How It Works Issue 1

NEW THE MAGAZINE THAT FEEDS MINDS INSIDE

UPGRADE TM SCIENCE ■ ENVIRONMENT ■ TECHNOLOGY ■ TRANSPORT ■ HISTORY ■ SPACE YOUR EYES! EXTREME WEATHER SHARK ATTACK Tornadoes, tsunamis and hurricanes How one of the planet’s oldest killers hunts its prey iPHONE 3GS Inside the world’s greatest gadget 831 FACTS AND ANSWERS INSIDE FIREWORKS The simple science behind breathtaking displays revealed

WHY WE GET DRUNK The effects of alcohol on the body TYPHOON VS

F-22THE SCIENCE RAPTOR AND TECHNOLOGY BEHIND THE WORLD’S MOST ADVANCED FIGHTER JETS NUCLEAR LEARN ABOUT… www.howitworksdaily.com ■ THERMITE ■ OZONE LAYER ■ MEDIEVAL CASTLES ISSUE ISSN ONE 2041-7322 £3.99 SUN ■ 3D MOVIES© Imagine■ EJECTOR Publishing SEATS Ltd■ DIGITAL SLRS 0 1 HOW SUNSPOTS AND SOLAR ■No T-REX unauthorised■ SNAKE copying BITES or distribution■ SOUND BARRIER WINDS AFFECT LIFE ON EARTH ■ SPACESUITS ■ GUILLOTINES ■ BRAIN FREEZE 9 7 7 2 0 4 1 7 3 2 0 0 4

001_HIW001.indd 1 ■ THERMITE ■ OZONE LAYER ■ MEDIEVAL CASTLES 8/10/09 18:25:20 ■ 3D MOVIES ■ HYBRID CARS ■ DIGITAL CAMERAS ■ X-RAYS ■ SNAKE BITES ■ SOUND BARRIER ■ SPACESUITS ■ GUILLOTINES ■ BIONIC IMPLANTS © Imagine Publishing Ltd No unauthorised copying or distribution Get in touch Have YOU got a question you want answered by the How It Works website? Get in touch by.. Email: [email protected] ISSUE ONE Web: www.howitworksdaily.co.uk Snail mail: How It Works Imagine Publishing, 33 Richmond Hill WELCOMEThe magazine that feeds minds! Bournemouth, Dorset BH2 6EZ ”FEED YOUR MIND!” Welcome to How It Works, the new The sections explained magazine that explains everything you never knew you ENVIRONMENT The huge amount of info in each The natural world issue of How It Works is organised wanted to know about the world explained into these sections we live in. Loaded with fully illustrated guides and expert SCIENCE Explaining the knowledge, and with sections applications of dedicated to science, technology, science in the contemporary transportation, space, history and world the environment, no subject is too HISTORY big or small for How It Works to explain. Questions So why did we launch a new science and technology answered on how things worked in magazine? Quite simply, because there’s a huge the past audience that want accessible, entertaining and absorbing info-tainment packed with fact and opinion to TECHNOLOGY fuel their imaginations. You only need to look at the The wonders of success of TV programmes like Brainiac: Science Abuse, modern gadgetry and engineering James May’s Big Ideas and Richard Hammond’s explained Engineering Connections to see that science and technology is ﬁ rmly part of mainstream entertainment. TRANSPORT SPACE Entertainment and information is what How It Works Be it road, rail, air or sea From exploration to the you’ll find out about it here solar system to deep space delivers in spades, we aim to answer the most fascinating questions you can think of. How do sharks hunt? What’s a black hole? What’s inside a nuclear Meet the experts submarine? How was the London Underground built? How It Works is put together by a crack team of knowledge-rich experts, here How do iPods work? These are just a few of the questions are some of them who we feel deserve a special mention this issue we’ll be answering in coming issues. Our launch issue tackles such awe-inspiring subjects as the Euroﬁ ghter, the causes of extreme weather such as tsunamis and hurricanes, the Bugatti Veyron, vision and sight, nuclear subs and the Large Hadron Collider. All written by our experts and all enjoyable to anyone with a hunger for knowledge. So, read, absorb, enjoy and feed your mind. If you enjoy reading it half as much as I enjoyed editing it Phil Dave Tom Shanna John you’ll have got your money’s worth… and then some! Raby Roos Harris Freeman Brandon Eurofighter vs F-22 Extreme weather Return of the LHC Medieval castles Inside the Sun

Phil’s area of Dave Roos is a Tom Harris is a writer Shanna Freeman John Brandon is a speciality is cars, freelance writer and from Durham, North holds a BA in freelance writer with especially Porsches, part-time farmer Carolina. He has English and lives articles published in although he who recently contributed to 16 near Atlanta, many major appreciates all forms returned to the general knowledge Georgia. She enjoys computing, science, Dave Harﬁ eld of engineering and United States after six books and was one of writing about a travel, and music Editor-in-Chief loves to take things to years in Mexico. He the original writers variety of topics, magazines. Since bits. He’s a self- has written for The at HowStuffWorks. including food, starting his writing confessed gadget New York Times, com, where he led science, health, career in 2001, he has junkie and is never Newsweek and other the award-winning history, technology had over 2,500 far from his iPhone. bigshot publications. content team. and pop culture. articles published. Editor’s pick This issue is packed out with great features but my With thanks to favourite article this month has to be the look inside How It Works would like to thank the HMS Astute. If you’ve ever wanted to ﬁ nd out the following companies and what’s beneath the hull of the Royal Navy’s latest organisations for their help in and most deadly nuclear sub, turn to page 48. creating this issue

