KNOW THE MEANING OF THESE YELLOW AND WHITE LINES ON THE ROAD !

We travel almost daily on roads and see various lines that are drawn on the road. Sometimes we get confused between various patterns and color of the road line. Knowing road marking is very important when it comes to road safety. In this article, we will tell you the meaning of various types of road lines.

Dashed white line

The most basic marking on roads, it means you may change lanes and are allowed to overtake a vehicle when it is safe to do so. A white line separates lanes of traffic moving in the same direction.

Solid white line

Solid white lines separate two lanes going the same direction. Basically seen on areas of strategic importance, when the line is solid it means that you are not allowed to overtake the car in front of you and should drive in a queue. These are also often used in construction areas to discourage drivers from moving around too much.

White lines on both sides of the road

These solid white lines running along the edge of the road indicate the “shoulder” of the road and let you know that — if the line is on your right side — you’re headed in the same direction as traffic.

Single Solid Yellow Line

Used in areas where visibility is low, it implies you are not meant to overtake any vehicle and should drive on your side.

Double Solid Yellow Lines

Usually used on dangerous roads or 2 lane roads, it strictly prohibits anybody from crossing over into the lane with traffic going in the opposite direction. A double yellow line indicates that passing is not allowed from either side of the road. It is mostly used in 2 lane roads.

Combo of one dashed/one yellow line in the center

This means vehicles on the side of the broken line can cross the line to the other side. Vehicles on the side of the unbroken line cannot.

Also, note that these conventions are region-specific. So, now you know the meaning of various color coding of road lines. Thank you for reading this article.

KNOW WHY CANDLE FLAME ALWAYS POINT UPWARDS EVEN IF IT IS TILTED !!

We all have seen that a flame from candlelight always points upwards. It will point upwards even if we tilt the candle. Ever wondered why it is happening? Let us discuss the reason for this in this article.

When you start a fire, the fuel combines with oxygen to release heat, light, carbon dioxide, water vapor, soot, etc. The heat energy generated in this process heats up the air around the flame which in turn reduces its density** (a good analogy is water vapor which is hotter and less dense as against water which is colder and heavier). This hot air around the flame then starts rising up and the surrounding colder heavier air rushes down into its place accelerating the hot air upwards which in turn causes the flame to shoot up.

So, in short, a combination and gravity and gravity-induced buoyancy cause the hot air to rise up causing the flames to point upwards here on earth.

If there were no gravity (space or NASA simulated micro-gravity chambers) there would be no reason for the heavier, colder air to flow downwards & the flame would be just a blob around the wick (or the material that burns)

Just in case you are curious as to why hot air is less dense than cold air in the first place - the heat gives the molecules in the gas higher (kinetic) energy. So these molecules can move faster and further apart because they now have the energy needed to overcome their binding forces. The molecules being farther apart means that the material is less dense.

Thank you for reading the article!

KNOW THE MEANING OF "N95" IN N95 MASKS !!

During the coronavirus pandemic, masks have become a common part of our life. Out of various types of masks N95 masks have become quite famous and are in demand nowadays. But have you ever thought what does "N95" in this mask mean? Let us find out the answer in this article.

N95 respirators and surgical masks (face masks) are examples of personal protective equipment that are used to protect the wearer from airborne particles and from liquid contaminating the face. These are also known as ‘air-purifying respirators’ because they protect by filtering particles out of the air as you breathe. These respirators protect only against particles—not gases or vapors. Since airborne biological agents such as bacteria or viruses are particles, they can be filtered by particulate respirators.”

WHAT DOES "N95" RATING MEAN:

The different ratings in place for respirators indicate how well the mask would protect against oils and are rated as N, R, or P.

N - Not oil resistant
R - Resistant to oil
P - Oil Proof
So, here N means the mask is not oil resistant.

95: Masks ending with 95 have a 95 percent efficiency (Removes 95% of all particles that are at least 0.3 microns in diameter). Masks ending in a 99 have a 99(Removes 99% of particles that are at least 0.3 microns in diameter) percent efficiency. Masks ending in 100 are 99.97 percent efficient and that is the same as a HEPA quality filter.

