The Physics of an Electric Car Essay -- Technology Science Inventions

The Physics of an Electric Car Cannon returns home from work on an average day. He gets his things and trudges into the house, thinking about the events of the day. He relaxes for the evening, thinking about the good things in life. He is lucky that he has a good job, a nice house, and a nice car. But wait, it feels like he forgot something today. His mind races, did he forget a project at work? He couldn’t have, he works so hard to keep up. Not thinking of what he forgot, Cannon stumbles to bed for much needed rest. About three o’clock, Cannon shoots out of bed. He remembered†¦ He forgot to plug in his car. Will there be enough power in the batteries to get him to work? How in the world does that car work anyway? During the past few years, there has been an increasing concern over our use of gasoline in cars. There are a few answers to this concern. One of the first and most viable answers is the electric car. These vehicles are made up of a few components that help them run just like a normal car. The components to a direct current (DC) electric vehicle are the batteries, the controller and potentiometer, the motor and a specialized One of the major problems with electric vehicles is storing enough energy to supply the motor over an extended range. The average distance for an electric vehicle is 50-100 miles. Batteries are the energy source for our vehicles. â€Å"Most electric cars use lead-acid batteries, but new types of batteries, including zinc-chlorine, nickel metal hydride, and sodium-sulfur, are becoming more common† (Encarta, car). In most vehicles, storage for batteries is a problem. It takes a lot of room for the batteries. It takes between 16 and 50 batteries to get enough energy stored to go any distance. .. ...ssed and turned all night. He wondered if he would have enough battery power to get him to work on time. Turns out he did have enough to get to work. He spent the next day looking into what made his car run. He realized that there are only a few major components to his electric vehicle: the batteries, the controller and potentiometers, the motor, and the regenerative braking system. What a great way to travel! Works Cited Brian, Marshall. â€Å"How Electric Cars Work.† 1 May 2003. http://auto.howstuffworks.com/electric-car.htm "Electric Car," Microsoft ® Encarta ® Online Encyclopedia 2003. 1 May 2003. http://encarta.msn.com "Electric Motors and Generators," Microsoft ® Encarta ® Online Encyclopedia 2003. 1 May 2003. http://encarta.msn.com Kirkpatrick, Larry D., Wheeler, Gerald F. Physics: A World View. Fourth ed. Fort Worth: Harcourt College Publishers, 2001. The Physics of an Electric Car Essay -- Technology Science Inventions The Physics of an Electric Car Cannon returns home from work on an average day. He gets his things and trudges into the house, thinking about the events of the day. He relaxes for the evening, thinking about the good things in life. He is lucky that he has a good job, a nice house, and a nice car. But wait, it feels like he forgot something today. His mind races, did he forget a project at work? He couldn’t have, he works so hard to keep up. Not thinking of what he forgot, Cannon stumbles to bed for much needed rest. About three o’clock, Cannon shoots out of bed. He remembered†¦ He forgot to plug in his car. Will there be enough power in the batteries to get him to work? How in the world does that car work anyway? During the past few years, there has been an increasing concern over our use of gasoline in cars. There are a few answers to this concern. One of the first and most viable answers is the electric car. These vehicles are made up of a few components that help them run just like a normal car. The components to a direct current (DC) electric vehicle are the batteries, the controller and potentiometer, the motor and a specialized One of the major problems with electric vehicles is storing enough energy to supply the motor over an extended range. The average distance for an electric vehicle is 50-100 miles. Batteries are the energy source for our vehicles. â€Å"Most electric cars use lead-acid batteries, but new types of batteries, including zinc-chlorine, nickel metal hydride, and sodium-sulfur, are becoming more common† (Encarta, car). In most vehicles, storage for batteries is a problem. It takes a lot of room for the batteries. It takes between 16 and 50 batteries to get enough energy stored to go any distance. .. ...ssed and turned all night. He wondered if he would have enough battery power to get him to work on time. Turns out he did have enough to get to work. He spent the next day looking into what made his car run. He realized that there are only a few major components to his electric vehicle: the batteries, the controller and potentiometers, the motor, and the regenerative braking system. What a great way to travel! Works Cited Brian, Marshall. â€Å"How Electric Cars Work.† 1 May 2003. http://auto.howstuffworks.com/electric-car.htm "Electric Car," Microsoft ® Encarta ® Online Encyclopedia 2003. 1 May 2003. http://encarta.msn.com "Electric Motors and Generators," Microsoft ® Encarta ® Online Encyclopedia 2003. 1 May 2003. http://encarta.msn.com Kirkpatrick, Larry D., Wheeler, Gerald F. Physics: A World View. Fourth ed. Fort Worth: Harcourt College Publishers, 2001.