003_HIW.indd 3 13/10/09 16:55:41 CONTENTSISSUE ONE The magazine that feeds minds! 06Global Eye Astounding news and amazing images from the worlds of science, technology, nature, space and transport

14 Extreme weather Surviving tornadoes to tsunamis

Vision and sight Sections 24 How we see in colour

Environment 14 Extreme weather Typhoons, tsunamis and how we can survive the big freeze 30 Exploding 18 How do snakes bite? fi reworks 18 The birds… How do they 18 … and the bees! make amazing 18 The formation of diamonds displays? 19 The ozone layer 21 Great white sharks 22 The anatomy of a volcano Breathtaking reminders that the Earth’s surface is still actively evolving Science 24 How vision and sight works An eye-opening look at how we see… 26 Fish gills explained 26 How do boats stay afl oat? 27 Thermite – feel the heat 27 What is ‘brain freeze’? 28 Static electricity – solved 28 Examining x-rays 29 A vital organ – the human heart 30 Understanding fi reworks Bright and festive chemistry experiments 48 32 Immunisation explained Nuclear submarine 32 Why we get drunk On board the HMS Astute 33 Up and atom 33 Understanding electromagnets 64 34 Fixing the Large Hadron Inside the iPhone 3GS Collider An exploded view of the world’s The biggest science experiment in the greatest gadget SUBSCRIBE NOW! world is ready for action Go to pg 82 for some great deals © Imagine Publishing Ltd | WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM 04 How It Works No unauthorised copying or distribution

004-005_HIW001 final.indd 4 13/10/09 16:57:46 Transport 38 The Euroﬁ ghter Typhoon Regulars The most advanced fighter plane in the world explained 42 VW’s car vending machine 42 Inside an F1 car

Because 44 The Bugatti Veyron enquiring Take a look at the world’s fastest car minds want to know… 46 Ejection seats explained 46 Cat’s eye refl ectors 84 Expert 46 A look at ceramic brakes answers 47 What is the sound barrier? Experts from the National Science Museum answer 48 On board the HMS Astute readers’ questions Inside the world’s deadliest nuclear sub Doug Millard Senior Curator of Space Technology Space Read Doug’s answers to all your questions 54 On the surface of the Sun on space Under the surface of our nearest star lies a natural nuclear reactor Rob Skitmore Assistant Curator of 56 Radio telescopes explained Technology 56 What are Saturn’s rings? Rob tackles all questions related to 38 56 Van Allen radiation belt technology Eurofi ghter 57 SpaceShipTwo Typhoon Rik Sargent How does it 58 Gravity Science Museum Explainer compare to the How gravity binds the universe together Rik-of-all-trades F-22 Raptor? answers a wide 60 How adaptive optics work variety of questions 60 Following tides 61 Inside a space suit 62 Dextre the space robot Technology For connoisseurs of kit and savants of stuff 74 64 iPhone 3GS exploded 3D movies What’s inside the latest iPhone 88 The latest How do they 66 Bionic eye implants reviews work? 66 Eco-friendly light bulbs Gadgets, games, movies, toys 67 The AIM-9 Sidewinder and days-out. For connoisseurs 68 How widgets create frothy beer of kit and savants of stuff 68 Understanding radars 54 68 Keyless ignition 68 Digital sound Inside our Sun Take a look under 69 How do Geiger Counters work? the surface of 69 Inside a PC fi rewall our closest star 70 GPS and satnav How your satnav navigates you from a to b and back again 72 How night vision goggles work 72 DVD burning explained 73 Anatomy of a digital camera 74 How do 3D movies work? Life-like movies use an optical trick 94 How It Works for 3D effects – Inbox Communications and opinions History from our esteemed readership 76 Inside medieval castles 96 How to An anatomy of Krak des Chevaliers, a make: formidable medieval fortress The perfect paper plane 78 How guillotines worked 78 Egyptian mummifi cation 79 T-Rex – a true predator? 79 How the Flintlock Pistol worked 80 Heraldry explained SUBSCRIBE NOW! What did the signs and symbols of Go to pg 82 for some great deals heraldry mean? © Imagine Publishing Ltd WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM | No unauthorised copying or distribution How It Works 05

004-005_HIW001 final.indd 5 13/10/09 17:01:12 EYENEWS A fresh look at the world iCub: The robot child This creepy looking robot kid might learn to speak quicker than your own his is iCub, a small humanoid robot about the same size as a Tthree-and-a-half-year-old child that might enable a new insight into human cognitive behaviour. Standing one metre high, the iCub has articulated arms, legs and trunk and eyes that can follow moving objects. The cyber-toddler can also recognise and grasp objects, walk and crawl just like its human counterparts and more impressively, scientists think it can learn via these everyday interactions. Experts in cognitive robotics research from Plymouth University are working with language boffins to teach the iCub NASA assures us that asteroid will miss basic phrases for what’s known as the ITALK (Integration and Transfer of Action and Language Knowledge in robots) project. Having won a £4.7 million grant End of the world for the project, ITALK started in March this year with professor of artificial intelligence, Angelo Cangelosi, hoping to redefine robots as we know them, “The is cancelled outcome of the research will define the scientific and technological requirements

