and the hard rubber tires as a perfect…
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Some skydivers can break the sound barrier
Jumping from the extreme upper atmosphere completely breaks the standard rules of falling. Without thick lower air to cause early drag, falling bodies…
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Why walking on sand takes more effort
A relaxing walk on the beach is basically a massive workout in disguise. Because the ground shifts beneath your feet, your muscles are forced to exert twice…
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The airport bigger than Manhattan
It is absurdly huge and visually swallows entire city layouts. You practically need to board a secondary smaller flight just to reach your designated…
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Your motorcycle helmet may expire after five years
That rugged piece of safety gear has a shorter shelf life than most canned goods. The protective foam inside degrades over a handful of years, losing its…
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