Transport
Discover facts about transport. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Transport
Juggling while running has its own name
It’s called joggling: juggling while jogging. Each stride jolts the hands, so the juggler has to time every throw around the body’s bounce. The balls get a…
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Why flying at 500 mph feels like sitting still
At a steady cruise, you and the cabin move together, so there’s little sense of the plane’s forward speed from inside.
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Terminal tractors have rear cab doors
Terminal tractors spend their days hooking up trailers and shuffling them around tight yards. A rear cab door gives the driver another way in and out when the…
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How some fighter jets hover in midair
Their engines redirect thrust downward, pushing up with enough force to balance the jet’s weight. The aircraft hangs in place on its own exhaust—basically, a…
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How airliners stay balanced as they burn fuel
Airliners draw fuel in a planned sequence to keep their center of gravity within safe limits and prevent one wing from carrying more weight than the other.…
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Night cycling absolutely requires a white front light
A front light illuminates the road and makes a bike visible to approaching traffic; white light marks the front, while red marks the rear. The color code…
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Potenza public escalators replace steep pedestrian climbs
Potenza’s steep streets make a direct walk feel like a stair-climbing exam, so public escalators carry people up the hill instead. The city keeps its dramatic…
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Gliders are towed into the sky by standard airplanes
The towplane supplies the climb, pulling the glider into the sky on a tow rope. After release, the glider’s wings make lift from the moving air, and rising…
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Septic tanks function by letting dense sewage sludge sink
Inside a septic tank, gravity does the first dirty job: heavy solids sink into sludge while fats and grease float. Bacteria digest some of the waste below,…
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The Panama Canal lifts ships over the land
Ships rise through locks to Gatun Lake, about 85 feet above sea level, then descend toward the other ocean. Water flowing by gravity fills and empties the…
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Bomber crews can spend 30 hours in the air
Aerial tankers pass fuel to long-range bombers in midair, keeping the aircraft flying long after its original fuel supply would run out. The crew rotates rest…
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Zeppelin hangars were big enough for indoor rain
Their huge interiors could trap enough humidity for moisture to condense near the ceiling and fall as isolated showers on the ground crew below.
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Why racing huskies can eat 10,000 calories a day
A sled dog has to power every stride and heat its body against freezing air, mile after mile. That takes an astonishing amount of fuel: the dogs are athletes…
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Early sleeper trains had one basin for everyone
Early sleeper cars had little room for plumbing, so passengers shared a basin instead of getting a private sink in every berth. One washstand served the whole…
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Matte car finishes absorb light instead of reflecting it
Glossy paint sends light back in crisp reflections; matte texture breaks those reflections into a softer spread. The finish trades showroom sparkle for a…
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Amtrak can have legal priority and still wait for freight
Much of its service uses tracks owned by freight railroads, whose dispatchers control train movements. Federal law generally gives Amtrak preference, yet…
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Hi-rail vehicles drive on roads and tracks
A hi-rail truck lowers steel wheels onto the rails, then lifts them again for the road. One vehicle switches jobs without asking either the highway or the…
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Singapore cable car moves crowds between an island and peak
The cabins keep circulating above the harbor, carrying passengers between Mount Faber and Sentosa without joining the traffic below. A cable does the…
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Some performance mufflers are built to be loud
A performance muffler uses a straighter path through the exhaust, with a perforated core that keeps flow moving instead of trapping sound in a maze of…
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Brisbane CityCats move passengers along a winding river
The Brisbane River bends through the city, and CityCats follow its waterway instead of trying to cut across blocks of land. Their twin hulls provide a steady…
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Shaking small parts until they march in lines
The bowl’s vibration nudges parts along a shaped ramp, while guides turn them into the same orientation. Wrong-way pieces fall back for another go, because…
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Those hearse bars are purely decorative
The bars are a callback to the folding roofs on old landau carriages. Hearse roofs no longer fold, but the hardware stayed on for the look: vintage hinges,…
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Roller skate wheel durometers measure urethane hardness
A durometer presses into a skate wheel’s urethane to measure how hard it is. Softer wheels cushion rough pavement; harder ones roll more freely on smooth…
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Why airplane wings turn upward at the tips
High-pressure air beneath a wing spills toward the low-pressure air above it, creating swirling vortices at the tips. Upturned wingtips reduce those vortices.
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