top hoarding food and building In fact this is within the distance of The science of predicting asteroids that fallout shelter as NASA Earth’s geosynchronous satellites, is based on a physical model of the Top 3 creepy robots Shas recently assured us that satellites whose orbital track on the solar system which includes the on YouTube the Apophis asteroid will not be Earth repeats regularly over points on gravitational influence of the Sun, If you find that iCub’s blank visage and big, hitting the Earth in 2029. the planet over time. However, the moon, planets and the three largest unblinking eyes freak you out a little, take a look at these silicon horrors online now. Previously it was thought Apophis, path that Apophsis will take, inclined at asteroids, Ceres, Pallas, and Vesta. which is around the size of two and a 40 degrees to the Earth’s equator and Speaking in a NASA press release Japanese child robot http://tinyurl.com/d5m4zl half football pitches, would hit Earth inside the position of the satellites at Don Yeoman, manager of the Near- Makes a disturbing eeh! eeh! sometime in that year with some closest approach, makes a collision Earth Object Program Office at JPL, noise that could be the last thing sources even pinpointing the day of unlikely even in this heavily populated said “The refined orbital determination you ever hear. impact as Friday 13 April, very fitting region of space. further reinforces that Apophis is an Freaky robot girl indeed. Fans of the apocalypse will be Another close encounter with this asteroid we can look to as an http://tinyurl.com/yhvmdn5 disappointed to hear that NASA refined particular asteroid is predicted for opportunity for exciting science and This little robot girl has been haunting our dreams for three the path of the asteroid in October and 2068 with the chance impact listed at not something that should be feared.” weeks now. Horrid. found that it will in fact miss Earth three-in-a-million, although this If you want to find more information The real fembot completely, although it will set a record probability is expected to decrease on asteroids and near-Earth objects, http://tinyurl.com/34jevm close approach by skimming just even further as more information visit http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/ We thought of a number of uses 18,300 miles above Earth’s surface, a about Apophis and its orbit is acquired asteroidwatch or follow for this android, all of them morally repugnant. near miss in astronomical terms. over time. AsteroidWatch on Twitter.

29 October: Major events that occurred on the 1960 1967 This day in history same day this magazine was launched Cassius Clay (who London criminal will later be Jack McVitie is Sir Walter Suez Crisis known as murdered by the 1618 Raleigh, 1787 1956 begins: Muhammad Ali) Kray twins, English adventurer, writer, Mozart’s opera Don Israeli forces invade the wins his first leading to their and courtier, is beheaded for Giovanni receives its Sinai Peninsula and push professional downfall and allegedly conspiring against first performance in Egyptian forces back fight in Louisville, eventual James I of England Prague toward the Suez Canal Kentucky imprisonment

010-11_HIW001.indd 10 13/10/09 18:51:57 www.howitworksdaily.com

Exclusive! First look at the Mac Tablet we received from an anonymous source this week. We certainly didn’t mock it up in Photoshop. Oh no… TV The How It Works website is regularly updated with the most amazing videos the net has to offer Test drive a Typhoon ■ A great video of a Eurofi ghter for the design of humanoid robots able Typhoon with pilot’s commentary. to develop complex behavioural, Love the way the pilot tells the on- thinking and communication skills board computer to shut up when through individual and social learning.” he’s landing “Not now love”! The learning activities taught to the iCub are remarkably similar to those that a parent would engage in with a child, or a child would perform at nursery school: the iCub will stack blocks to form basic constructions and insert shapes into holes, while being taught names for objects and stringing basic sentences together. The signifi cance of this project is in bringing us closer to creating an android: true artifi cial intelligence in a robot that can Rumours of an Apple Amazing tiger attack ■ talk, behave like a human and learn This is one angry tiger through independent and social ‘iTablet’ continue apace protecting her cubs. Wait ’til you learning. There are six iCubs currently in see how close the tiger gets iPod manufacturer prepares to redefi ne without anyone seeing her. projects in various laboratories over print media with touch-screen device Europe, with the French research facility based in Lyon also boasting advances in umours of a touch-screen too short a time to be worthwhile to interaction and basic game-playing with tablet computer from Apple the consumer and that the its version of the Rcontinue to build up steam components would be too costly to iCub. following a number of leaks and make the device affordable. analyst predictions. With Apple already riding high on the While details surrounding the device success of its iPhone and iPod touch are sketchy at best, sources claim that and with a strong base of application the company, famed for its iPhone, has developers providing software for its been working on a touch-controlled App Store, it seems the next logical computer concept since 2003. step would be to bring its multi-touch Octopus escapology Industry insiders and media outlets interface and operating system to a ■ Commentary is a little bit corny speculate that while the technology larger platform, but without a niche in but it’s still an impressive feat currently exists to build such a device, the market this could take time. from this octopus that manages to Apple’s enigmatic CEO Steve Jobs has Talk in Silicon Valley points towards a squeeze through a gap just a few played a hand in shelving the product possible partnership between Apple inches wide. on a number of occasions until a ‘killer and the news press, including The New feature’ had been established to set it York Times, to ‘redefi ne’ print media by apart from similar devices. offering it on a touch screen complete Fans of Apple’s MacBook laptop and with an internet connection for live iPod portable media player have been updates. Amazon’s Kindle eBook clamouring after a computer that reader is a likely target should Apple would marry the two disciplines, decide to take this route to market, however the logistics of such a intending to revolutionise the news in device may not be feasible in the same way it changed the terms of cost and marketplace for music. practicality. Many sources No concrete details have been suggest that, in order to uncovered to suggest that an Apple BigDog takes a walk power the screen and tablet will see the light of day, however ■ That Boston Dynamics robot processor, an existing current rumours are slating a release in gets put through its paces in this laptop battery may last the fi rst quarter of 2010. demonstration of its balance and physical prowess.

