Cars – The Invention that Changed All of Humanity

Imagine living your daily life without cars. Cars are an essential part of our lives, cars have made transportation way easier, faster, and more efficient. Without cars, humans would have not been able to do a lot of the things they are able to do today. Cars allowed people to go to places they never could have before. Cars are not just helpful, they also look good, cars are also way more efficient than a horse or a carriage. No other invention has affected humanity so much like the car.

We don’t really know who invented the first modern automobile but most people give credit to a man named Karl Benz from Germany in 1885/1886. His design was described as a “gasoline / Automobile powered by an internal combustion engine: three wheeled, four-cycle, engine, and chassis form a single unit” according to loc.gov. His invention amazed people, and so then they all wanted to try doing something like it.

Henry Ford was known for making the first efficient automobile. His design looks very similar to a lot of the cars we see today. He was also known for his invention called the assembly line. This invention is so well made that manufacturers still use the assembly line to this day. The assembly line works like this, each worker is assigned a station, in that station the worker does a very specific task and just repeats it over and over again, and then the product is passed to another station that is assigned a different task and this keeps going until the product is completed, for example if a company is making tables, one station gathers the parts, and these parts are then passed to another station which puts in the screws, and then it gets passed on until the table is built. This was a way to mass-produce things very quickly and efficiently.

There are many parts that work together to make a car work, but the most important one is the engine. It is often referred to as the combustion engine; the primary parts of a combustion engine are basically made up of a cylinder, a spark plug, and a piston. In summary how a combustion engine works like this. When someone pushes the gas pedal, it puts the fuel in the cylinder and so then once the fuel is in, the spark plug located at the top of the cylinder ignites and causes a tiny explosion causing the piston inside go down and turn some gears that turn the wheels of the car, and the cycle repeats. An average car has eight cylinders, some have four and some have six.

Other important parts of a car are the brakes, steering wheel, exhaust system, and many more. Without the brakes, the number of casualties would increase tremendously. Without the steering wheel, we can’t control were our car goes, The Exhaust system allows a car to remove gas waste that is not needed, also it reduces the amount of noise in the car.

Most cars today run on gasoline. Gasoline has proven to be better than steam. It is more efficient and reliable. A gasoline engine is less likely to explode, unlike a steam engine. Also, a car that runs on gasoline can go further distances than on electricity so far. Due to the fact that gasoline damages the environment, scientists are improving the electric engines so they can replace gasoline engines. Electric engines are cleaner and do not damage the environment by releasing harmful gasses.

Cars have very negatively affected the environment, personal cars are one of the major factors that are causing global warming, the UCSUSA (The Union of Concerned Scientists) says that “Collectively, cars and trucks account for nearly one-fifth of all US emissions, emitting around 24 pounds of carbon dioxide and other global-warming gases for every gallon of gas.” This is just in the US. There is still hope though, and there are many easy solutions to end global warming and save the world. Instead of using the car all of the time to get to places, you can just ride a bus, and if you have a friend near you that goes to the same school, arrange a carpool. If you are going short distances, try using a bike. If you can, buy an electrical car, sure it is expensive, but it is actually cheaper in the long run, because going to the gas station every time the car runs out of gas, costs more money than plugging it into a charger overnight.

Cars have also caused a lot of deaths in the US. About 100 people die every day from vehicle accidents. In 2018, 40,000 people died as a result of car crashes. The National Safety Council has made a study that shows that “In 2018, an estimated 40,000 people lost their lives to car crashes – a 1% decline from 2017 (40,231 deaths) and 2016 (40,327 deaths). About 4.5 million people were seriously injured in crashes last year – also a 1% decrease over 2017.. These tremendous numbers are mostly caused by silly mistakes such as texting on the phone, or being drunk while driving, or just simply not abiding by the laws and speed limits. Always never unnecessarily go on your phone and get distracted, 1 out of 4 car crashes is caused by distractions on a mobile device, never go above the speed limit. These little things can save you and the people around you, it’s really your choice.

There are many advantages to owning a car. Cars look great, cars are also fun to drive. Cars have made transportation fast and easy. Cars have allowed humans to travel places even in rough climate conditions like heavy snow or rain. All cars have the cooling and heating system, so if it was a very hot day we can just turn on the AC, or if it was a cold day we can just with a click of a button be warm.

Cars also have their disadvantages, other than cars being a major cause of global warming and all the death rate caused by accidents. Cars are expensive and not all families can afford to have one. It is also expensive to maintain. Also, a lot of people get stuck in traffic jams when they need to go to a certain location quickly. The fuels made for cars are made from the burning of a lot of fossil fuels preventing future generations from being able to use them.

A few fun facts about cars from affordableautohopkins.com, “the bestselling car of all time was the Toyota Corolla”, “the US consumes about half of the world’s gasoline”, white is the most popular car color, the most commonly stolen vehicle is the Honda Accord, An airbag inflates within 40 milliseconds of a crash, “Ferrari manufactures a maximum of 14 cars a day”, the first cars did not have steering wheels.

Cars have been always developing and becoming better and safer. Today you see many different car companies that are trying to compete with each other and trying their best to make their new car better.

Cars have a long bright future ahead of them. With scientists developing and improving technology, cars will be way different than what we see today. Car companies are already working on self-driving cars, and flying cars, and more cool features that will be added to the car to improve it. They are also working on better airbags and other things to help ease a crash or even prevent it from happening in the first place. Scientists are also finding better, earth-friendly fuels that will replace gasoline, and hopefully reduce the effects of global warming. They are making electric cars more and more efficient, by figuring out ways to make it more reliable than the normal gasoline cars.

There are many alternatives to gasoline, there is Biodiesel which is a renewable fuel made from vegetable oil and animal fat, there is also Ethanol which also a renewable fuel made from corn and other plants, and there’s natural gas which is very abundant and many more types of fuel that can replace normal gasoline.

To conclude cars have made our lives easier by helping us move around and move things around, but we also have to make sure we don’t overuse them because we also have to take care of our environment so we can live a healthy life, and to always focus on the road ahead of us and to not be distracted by our smartphones or any other mobile device and to also not break speed limits, by doing any of those you can get yourself hurt and other people.