So, in short, N95 masks are not oil-resistant masks that remove 95% of all particles that are at least 0.3 microns in diameter.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) does not recommend that the general public wear N95 respirators to protect themselves from respiratory diseases, including coronavirus (COVID-19). The CDC recommends that members of the public use simple cloth face coverings when in a public setting to slow the spread of the virus since this will help people who may have the virus and do not know it from transmitting it to others.

KNOW HOW FUEL GAUGE WORKS IN VEHICLES !

We generally see fuel gauge in cars and motorbikes. They tell us the level of fuel in the fuel tank very accurately. Have you ever imagined how this gauge works and gives us reading that is always correct? We will understand the working of fuel gauge in this article.

The fuel gauge is a simple device. As a rule of thumb, it doesn’t even indicate/calculate the quantity of fuel in liters (or gallons), since all that is needed to alert the driver is the amount of fuel relative to the tank’s capacity. In this regard, fuel gauges have just two main markings – F for Full and E for Empty. Some have a “½” marking, too, to show half-tank.

The basic electromechanical fuel gauge consists of very few parts. The first part of this system is the sending unit. The sending unit is located in the fuel tank of the car. It consists of a float, usually made of foam, connected to a thin, metal rod. The end of the rod is mounted to a variable resistor. A resistor is an electrical device that resists the flow of electricity. The more resistance there is, the less current will flow. In a fuel tank, the variable resistor consists of a strip of resistive material connected on one side to the ground. A wiper connected to the gauge slides along this strip of material, conducting the current from the gauge to the resistor. 

If the wiper is close to the grounded side of the strip ( represented by the circuit in the figure), there is less resistive material in the path of the current, so the resistance is small (and current is high). If the wiper is at the other end of the strip, there is more resistive material in the current's path, so the resistance is large(and current is low).

The second part of this system is the fuel gauge which is a current meter. At low fuel levels the resistance will be high and at high levels the resistance will be low. The current from the resistor goes to a gauge that reacts to the amount of current flow. At high resistance the current will be low and the needle on the gas gauge will be low. At low resistance (full tank) the current will be high and the needle on the fuel gauge will reflect that. This is how the fuel gauge works.

Thank you for reading the article.

KNOW WHY KEY IS USED IN TORQUE TRANSMISSION !!

We come across various mechanical components on day to day basis, But we ignore the functionality of various components. We are going to discuss the functionality of one such component. You might have seen shaft and other mechanical components connected with a key. Have you ever imagined why this key is used? Let us explore the reason for the key in this article.

A key is a machine element that is used to connect a shaft to other machine elements like Gears, Pullies, Couplings, Sprockets or Flywheels. The key prevents relative rotation between the two parts and may enable torque transmission.

The key will have a provision in both the shaft and the machine element which needed to be connected. this is called Keyway. These keys are temporary fastening elements and are subject to the crushing and the shearing stress.

Various types of the key are used in power transmission are square key, flat key, Dowel Key and so on.

WHY KEY IS USED IN POWER TRANSMISSION :

Let us assume a situation where the key is not used in power transmission as shown in the figure below. When there is a sudden rise in torque, there might be chances of slip between components.

The key ensures the connection transmits the load, power & rotation without slipping and within the accuracy requirement of the design. Without the key the components may slip and this might result in loss of efficiency.

Thank you for reading the article.

KNOW WHERE DOES ELECTRICITY GO AFTER GROUND !

We all know that every electrical equipment is grounded as a safety measure. The ground wire in an electric outlet is a safety valve; any undesired electricity (positively charged energy) flows to the ground and prevents us from shock. But have you ever imagined where this electricity goes from the ground? We will discuss about this in this article.

For clearly understanding this concept consider our household wiring system. To prevent static electrocution the grounding or earthing is done. Also the neutral passes through all household systems and is commonly collected near the transformer and grounded. Thus it returns through the source which produces it. See the below diagram for further explanation.