The fi rst-ever computer- 1969 to-computer link is 1991 1998 established on ARPANET, the precursor The American Space Shuttle to the internet Galileo spacecraft Discovery blasts 1986 makes its closest off on STS-95 with British Prime approach to 951 77-year-old John Minister Margaret Gaspra, Glenn on board, Thatcher opens the becoming the making him the fi anl stretch of the fi rst probe to visit oldest person to go M25 motorway an asteroid into space

010-11_HIW001.indd 11 13/10/09 17:02:23 The unmanned LCROSS NEWS (Lunar Crater Observation EYE and Sensing Satellite) A fresh look at the world mission cost a relatively cheap $79 million Obama awarded Nobel peace prize Decision to make Obama the third president in history to receive the award divides world leaders S President Obama’s Nobel prize for peace award Uearlier this month has NASA’s deliberate stirred controversy among leading world figures. Obama received the prestigious moon crash award for his immediate efforts to promote world peace following his election, including a call to world NASA’s search for a substance more valuable than gold leaders to promote peace and co- culminates in moon crash operation, pledging to reduce n the search for lunar ice, a resource worth more than gold to NASA, the America’s nuclear stockpile, his space agency has crashed two of its craft into the moon. The crash and attempts to improve Arab-American deep impact will kick up a dust cloud from which ground control used light relations and a move towards a I wavelengths to glean vital data about the composition of Moon’s surface. greener America. Though a disappointed public didn’t receive the spectacle it expected, NASA was Many people have voiced their pleased with the results. “It wasn’t a dud,” said physicist Michio Kaku to The concern however, including former Associated Press, “We got a gold mine of data.” Polish president Lech Walesa, who respond three years from now,” and It’s long been suspected that vast amounts of ice is mixed in with lunar soil, spoke to The Associated Press, it wasn’t the only figurehead to known as regolith, ever since the Clementine project in 1994 and subsequent suggesting that Obama has received support the decision. “It is an award Lunar Prospector sent out in 1998 revealed the possibility of 6.6 billion tons of ice the prize too soon. “Too early. He has that speaks to the promise of at the lunar poles. Shipping water to the moon is prohibitively expensive (up to no contribution so far. He is only President Obama’s message of $20,000 a kilo), so this vast amount of ice represents a real possibility for lunar beginning to act,” Walesa stated. hope,” said Archbishop Desmond colonisation in the future. The Norwegian Nobel Committee Tutu, who won the award in 1984. naturally voiced their justification, Obama has donated the $1.4 saying that, “It could be too late to million prize to various charities. BigDog: the faithful army robot Boston Dynamic’s incredible quadruped robot will help Excite-o-meter! soldiers haul gear across rough terrain Every issue we offer this visual guide to what’s been getting us excited in this issue of How It Works his 240-pound, three-foot- BigDog’s brain is an onboard long headless hunk of metal Pentium CPU computer that analyses Tmay be a lousy cuddler, but it data from an electronic gyroscope, can walk and hop like a real dog, force detectors in the feet, stereo even on ice and rubble. cameras, and other sensors to gauge It also carries 350 pounds of gear, the robot’s exact position. The Ben Ben trots at 4mph, and climbs up 35- computer continually calculates how

Features Editor Features degree slopes. Hydraulic actuators, to reposition each one of the legs to like you would find in a backhoe, act keep BigDog upright and moving in as ‘muscles’, moving the robot’s legs. the correct direction. Jon A noisy 15-horsepower two-stroke In a popular YouTube video, BigDog

Snr Sub Editor Sub Snr go-kart engine powers a pump that even keeps its balance after a man provides pressurised oil to the delivers a powerful kick (guess he hydraulic system. hasn’t seen Terminator). Dave Ed in Chief in Ed Dunc Art Ed Art LHC Sunspots Fireworks Multi-tools Eurofighter Brain freeze Brain Not getting a getting Not Creepy robots Creepy Extreme weather Extreme Hammond interview Hammond James May interview May James Not getting a Richard Richard a getting Not

It turns out that Duncan Crook, Art Editor, was the most excited member of staff this issue with a total excitement Big Dog can carry up to six rating of some 68 per cent. Jon White, Senior Sub Editor, really should cheer up, scoring a feeble 60 per cent. packs and won’t ever get distracted by squirrels © Imagine Publishing Ltd | www.howitworksDAILY.com 12 How It Works No unauthorised copying or distribution

012_HIW001.indd 12 13/10/09 17:03:58 © Imagine Publishing Ltd No unauthorised copying or distribution Animals Climate Geography Geology Geology Plants Plants General General ENVIRONMENT categories explained How to survive extreme weather

This month in Extreme weather Environment The natural world is full of wonder and so we’re spoilt for choice when it comes to investigating amazing animals, locations or phenomena. If you’ve ever wondered how tsunamis are formed, how hurricanes happen, or what makes blizzards goes berserk, our main feature focuses on the causes of extreme weather.

18 Snake bites

21 Shark attacks

The making of a tsunami How a deep-sea rumble forges a killer wave 22 Volcanoes On 26 December 2004, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake off the During the record-setting quake – which released more coast of Sumatra, Indonesia triggered a series of tsunamis – energy than 23,000 Hiroshima-era atomic bombs – a section of ENVIRONMENT giant seismic sea waves – that claimed 300,000 lives around sea ﬂ oor 1,000 kilometres long was pushed ten metres 14 Extreme weather the Indian Ocean basin. It was deadliest natural disaster in horizontally and several meters vertically. 18 Diamonds recorded history. The violent displacement generated a massive deep-ocean 18 Honey Tsunamis are not ‘tidal’ waves. They are created when a wave only a few meters high, but hundreds of kilometres long. 18 Snake bites violent geological event – like a submarine earthquake, The almost imperceptible swell travelled across the open 18 Bird’s wings landslide or underwater volcanic eruption – displaces a huge water as fast as a jet aeroplane. As the deep-ocean seismic amount of water. wave neared the shore, it was slowed down by the quickly 19 The ozone layer The Indian Ocean earthquake occurred along a subduction rising sea ﬂ oor. But as the wave compressed horizontally, it 21 Shark attacks zone, a place where one tectonic plate wedges under another. rose vertically, reaching heights of 30 metres in some cases. 22 Volcanoes © Imagine Publishing Ltd | WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM 014 How It Works No unauthorised copying or distribution

