Thursday 27 September 2012

Car Safety

      Car safety is probably one of the most important things about cars the amount of work that goes into preparing a car with the safety features needed to save a person from fatal injuries is terrific, there is still always a danger because road traffic injuries still represent the leading cause in worldwide injury-related death which kill 1.2 million people per year and injure about 40 times this number.



      Cars can also be a problem to the environment because of the gases and fumes that they release, According to the American Surface Transportation Policy Project nearly half of all Americans are breathing unhealthy air. Their study showed air quality in dozens of metropolitan areas has worsened over the last decade. In the United States the average passenger car emits 11,450 pounds (5,190 kg) of the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide annually, along with smaller amounts of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen.




       Animals and plants are often negatively impacted by automobiles via habitat destruction and pollution. Over the lifetime of the average automobile the "loss of habitat potential" may be over 50,000 square meters (540,000 sq ft) based on primary production correlations. Animals are also killed every year on roads by automobiles, referred to as Roadkill.

Background Information and Country of Origin Information about cars

One thing that we have a lot of is different types and makers of cars from off-road vehicles to the race cars there are a lot of cars for different situations. This is a list of different car makers around the world.


BMW: The BMW(Bavarian Motor Works) Is a German car company which was founded in 1917. It has it's headquarters in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It also owns and produces the Mini, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW also produces motorcycles.

Renault: is a French vehicle manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, It is headquartered in Boulogne-Billancourt.

Audi: Is a German car company which, design, engineer, manufacture and distribute automobiles and motorcycles under the Audi, Ducati and Lamborghini brands. Audi oversees worldwide operations from its headquarters in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany.

Ford: Is an American multinational automaker headquartered in Dearborn,Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobiles and commercial vehicles.

Volvo: Is  a Swedish manufacturer of trucks,buses and construction equipment, and a former manufacturer of cars. In 2010 Ford sold their interest of Volvo to Chinese motor manufacturer Geety Automobile.

Jeep: Is  a brand of American automobiles that is a marquee of Chrysler Group LLC, a multinational automobile manufacturer in a global strategic alliance with Fiat.

Ferrari: Is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929, as Scuderia Ferrari, Ferrari road cars are generally seen as a symbol of luxury and wealth.

Volkswagen: Is a German automobile manufacturer and the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group. It has three cars in the top 10 list of best-selling cars of all time compiled by the website 24/7 Wall St: the Volkswagen Golf, the Volkswagen Beetle, and the Volkswagen Passat. With these three cars, Volkswagen has the most cars of any automobile manufacturer in the list that are still being manufactured.

Peugeot: Is a major French car brand, part of PSA Peugeot Citroën, the second largest carmaker based in Europe.

Toyota: Is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Toyota, Aichi, Japan. In 2010, Toyota employed 300,734 people worldwide, and was the second largest automobile manufacturer in 2010 by production. Toyota is the ninth largest company in the world by revenue. In July 2012 the company reported that it had manufactured its 200 millionth vehicle.


(Information taken of Wikipedia)

How Cars Are Made

       Cars require a lot of different processes to make with a lot of different materials being needed to produce them. The main material needed to make a standard car is metal here is a list of the main kind of metals that cars are made off :
Iron
Manganese-steel alloy
Arsenic-solder
Niobium-high strength, low-alloy steel
Silver-electrical contacts
Magnesium-Aluminium alloy
Lead-battery
Chromium-plating
Cadmium-also plating
Nickel-plating, stainless steel
Copper-electrical wiring,radiator
Zinc-anti-corrosion plating
Germanium-diodes
Gallium-also diodes
Tin-solder
Aluminium-alloy
Vanadium-steel
Cobalt-also steel
Barium-engine lubricants
Strontium-steel
Tungsten-light filaments
Titanium-steel, paint
Molybdenum-engine lubricants, steel
Sodium-grease
and Calcium-oils and greases

Another key material needed in cars is fibreglass which is lightweight, extremely strong and robust material in some other cars, like the Jaguar wood has also been used in the making of the car. The most important part of any car is of course the engine, using either petrol or diesel for fuel, or electric cars which use electricity. Here is a video of how car engines are made.

All of these materials and fuels all come from everywhere around the world really.






Friday 21 September 2012

Mass Production of Cars

    The large scale production of cars was debuted by Ransom Olds in 1902 at his Oldsmobile factory. This concept was greatly expanded by Henry Ford in 1914. As a result, Ford's cars came off the line in fifteen minute intervals, much faster than previous methods, increasing productivity eightfold, while requiring less man-power
   
     In the automotive industry Ford Britain and Ford France were formed in 1911, Ford Denmark in 1923, Ford Germany in 1925, In 1921 Citroen was the first native European manufacturer to adopt this production method. This Ford model T was seen as the first affordable model. Since 1920 almost all cars have been mass produced to suit market needs, since then almost all cars have been mass produced to suit market needs.
File:Late model Ford Model T.jpg

The growth of the amount of cars in the world since then has been immense, with particularly big growth in countries in Asia.

Friday 14 September 2012

History of Cars

The first functional steam-powered vehicle was likely designed by Ferdinand Verbiest, a member on a Jesuit mission in China in around 1672, It was around 65 cm in length and was made for the Emperor of China at the time, though it was unable to carry a driver because of it being too small.

  Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot is credited  with the building and invention of the first self-propelled vehicle, Karl Benz is generally credited with the invention of the first modern Automobile. His invention though was hampered by problems with water supply and steam pressure.

In 1879, Benz was granted a patent for his first engine, which had been designed in 1878. Around 25 Benz
vehicles were sold in between 1888 and 1893. In 1888 Bertha Benz the wife of Karl Benz took the first road trip by car to prove the worthiness of her husbands invention.

The first design for an American automobile with a petrol internal combustion engine was made in 1877 by George Selden. Though it took 16 years for him to get patent on it . His patent was challenged by Henry Ford in 1911, and overturned.

The first diesel motor was made in 1897 by the German engineer Rudolf Diesel. Steam, eletric, petrol and diesel engines would go on to compete for decades

Wednesday 5 September 2012

Introduction

Hi, I'm David Nielsen and I hope to tell you about the geography of cars, have you ever wondered where all of the parts of a car are made. Have you ever wondered how that car makers can fit all of the mechanisms and electronics into such a small space, or do you just like different types of cars from Formula 1 cars to to the first car from 1855, I will be writing about and looking at everything about the geography of cars.