The Ever Growing Concern of Ballot Accuracy among the American Electorate

Ballistics is one of the essential components of forensic science. Researchers and scholars in ballistics actively work to improve the quality of ballistics research methods and to enhance the effectiveness of all forensic procedures. It should be noted, that ballistics was not always widely recognized as a scientific method of firearms identification. For many years, courts and law enforcement professionals viewed ballistics as unnecessary and unimportant in the investigation of the major criminal cases.Now, with the advent of the new technological age, ballistics has not only turned into the critical element of success in forensics, but is actively aligned with advanced technologies to speed up the process of identification of firearms. Ballistics (Forensic Science) Introduction Ballistics is one of the essential components of forensic science. Researchers and scholars in ballistics actively work to improve the quality of ballistics research methods and to enhance the effectiveness of all forensic procedures.It should be noted, that ballistics was not always widely recognized as a scientific method of firearms identification. For many years, courts and law enforcement professionals viewed ballistics as unnecessary and unimportant in the investigation of the major criminal cases. Now, with the advent of the new technological age, ballistics has not only turned into the critical element of success in forensics, but is actively aligned with advanced technologies to speed up the process of identification of firearms.Ballistics: definition and history To begin with, â€Å"ballistics, in the most general sense, is the study of firearms – ‘guns’ in the vernacular. As a term of art, ballistics technically refers to the study of a bullet’s path from the firearm, through the air, and into a target† (Carlucci & Jacobson, 2007). From the viewpoint of forensics, ballistics comes up to represent a system of principles and calculations used to match recovered bullets (or their casings) to the firearms which were used to fire them.To a large extent, the study of ballistics is based on the whole set of physical laws, starting with the law of ideal gas and up to the principles of explosion and pressure within the firearms. Currently, ballistics is used to resolve the major firearms complexities, which law enforcement professionals face in the process of investigating a crime. A professional in practical ballistics works to restore the picture of the crime using firearms, bullets, casings, or their residues, and to match them to the marks that had been left on the crime scene.Despite the seriousness of the firearms identification process and the role which ballistics may play for the effectiveness of other forensic procedures, it was not before the beginning of the 1950s that the term â€Å"ballistics† became a widely recognized description of firearms studies (Warlow, 2004). The history of ballistics dates back to the times, when firearms were made manually and individually and each bullet was unique. Gunsmiths were the ones to produce flintlocks and matchlocks, and each firearm bore the sign of its creator.Early firearms could be readily compared to the works of art, for even â€Å"the screws that held together early firearms were handmade and often specific in width and pitch of the threads† (Carlucci & Jacobson, 2007). In conditions where firearms could be distinguished from one another without a difficulty and where every gun bore a unique sign of its creator, matching bullets to firearms was not a difficult task. As a result, early forensic scientists did not really need the knowledge of ballistics in its current form.Matching bullets to their molds was an easy-to-accomplish procedure and did not require any specialized skills or calculations. At the beginning of the 19th century, however, bullets and firearms have turned into the products of mass production, and the form of the bullet was standardized (Carlucci & Jacobson, 2007). Although the amount of firearms models was rather limited and a criminal investigator could easily name the firearm from which specific bullets came, it was no longer possible to distinguish between different variations of firearms that had been produced by one manufacturer (Carlucci & Jacobson, 2007).That is why forensic professionals have become increasingly interested in studying specific features of bullets and firearms that might have been concealed from the naked eye. Phillip Gavelle was one of the first to use microscopes to investigate the features of bullets and compare them to the details and characteristics of the crime scene (Warlow, 2004). With time, experts have also come to realize the role which firing pin and breech marks could play for the identification of firearms (Carlucci & Jacobson, 2007).Unfortunately, the term â€Å"ballistics† and the importance of firearms investigation did not attract public atte ntion, and only after the Sacco and Vanzetti case, as well as the publication of the three