014-017_HIW001.indd 14 13/10/09 17:25:38 The most tornadoes… There are more tornadoes in America than any other country. Supercell DID YOU formation is fuelled by warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico meeting KNOW? cool, dry air blowing over the Rockies. DID YOU KNOW? on April 3, 1974, when a two-day “Super Outbreak” of 147 tornadoes killed 308 Extreme weather Marvel at the raw power of nature at its nastiest A gust of air rattles the windows. The sky darkens ominously as coal-black clouds Tornadoes explained creep across the horizon. Why twisters descend from the sky Thunder rumbles thickly in the distance accompanied by the fi rst fl ickers of and drill a path of destruction lightning, like paparazzi. Tornadoes are born in beefed-up storm clouds called With supercells, the warm, low-lying air is sucked Suddenly, the rain comes down in sheets, supercells. While normal storm clouds form and up into the storm with such force that it grabs one of blown sideways by howling winds. With a dissipate in 30 minutes, supercells can last for hours these horizontally rotating columns of air and twists crackling explosion, a tree across the street is and spread severe weather across hundreds of it vertically. The result is a mesocyclone, an intensely torn in half by a stroke of lightning. But as kilometres. But the most unique characteristic of a rotating column at the heart of the supercell. suddenly as it started, the rain stops. The supercell is its powerful counter-clockwise rotation. Meanwhile, rain and hail falling from the supercell clouds remain low and terribly dark, almost Supercells start like normal thunderstorms. Moist, are caught in these rotating winds. Much of the green. You look out the back window in search warm air near the surface is pushed aloft by a precipitation evaporates, releasing pockets of cool air of a reprieve. Instead, you see the twister. physical force like a cold front. The warm air that pull downward on the swirling vortex. Mother Nature deserves respect. Before you condenses into water droplets as it reaches higher As intensely rotating winds reach the ground, complain about the light drizzle that spoiled altitudes, forming towering clouds. Supercells grow friction slows the effects of centrifugal force, your picnic, thank your lucky stars you’ve large because of an abundance of warm, wet air tightening the funnel. There is incredibly low air never experienced a true weather disaster: a below and cool, dry air above. pressure inside the funnel, which acts like a vacuum. six-story tsunami wave, 150kph hurricane But why do they rotate? It’s down to a phenomenon As more and more air is sucked into the vortex, the winds, or tornadoes that can toss an 18- called wind shear, a sudden change of wind speed speed of rotation increases, like a fi gure skater wheeler like a Matchbox car. and direction. Typically, winds blow faster the higher pulling in her arms for the fi nal head-spinning twirl. We’ll help you make sense of the Weather you climb. This creates a paddle wheel effect in the The resulting tornado can generate winds over Channel chatter and learn what causes the atmosphere, generating columns of air that spin on 300mph, tear through reinforced structures like a world’s most extreme weather phenomena. horizontal axes. buzz saw, lift large vehicles, and fl atten homes.

Tsunamis make landfall If the sea ﬂ oor rises suddenly during a violent earthquake, it will as violently churning displace massive amounts of water above, creating a seismic wave. walls of water, sometimes 15 or even 30 metres high.

Deadly force Later waves are usually the deadliest, launching masses of debris on-shore A submarine earthquake is more likely to form a tsunami when the Deep-ocean seismic waves have very low As the tsunami approaches the shore, the focus of the quake – the location of the amplitude, but wavelengths that can rising sea ﬂ oor compresses the wavelength, actual rupture – is shallow. stretch for hundreds of kilometres. greatly increasing the amplitude.