"Ground" is not where the electricity goes, it's just a term for zero potential. Household power is AC, so charge never really goes anywhere. The same amount of charge is drawn out from the Earth as is put back in. Electricity doesn't work by pumping an extra charge into something. We also know the law of conservation of energy that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. When you connect a circuit to the ground - it completes the circuit back to the source.
So, in short in order to complete the circuit it returns back to the source.
Thank you for reading the article.

KNOW WHY THESE HOLES ARE PRESENT IN FLYWHEELS !

We see many mechanical components in day to day life. One such component is a flywheel. We generally see some holes in it. Have you ever imagined the reason for these holes? We will discuss the reason behind these holes in this article.

A flywheel is a mechanical device specifically designed to efficiently store rotational energy (kinetic energy). Since flywheels act as mechanical energy storage devices, their job is also to provide the energy whenever required and that too in a smooth manner. Flywheels resist changes in rotational speed by their moment of inertia. The amount of energy stored in a flywheel is proportional to the square of its rotational speed and its mass.

There are basically two types of holes in flywheel.

Uniform symmetric holes as a part of the design.

These help to reduce the weight of the flywheel. In a flywheel you need a certain moment of inertia. That can be achieved with less weight by having more material near the periphery. So mostly they have a thick outer ring with a thin web and holes in the web.These holes also help while handling the flywheel to put chains an hooks in it.


Small holes drilled on the periphery which will not be symmetrical.

These are holes are drilled at the time of dynamic balancing the flywheel as per need at specific location and diameter and depth. The purpose is to remove the mass. If the flywheel is not balanced, then during high speeds, it will generate unbalanced forces on the shaft on which it is fitted. By removing some portion of the flywheel in the form of these holes, it gets balanced. Also, it helps in materiel saving which eventually reduces the cost.

Thank you for reading the article.

KNOW HOW TO DECODE VEHICLE CHASSIS NUMBER !

Some dealers often find it difficult to clear their pending stocks and hence, sell an old car to customers badging it as a new one. Many buyers, due to lack of knowledge, fall for the words and humbleness of the sales representative and get easily get trapped and only realize things at a time when in most cases the payment has been made. But you can actually find out the manufacturing month and year of a vehicle by decoding the chassis number. In this article we will know how to decode a chassis number.

Automotive manufacturers around the world use a Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) that can be decoded to reveal the Month & Year of production. Each car has a unique VIN that is usually stamped somewhere within the engine bay, or around the passenger compartment. Sometimes VIN number is also referred to as chassis number and it is stamped on chassis.

Before you buy a new or used car, make sure to verify the car details using the VIN number.

1. The length of the VIN number can be as long as 19 letters. Consider it to be the equivalent of your Aadhar number, which is unique to you and cannot be duplicated.

2. The VIN is an alphanumeric code and you cannot identify the manufacturing month and year simply by looking at it. There are different methods to decode the VIN as different manufacturers use different techniques to embed the manufacturing timeline of the vehicle in the VIN.

3. Car companies split the month and year of manufacturing into English alphabets. In the same way, the letter ‘A’ is used for the year 2010 while the ‘Y’ denotes 2030. It has to be kept in mind that letters ‘I’, ‘O’ and ‘Q’ are not used in the VIN number. The table below will help you understand in a better way.

For manufacturing year before 2010 the manufacturers generally use 1,2,3 and so on, for example Hyundai uses 8 for 2008 model cars. Different car makers use the above letters at different places in VIN number and for this reason, there is no standard way to find out exactly which place shows the manufacturing year and month on the VIN number. Here is how some of the top automakers code the manufacturing month and year in the VIN. In simple words, you need to know which number of characters to look for, depending on the brand of your car. Here’s how to spot them for some of the most popular car brands in India.

1. Maruti Suzuki takes the 10th letter to show manufacturing year while the 11th letter denotes the month of that year.

2. Hyundai uses the 10th letter to show the manufacturing year while the 19th letter is used to code the month.

3. Mahindra codes the manufacturing year in the 10th letter while for the month, it uses the 12th letter.

4. Honda cars the 10th letter to denote the manufacturing year while 9th alphabet is used to indicate the month as per their set of codes.