firearms identification treatises, the court has officially recognized ballistics as a forensic science, giving law enforcement professionals a chance to improve the quality of all forensic procedures and to develop a new system of forensic methodology with regard to firearms (Warlow, 2004). Ballistics in its modern form: internal, external, and terminalCertainly, with the scientific contribution which Goddard made to the development of ballistics, we would hardly be aware of how effective firearms identification could be for resolving the most complicated criminal cases. Now, as guns and firearms are mass-produced, and thousands and millions of individuals are given the legal right to carry concealed arms, ballistics gradually turns into the central component in the system of law enforcement principles used to reduce and prevent crime threats.In its current form, ballistics is usually divided into the three distinct areas: internal, external, and terminal ballistics. This division is necessary to make the study of separate ballistics aspects more effective, and to provide forensic scientists with sufficient analytical instruments. Moreover, this division is based on the path, which a bullet usually passes down the barrel, through the air, and finally, through a target. Internal ballistics (or initial ballistics) is concentrated around the path, which a bullet passes within the gun (Carlucci & Jacobson, 2007).Although measuring and describing the path of the bullet within the gun is very difficult and almost impossible, forensic scientists use velocity (or muzzle velocity) as the central forensic criterion in the study of internal bullet behaviors. Internal ballistics â€Å"concerns what happens within a time span of in the region of 2 ms between the impact of the firing pin or striker and the exit of the bullet or shot charge from the muzzle end of the barrel† (W arlow, 2004).Energy transfer, pressures and powders, combustion residues, as well as recoil in the weapon are the elements forensic professionals need to know, in order to relate the processes within the gun to the results they have produced on the crime scene. As soon as the bullet leaves the barrel, it becomes an object of external ballistics study. The latter is concerned with the pathway the bullet passes after leaving the barrel and involves the study of missile trajectory, and the impact which air gravity and resistance might have caused on it (Carlucci & Jacobson, 2007).In terms of smooth-bored guns, forensic scientists are usually concerned about the changes that might have occurred in the spread of the shot charge (Warlow, 2004). Crosswinds and the way they change missile trajectory are just another subjects of forensic research in external ballistics. External ballistics usually seeks to determine the scope of influences other materials could produce on the bullet. For exa mple, and Warlow (2004) emphasizes this fact, unburned propellant particles will tend to significantly affect the bullet at close range.Bullet stability, flight, sectional density and shape, and even aerodynamic stabilization form the numerical basis of external ballistics and turn it into a distinctively mathematical field, well-known for its complex algebraic and geometric calculations. The study of the bullet path would be incomplete without researching the processes and changes the bullet undergoes after hitting a target. Upon striking a target, the bullet either deforms or disintegrates, simultaneously damaging or destroying the target (Carlucci & Jacobson, 2007).These elements are the objects of terminal ballistics research. Terminal ballistics professionals work to link the character of the target destruction to the missile trajectory, its velocity, specific characteristics, design, and the features of the target itself. Given that the majority of targets which terminal balli stics investigates are humans, and taking into account the complex structure of the human body, terminal ballistics is probably the most complicated and the most responsible area of forensic firearms science.Researchers suggest that the bullet’s behaviors after hitting the human target are too unexpected and too unpredictable (Carlucci & Jacobson, 2007; Warlow, 2004). Forensic scientists are not always able to establish the link between the pathway the bullet has passed and the injuries found in a victim’s body. That is why terminal ballistics is a complex study of ricochet, impact, penetration, and kinetic forces that are considered responsible for the major motional shifts the bullet undergoes after hitting a target.Forensic ballistics: the new technological stage With the number of physical laws ballistics uses to match the bullets to firearms and to investigate the pathway the bullet passes from the barrel through a target, it is natural that ballistics professiona ls are involved into complex computation processes. However, with the advent of the new technological age forensic scientists have been offered an opportunity to use computer and software technologies for calculation