014-017_HIW001.indd 15 13/10/09 19:03:16 The world’s most No-holds-barred A four-ce to be Another myth down A name to be powerful generator Nancy reckoned with the drain remembered A combination of the Coriolis force The eye wall – a solid ring of clouds where rain 5 TOP If you calculate the total heat Typhoon Nancy, which tore Only twice in modern history It is untrue that the Coriolis Since the Fifties, all tropical and pressure gradient (the rush of bands converge and compress – contains the 1 generated by condensation 2 across Japan in September 3 – 1893 and 1998 – did four 4 force causes toilets to fl ush 5 storms and hurricanes in the air from high to low pressure), give hurricane’s most powerful winds. FACTS inside a hurricane, it equals 1961, clocked sustained hurricanes power their way in different directions in the Atlantic basin receive a name. hurricanes their dizzying spin. 200 times our daily worldwide winds of 185kph (213mph), simultaneously through the northern and southern If the storm’s particularly ENVIRONMENT HURRICANES energy-generating capacity. the fastest on record. Atlantic basin. hemispheres. deadly, the name is retired. Nature at its deadliest There’s a storm coming… images DK of © Image The origins of hurricanes, a deadly force of nature Hurricanes are massive heat engines. They form over tropical Hot tropical water Some The eerily waters with a minimum temperature of 27˚C (80˚F). Hot water evaporates, rises as meteorologists calm and evaporates very quickly, rising up through the atmosphere vapour and believe storm surges are cloudless eye of condenses into rings caused by mounds of water the hurricane is the until it condenses into clouds and water droplets. The of towering storm drawn upward by the low point of lowest incredible thing is that condensation itself creates even more clouds called rain surface pressure in the eye pressure, causing air to heat. The recharged air soars even higher, building a cluster of bands. of the hurricane. sink straight down toward the towering, fat thunderstorms called a tropical disturbance. ocean surface. Once the heat engine has been jump-started, rapid condensation within the storm continues to force air upward The hurricane seasons… while more hot air rushes in from below to fi ll the void. This suction of hot air from the ocean surface creates lower and lower air pressure. When air rushes from high pressure to low August - June - December pressure, it creates powerful winds. When wind velocity October June - November reaches 38mph, the storm is called a tropical depression. Satellite images of hurricanes show a swirling vortex of storm clouds. The spin is caused by two main forces: the Coriolis force June - October and the pressure gradient. In the northern hemisphere, the Earth’s rotation pulls winds to the right (Coriolis force), but the extreme low pressure at the storm’s centre pulls them back to the left, creating a net counter-clockwise spin. The opposite is January - March true south of the equator. As the heat engine chugs on, more water condenses, more heat rises, the pressure drops further and spin increases until winds reach 39 to 74mph, enough to There are few Atlantic hurricanes Hurricanes are called October through qualify as a tropical storm. Seven out of ten tropical storms spin hurricanes in the begin as tropical typhoons in the March is spring and south Atlantic depressions off the northwest Pacifi c, and summer in the even faster than 74mph, offi cially becoming a hurricane. because high wind African coast from they can occur year- southern hemisphere, shear near the ocean June to November, round due to high meaning more surface shreds when the tropical average water cyclones (India) and Extreme heat tropical storms. waters are steamiest. temperature. willy-willys (Australia). Hundreds of lightning bolts strike the earth every second, each generating temperatures exceeding 27,000˚ C Thunder and lightning Beauty has never been so powerful… Inside the chaos of a storm cloud, falling bits and other clouds or points within the same of ice collide with updrafting water droplets, storm cloud. In fact, only ten per cent of shearing off electrons to create newly lightning strikes hit the earth. Cloud-to- charged particles. The negative particles ground lightning begins when a negative sink to the bottom of the cloud, while charge from the cloud begins to carve a path positive particles rise to the top, just like a of least resistance through ionised air, colossal battery. As a storm cloud swells in zigging and zagging every 25 meters. When it size, the force of its negatively charged nears the ground, a positive charge called a underside repels negative ions away from ‘streamer’ reaches up from surface objects, the surface of the Earth, creating a net completing the circuit. The resulting strike is Although the odds of being struck by positive charge on the ground. Something instantaneous, travelling at 300 million m/s lightning during a lifetime are one in 3,000, needs to correct the imbalance between with the power of 100 billion volts. DID YOU a park ranger in the US survived seven theses huge oppositely charged masses. A clap of thunder is caused by shock waves KNOW? separate jolts before taking his own life. Lightning is a violent electrical discharge created by the expanding and contracting between clouds and surface objects, clouds air around the superheated lightning.

014-017_HIW001.indd 16 13/10/09 18:49:57 The world’s most No-holds-barred A four-ce to be Another myth down A name to be 5 TOP powerful generator Nancy reckoned with the drain remembered If you calculate the total heat Typhoon Nancy, which tore Only twice in modern history It is untrue that the Coriolis Since the Fifties, all tropical 1 generated by condensation 2 across Japan in September 3 – 1893 and 1998 – did four 4 force causes toilets to ﬂ ush 5 storms and hurricanes in the FACTS inside a hurricane, it equals 1961, clocked sustained hurricanes power their way in different directions in the Atlantic basin receive a name. 200 times our daily worldwide winds of 185kph (213mph), simultaneously through the northern and southern If the storm’s particularly HURRICANES energy-generating capacity. the fastest on record. Atlantic basin. hemispheres. deadly, the name is retired.

DIDDID YOUYOU KNOW?KNOW? XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

How are These deadly winter storms blizzards can strike without created? warning In January 1996, 100 million tons of snow fell on the streets of New York City and nearby Philadelphia was buried under a record 78 centimetres (30.7 inches). Ice storms and sub-zero temperatures stretched as far south as sunny Florida, trapping people in their homes, often without electricity. In 1891, easterly winds dumped 3.6 metres (11 feet) of snow in London. Trains were completely buried under tremendous drifts and 65 ships sank under the heavy ice and snow. Blizzards form exactly like thunderstorms. A cold front pushes warmer, moist air into the atmosphere, condensing into clouds. If temperatures stay below freezing, snow falls instead of rain. If huge amounts of snow are accompanied by gale-force winds, it’s possible to achieve a complete whiteout, when earth and sky merge in a disorienting canvas of white.