5. Tata Motors use the 10th alphabet to represent the manufacturing year while the 12th letter is used to symbolize the respective month.

Now let us decode this VIN number for better understanding.

The VIN number above is MALC381ULHM299926.

MAL (Manufacturer Identifier) - Hyundai Motor Company , India

C (Vehicle Line)-Creta

3 (Model and series)

8 (Body Type)- Wagon

1 (Restraint System, Brake system)-Both Side: Active Belt

U (Engine Type)- Diesel Engine 1.6 (TCI-U2)

L (Check and other digits)-RHD (Right Hand Driver) & MT

H (Production Year)-2017

M (Production Plant)- Chennai

29926-Vehicle serial number

Hope, this article gave you a basic idea how to read VIN number of a vehicle and what information you can gather from it.

Thank You for reading.

Click HERE to download this article in PDF form.

KNOW WHY CHARGING CABLES ARE SHORT IN LENGTH !

I bet you face the problem of your phone charging cable being short. Have you imagined why mobile manufacturers provide short charging cables? We will explore the reason behind the reason for short cables in this article.

There is science behind the shorter charging cable as companies like Apple and Samsung spent countless hours on their design.Before we go any further we need to establish if the iPhone cable is actually short. So how long is it? The standard cable you receive in your sleek minimalist white box is one metre long.

Following are the reasons why charging cables are short:

1.)Cord length is short is to safeguard us from SAR radiation which smartphone emits while charging. It can be dangerous to talk while charging is on. If the cable is short chances are less that people will use their phone while charging.

2.) The long charging cable will offer more resistance to current. When resistance increases,the current (charging current) decreases.Thus, increase in length of the wire will result in decrease in the charging current, making the charger inefficient.

3.) These cables are kept as short as possible while still being useful. Most smartphone chargers today are designed to be plugged into the USB port of your computer, with the wall adapter as an afterthought, and 6 feet is usually enough to reach the computer sitting on your desk or in your lap. It saves on material and packaging costs, while also avoiding the tangling that long cables are prone to.

4.) They are short because the manufacturer will usually make a longer cord to be purchased separately.


It is highly recommended that you use adapter and charging cable that is compatible with your phone. Changing the compatibility my harm your device and even result in explosion.

Download this article in PDF Form:

Click Here to download.

Thank you for reading this article.

KNOW THE FUNCTION OF BUTTON ON THE DOOR HANDLE OF CAR !

You might have seen a small button on the car handle. You might have imagined why this button is for and how it works? We will explore this in this article.

These days a lot of advancement is going on in Automotive field. Every automobile company is developing some technology to make the life of user comfortable.The button that you see on the car handle is known as Request Switch or Request Sensor.This technology allows you to lock and unlock the door just by pressing the Request Switch on the door when you are carrying your key on you. 

You can also open and close the trunk, and can start the engine without having to insert the key, making departure seamless. When you press this button the car sends out a signal searching for the owner, or key fob. When the key fob receives the specific signal, it replies that it is within radius and unlocks the doors for the owner.

Which means you just have to keep  the key in your pocket and press this request switch and you will be able lock and unlock your car door. There is also a same switch at the trunk side.

HOW THIS TECHNOLOGY WORKS:

Intelligent Key utilizes antennae that transmit signals between the car and the key, and a tuner that receives the signals. Pressing the Request Switch transmits a signal from the car antenna, and the key that receives the signal then automatically returns a signal. The car tuner receives this signal and then locks or unlocks the vehicle.

In order to avoid a key being locked up inside the vehicle cabin or trunk, the technology detects the status of the door lock and whether the key is remaining inside the vehicle at the moment when the door or trunk is closed. If it detects that a key has been shut inside the vehicle, it alerts you via a buzzer and simultaneously automatically unlocks the door or opens the trunk.

You can quickly determine if a car has touch-sensitive door locks installed. Take a look at the driver-side door. If no handle or lock are visible, then you can be sure that the car has a touch-sensitive lock installed.