purposes.Now, ballistics software models are extremely sophisticated in contents, but extremely easy in use. IT professionals were able to simplify and integrate the complicated systems of motion, dynamics, gravity and location, as well as hundreds of other physical concepts and principles into a universal system of calculation, which specialists in ballistics use to compute and describe the missile trajectory and bullet flight performance.Unfortunately, there is a whole set of problems to resolve before ballistics software turns into a reliable tool of forensic knowledge. For example, external ballistics technology is concerned with the way equations of motion can be simplified to improve the quality of six-degrees-of-freedom equations and to speed up the process of th eir solution (Belzer, Holzman & Kent, 2006). â€Å"There are also problems with fluid mechanics. These may include matters of universal interest, such as similarity principles, e.g. for transonic flow† (Belzer, Holzman & Kent, 2006). In terminal ballistics, chemistry is the major obstacle IT designers and developers face on their way to creating an effective system of ballistics computation; fluid mechanics also makes it difficult to design complex equations that would take into account the principles of heat conduction, viscosity, chemical reactions, and temperature dependencies (Belzer, Holzman & Kent, 2006).Nevertheless, it is with the emergence of new technologies that ballistics has been given a second breathe and it is in the current technological age that ballistics is likely to become a rapidly evolving area of forensic science and law enforcement, with the emphasis made on the speed and quality of ballistics solutions. Conclusion For many years, ballistics remained a n area of knowledge mostly neglected by forensic professionals.However, as firearms have been gradually turning into the objects of mass production, it was becoming more and more difficult to match bullets to the firearms from which they came. As a result, ballistics has come to represent a complex system of investigation principles aimed at researching the bullet behavior on its way from the barrel and through a target, as well as matching bullets to specific firearms and the marks they have left on the crime scene.Now, under the impact of technological progress, ballistics has been successfully aligned with the complex computation models, and although there is still much to resolve before ballistics becomes a purely technological field, it is obvious that ballistics will remain one of the most rapidly evolving areas of forensic science, with the emphasis made on the speed and quality of ballistics solutions.References Belzer, J. , Holzman, A. G. & Kent, A. (2006). Encyclopedia of science and technology. CRC Press. Carlucci, D. E. & Jacobson, S. (2007). Ballistics: Theory and design of guns and ammunition. CRC Press. Warlow, T. A. (2004). Firearms, the law, and forensic ballistics. CRC Press.

Personal Analysis on “the Step Not Taken” by Paul D’Angelo

An essay that I will be examining through the framework of a monomyth archetype is â€Å"The Step Not Taken† by Paul D'Angelo in which he recollects his thoughts and emotions after a Toronto-based event in which he is faced with a young man in an elevator who suddenly and without provocation breaks down in tears, thus putting the author's public persona that he carries for strangers at odds with his inner ego and sense of social self-worth. The questions that the author has explored in the essay were â€Å"Why has the man started crying? , â€Å"What should or could have the narrator done to help? † and â€Å"What might the man's reaction have been if the narrator have done anything differently? †. In this essay, I will assign the author a role of a classic archetypical hero and explore his inner journey that began due to broken social behavioural norms through the grander prism of a monomyth – first paragraph will shine a light on author's separation fro m the ordinary, the sudden actions of a stranger that have unwittingly propelled the hero to partake an deep inner journey and re-examine his inner values.In the second paragraph I will examine author's inner struggle that is present throughout the entire essay and lastly, Next, I will overview author's return and self-balancing reintegration during which he has time to reflect and ponder what could have gone differently in the aforementioned encounter. The closing paragraph will deal with more personal aspects of the essay and examine author's thoughts and epiphany when viewed through a humane and empathetical social position rather than a tale of an archetypical grandiose hero on a spiritual and emotional journey. Also read The Story of an Eyewitness Essay AnalysisThe initial story begins with a quite an ordinary event that is common to all city-dwellers – an elevator ride with a stranger. The author at first assumes a role of a neutral observer in ordinary realm, perhaps maybe with a gist of Sherlock Holmes-like ability to notice finer details on strangers. After a description