For a winter storm to qualify as a blizzard, there must be sustained winds of at least 58kph Blanket covering! DID YOU (35mph) and less than 0.4 km (0.25 mile) visibility You’re going to need more than an ice KNOW? for three hours or more. scrapper to get out of this one mate… Waterspout While it’s never truly rained ‘cats and dogs’, it has rained frogs and fi sh. In the past century, towns in the United States, Greece and Serbia have been inundated with falling amphibians (some of them frozen solid) that pile up in the streets. While a Biblical plague isn’t out of the question, the more likely culprit is a waterspout, a tornado-like vortex that forms over water. There are two kinds of waterspouts: tornadic and fair weather. Tornadic waterspouts form under the exact same conditions as tornadoes and can generate winds over 300kph (200mph) with powerful internal updrafts. Water world You know you’re in trouble when your The low-pressure core of the waterspout can dip several metres under street looks more like a river than a road water, sucking up anything in its path, including fi sh, frogs and lizards. Fair weather waterspouts grow from the ocean up, created by the sudden convergence of smooth and choppy seas. Swirling water is pulled upward by rising air currents, without the help of a major storm system. While fair weather waterspouts are weak and rarely cause damage, Floods After the rains, the deluge tornadic waterspouts have torn apart ships at sea. Famed waterspout When you think of killer weather, you picture tsunami-battered coasts or researcher Joseph Golden believes many so-called ‘Bermuda Triangle’ twisting black tornadoes. But one of the deadliest weather phenomena disappearances are caused by killer waterspouts. worldwide is fl ooding. Flash fl oods – where small rivers and creeks swell without warning to raging torrents – are the number one weather-related killer The walls of a in the United States. Flash fl oods can happen almost anywhere. In cities, there waterspout are semi- transparent, since often isn’t enough green space to absorb the runoff from a severe storm. This they are made of can overwhelm drainage systems, causing fl ash fl oods in low-lying areas. windswept water, not In the mountains, a sudden torrential downpour can feed hundreds of small dirt and debris streams that merge in a single river valley. The result can be dramatic and deadly, creating a wall of churning water – fi ve to ten metres of mud, rocks and debris – that wipes out everything in its path. Violent hurricane winds – gusting over 135kph (155mph) in some cases – can push a mound of water in front of the hurricane called a storm surge. During Hurricane Katrina, powerful surges breached the levee system, causing widespread destruction by fl ooding. The 2007 fl oods in the UK were an example of river fl ooding caused by sustained, powerful rains. Over the course of 12 hours, parts of northeast England received a sixth of their annual rainfall, swallowing whole towns in swollen rivers.

014-017_HIW001.indd 17 13/10/09 17:26:40 Venom is modiﬁ ed saliva containing neurotoxins and hematoxins Pit vipers have hinged fangs that ENVIRONMENT collapse against the roof of the mouth The formation of diamonds

Tiny lower teeth act as a How do pivot during the lightning- snakes bite? fast strike Diamonds take Call them cold-blooded, but snakes have death down to a science forever Snakes are highly adapted killers. Non-venomous snakes kill by constriction (suffocation) or swallowing prey alive. It takes the weight of the world Venomous snakes – which make up only ten per cent of to make a diamond the world’s snake species – inject their victims with powerful Depth toxins that either paralyse the respiratory system or attack red Tuff ring The Earth’s tectonic plates form blood cells, instantly rotting fl esh and bone. an impressive jigsaw puzzle of Only venomous snakes have fangs, a set of long, hollow teeth in solid rock adrift on a sea of 0.5km either the front or back of the mouth that act as hypodermic magma. In the middle of each plate, far Crater of needles. As fangs enter the fl esh, the snake fl exes its jaw muscle, sediment from the volcanic ring along the seams, or ‘Maar’ 1.0km squeezing toxic saliva out of the venom gland, through the fang’s lies the oldest rock in the Earth’s crust. venom canal and deep into the victim’s tissue. Amazingly, 160 kilometres below this Crater 1.5km Snakes can control the release of venom, so many defensive colossal heap of stone, the heat reaches Kimberlites strikes against humans are non-lethal ‘dry bites’. If bitten, never 1,200˚C and the pressure exceeds 45,000 try to cut open the wound or suck out the venom. Keep the victim 2.0km kilograms/cm2. Under these extreme calm and get to a hospital quickly for a dose of antivenin. conditions, atoms of carbon fuse together Diatreme in covalent bonds, an unbreakable 2.5km

chemical union. The result is the hardest Diamond substance on earth, a single molecule of formation pure carbon that we call a diamond. Root Birds’ wings Millions of years ago, as magma pushed upward through ﬁ ssures in the 150km crust, it carried rocks embedded with diamonds. Sometimes, the magma explained 200km cooled in carrot-shaped The bird wing underground formations called Kimberlite pipes. Diamond elevators is nothing short Modern diamond mines now Kimberlite pipes act as diamond elevators burrow through these rich of a scientiﬁ c LIFT geological rarities. CRUST - 6 to 35km thick marvel MANTLE - 2,900km thick Diamonds are formed in the upper mantle, 160km below the surface CORE - Radius of 3,370km

WING How do bees It’s up to thousands of AIR industrious insects to make honey? sweeten your tea Honey begins its journey as throughout the hive fan their wings nectar, the sugar water produced furiously, increasing air circulation to by fl owers. Worker bees visit up to speed up the evaporation process. When Some birds can live their entire lives aloft, even soaring 1,500 fl owers a fl ight, sucking nectar the nectar’s reduced from 80 per cent water while sleeping. Others migrate thousands of kilometres. through straw-like tubes and storing it in to only 18.5 per cent, it is offi cially honey, The real miracle is the wing itself, a singular feat of their honey sacs. and the cells are sealed over with wax. evolutionary engineering. The honey sac or crop contains an Honey sac or crop When outstretched for gliding, bird wings form a perfect aerofoil, a enzyme that breaks down the nectar’s surface that is curved on top and fl at on the bottom. According to complex sugars into glucose and fructose, Bernoulli’s principle, air travels faster across the curved upper surface, which are easier for the bees to digest and lowering air pressure above the wing and generating lift. make the sweet liquid less hospitable to Aeroplane wings require separate engines, but bird wings provide bacteria and fungi. In the hive, more both lift and thrust. During fl apping fl ight, birds are essentially worker bees draw the nectar from the ‘rowing’ through the air, pushing down and back powered by two thick honey sacs, ‘chew’ it for further processing layers of pectoral muscles. and deposit drops of the precious liquid Wing feathers grow in separate sections that shift position and Pharynx Rectum in honeycomb cells. Midgut overlap to provide a smooth curved surface for maximum lift. On an What happens next is wonderfully upstroke, contoured fl ight feathers collapse along a rigid shaft, weird. Teams of worker bees positioned The honey sac stores nectar outside of the stomach minimising the resistance, then expand on the downstroke, maximising thrust. © Imagine Publishing Ltd | WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM 018 How It Works No unauthorised copying or distribution

