Transport
Discover facts about transport. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Transport
You can take oversized liquid medicine through airport security
The 3.4-ounce liquid limit has an exception for medically necessary liquids, including larger bottles of medicine. Tell the security officer and present the…
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A ship's twenty-thousand-container rating is a unit of capacity
Ever Given belongs to the 20,000-TEU class, with TEU meaning a twenty-foot-equivalent container unit. A forty-foot container counts as two of those units. The…
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Alan Shepard played lunar golf one-handed
His bulky spacesuit limited the swing, so he used a modified six-iron with one hand during Apollo 14. The brief stunt placed an ordinary Earth sport in an…
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Some Australian highways double as emergency runways
Long, straight stretches of highway give aircraft a usable strip when a remote airfield is unavailable. The road needs clear approaches and enough room for a…
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Derailleurs aggressively push the chain
The derailleur pushes the chain across the gears while the pedals turn, and the chain climbs onto the next sprocket. It’s less a delicate handoff than a…
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The American diner grew from meals sold after restaurants closed
Walter Scott's night-lunch wagon in Providence served people working or staying out late in the nineteenth century. Successors developed purpose-built lunch…
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Some D-Day paratroopers were sacks of straw
The Allies dropped dummy parachutists nicknamed Ruperts to mislead German defenders about where airborne troops were landing. Noise-making devices and flares…
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The bicycle that sent riders flying over its handlebars
On an early high-wheeled bicycle, the rider sat high over the front wheel. When that wheel hit an obstacle and stopped, the rider’s momentum kept…
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A hot-air balloon is quiet between bursts from the burner
The burner heats the air to adjust lift, then switches off until more heat is needed. Without a continuously running propulsion engine, the balloon drifts…
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Handlebar tape heavily absorbs sweat
Tape around the handlebars gives sweaty hands a grippy, cushioned surface instead of bare metal. It also softens road vibration, so the rider’s palms get less…
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A blimp needs an enormous body because helium's lift is modest
Helium is lighter than the air it displaces, so a large volume provides an upward force. That lift must first pay for the envelope, structure, engines, and…
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Concept of a hemisphere purely divides the globe in half
A hemisphere is simply half a sphere: a great circle, such as the equator, splits Earth into two halves. The mapmakers did not discover a hidden extra planet;…
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Blood pooling in legs during travel causes visible swelling
Leg muscles normally squeeze veins to help push blood back toward the heart. Stay seated for a long ride and that pump goes quiet; fluid gathers below, where…
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Some luxury cars have a starry sky overhead
Tiny fiber-optic strands carry light into the headliner, making pinpricks across the ceiling of the car. It’s a manufactured night sky that stays put through…
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Your flight time includes waiting on the taxiway
Airlines schedule gate-to-gate time, not just time in the air. Taxiing to the runway and trundling to the gate after landing both count, so the clock starts…
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Why carpool lanes sit empty at rush hour
Carpool lanes are reserved for vehicles carrying multiple people, so fewer cars qualify to use them. Their lighter traffic is the point: one car carrying…
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Knitting needles can pass security while many blades cannot
U.S. TSA rules allow knitting needles in carry-on bags, with the final checkpoint decision left to officers. Security lists distinguish specific objects…
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Walt Disney Built A Steam Train In His Backyard
Disney built a miniature live-steam railroad, complete with working locomotive and track, because he loved trains and wanted to ride one at home. The backyard…
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Many helicopters use simple skids instead of wheeled landing
Skids weigh less than landing gear with wheels, and they have fewer moving parts to snag or break. A helicopter settles onto its skids and lifts off again; it…
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Handlebar drop extensions lower the rider's upper body
The drops let a cyclist bend low, shrinking the body’s wall of air. Less air resistance means less effort spent shoving wind aside—and more reason to look…
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Why your suitcase still gets loaded by hand
An airplane’s belly isn’t a neat row of shelves: bags arrive in all shapes and have to fit around the curved hull. Workers stack them by hand, turning the…
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Cargo ships still run on obsolete Windows systems
Ships stay in service for decades, and their onboard computers are tied to equipment tested to work together. Replacing old software means retesting that…
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Convertible soft tops contain multiple layers of insulation
A soft top layers an outer weatherproof fabric over insulation and an inner liner, trapping air that slows heat loss and muffles road noise. It folds down…
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The Romanovs took a grand piano on their train
The imperial train was built for the Romanov family’s comfort, with salon space for music as well as travel. The grand piano turned a rail carriage into a…
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