of the fellow elevator rider, we are introduced to the event that thrusts the narrator in the realm of adventure or uncertainty.While it would be rather rude to perceive a sad and emotional non-fictional encounter in which a grown man suddenly breaks down into tears as a call for an adventure, the narrator has positioned himself as a hero of the story who is faced with a certain emotional obstacle that he must overcome. We, as impartial readers, may assume that as soon as the hero has in any way, shape or form internally accepted the event that has thrust him out of his ordinary environment into the realm of new experiential learning, a quest to return home with some sort of new knowledge or experience has begun.As soon as the hero has accepted his quest, we can fully affirm that the monomythical act of separation has occurred and the hero has began his experiential journey. In Paul D'Angelo's essay, his initial â€Å"benevolent guide† that has placed him on his journey, and the one that he chose to call upon when faced with an unusual circumstance, is surprisingly enough, a set of ephemeral rules and regulations that he called â€Å"typical Toronto elevator etiquette†. These guidelines, if personified, would perfectly fill the niche of a magical goddess being or a guide that many classic heroes would rely upon in their decision making process.After the initial unspoken interaction between two strangers in the elevator, the narrator has been tasked with accepting his quest of something I would call a â€Å"reactionary†, as in, the person who reacts to an irritant, if I were to use a scientific lingo. At this point, whether the narrator liked it or not, he has fully accepted his quest of deciding which social role he would play – a good Samaritan who expresses some sort of empathy to a fellow human being in distress or an actor who chooses to pretend that nothing unusual is happening and carries on with his â€Å"act† that he has planned beforehand – leaving the elevator car at floor ten.That is, in many ways, his first and final test on his very short journey from floor one to floor ten. In the timespan of seconds, the hero had to decide whether or not he will give in his â€Å"shadow† and will play it safe by ignoring the troubled man or whether he will become an empathetical being who would share the pain of a stranger. Lastly, we are presented with myriad of questions that the author has posed to himself throughout and after the entire ordeal. It would seem to me that it is at this stage the author has entered his â €Å"inner sanctum† where he could reflect on his social quest.Halfway through the essay the narrator states that â€Å"the few people I have told about the incident all say I did the proper thing† which suddenly shifts the entire story away from the elevator scene and somewhere safe where our hero had time to think and reflect on his experience. This is the end point of his journey, as he has returned home where he he had assumed a position of a more experienced individual who has acquired new social wisdom and has shared his knowledge to others, a final part of the monomythical cycle.This entire journey and reflective questions has reminded me of a inner journey undertaken by Jack London's White Fang, where the story follows a wolf pup who explores his surroundings and when taken into care by humans, tries to learn the humans ways and similar to our elevator hero, tries to figure out whether to show empathy to another being's suffering or stay safe and at home. While there is no question that a emotional journey did take place, it is hard to say whether the protagonist has actually completed his social quest or not.Sure, there were many questions that he has raised to himself, but they were never fully answered. To me, numerous questions without clear answers show that the narrator has not fully integrated the experience that has caused him to raise the concerns about himself or the weeping stranger. Author's final epiphany regarding doing the â€Å"right thing† and not the â€Å"big-city thing† reflects back to the idea of taking the â€Å"elevator etiquette† as his guide at the time of need.Sure, there are time where one needs to play the ignorance card, but thinking that feeling unempathic towards your fellow commuter is something that big cities are abundant with is a very wrong stance to take, in my opinion. Perhaps, it is a â€Å"men don't cry† stereotype that was at play here and it is very much debatable wheth er one should keep up the image or try to break down such notions.While such stereotype is still relevant to today's world, I disagree with the author that there is a clear cut answer as to what he should have done in his encounter, but the fact that he did write his essay shows to me one important thing – he did want to show some sort of support to the stranger in need. It is just that in modern day and age, we more often than not have too little time and disposition to thoughtfully and timely react to an event that might be only several seconds long, but may haunt us for a lifetime.