018_HIW001.indd 18 13/10/09 17:05:21 DEADLIEST Inland Taipan DEADLIER Papuan Taipan DEADLY Blue Krait Habitat: Australia Habitat: New Guinea Habitat: Australia Head Mortality Rating: Mortality Rating: Mortality Rating: 100 per cent without 100 per cent without 50 per cent even with to Head immediate antivenom antivenom antivenom Fact: 750 times more Fact: Nearly as toxic as Fact: Nocturnal, and is more SNAKES venomous than a cobra its Aussie cousin aggressive during the night

DID YOU KNOW? Ozone was originally discovered and named by Christian Friedrich Schönbein in 1840

The structure of the Earth’s The ozone atmosphere Here’s how the ozone extends from the Earth’s surface layer explained Tropospheric ozone Starts at ground level, with an altitude We may hear about it a lot, and mainly how we’re slowly of up to 15 kilometres. Energy transfer destroying it, but just what is the ozone layer? from the surface heats it. The lowest part of this is the The ozone layer is essentially Mother Earth’s populace, who would be exposed to an increase in skin- warmest with temperature safety net, residing some 50 kilometres above related diseases such as cancer. decreasing with altitude. This the planet’s surface. Created from O3, or ozone So how does the ozone protect us? Ozone molecules heat and CFC intervention gas, it is up to 20 kilometres thick and 90 per consist of three oxygen atoms, hence the chemical produces turbulent diffusion, cent of this gas can be found up on the Earth’s formula O3. Stratospheric ozone absorbs UVB high-energy producing great levels of ozone, harmful to organic stratosphere. This protective gas is vital to the nurturing radiation, as well as energetic electrons, which in turn life. of life on our planet, and here’s why. splits the O3 into an O atom and an O2 molecule. When the Ozone gases act as a shield against ultra violet, or UVB, O atom soon encounters another O2 molecule they re- radiation. These harmful emissions are sent through the merge and recreate O3. This means that the ozone layer Sun’s rays, and without the ozone would severely affect absorbs the UVB without being consumed. The ozone the planet’s ecological balance, damaging bio-diversity. layer absorbs up to 99 per cent of the Sun’s high frequency UVB rays reduce plankton levels in the ocean, UV light rays, transforming this into heat after its subsequently diminishing ﬁ sh stock. Plant growth would combustible atomic reaction, therefore creating the also diminish in turn disrupting agricultural stratosphere itself. This effectively incubates life on Earth. 5 10 15 20

productivity. This would in turn affect the human But ozone doesn’t reside only in the world above. Altitude (km) This gas is also present in the layer around the Earth’s A whole lot of hole surface. Ten to 18km above us, this is known as the The area of depletion over tropospheric ozone or ‘bad ozone’, comparative to the the Antarctic, known as function of the stratosphere. This ozone occurs the ozone hole, is naturally in small doses, initiating the removal of estimated at between 21 hydrocarbons, released by plants and soil, or and 24 million square appearing from small amounts of kilometres – enough to ﬁ t Typical cloud altitude England in 161 times over! stratospheric ozone, which occasionally migrate down to the Earth’s surface. However, it gets a bad reputation due Stratospheric ozone to its interaction of ultraviolet light, Between ten and 50 with volatile organic compounds kilometres up from the and nitrogen oxides, emitted by stratopause. It contains up to fossil-fuel powered machines and 90 per cent of Earth’s ozone. internal combustion engines. The stratosphere contains the This produces high levels of highest level of ozone on the planet, ozone, which are formed in with two to eight parts per million. This reacts with UVB to produce high temperature conditions, This reacts with UVB to produce what we know as the ozone layer. ultimately toxic to all forms of organic life. The stratosphere is layered in temperature due to UVB absorption. Heat increases with altitude, with the How big is the top of the stratosphere has a hole in the temperature up to -3°C. ozone layer? The ozone hole refers to an area of depletion over the Antarctic region of Earth. The planet’s ozone records a decline of four per cent per decade in total volume but much larger loses are recorded in the stratospheric ozone over Earth’s polar region, however this is seasonal condition. These areas’ unique atmospheric conditions see the most impact. Strong winds blow around the continent forming a polar vortex, isolating the air over Antarctica from the rest of the world. This allows special polar stratospheric clouds to form at about 80,000 feet altitude. These concentrate atmosphere pollutant. When spring returns after the sunless winter period the ozone is depleted causing the ozone hole. The largest ever recorded ozone hole occurred in 2006, at 20.6 million square miles. At present the ozone hole is recorded at between 21 and 24 million square kilometres. © Imagine Publishing Ltd WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM | No unauthorised copying or distribution How It Works 019

019_HIW001.indd 19 13/10/09 17:06:58 © Imagine Publishing Ltd No unauthorised copying or distribution THE WEIGHT>up to 5,000 pounds STATS GREAT WHITE LENGTH>13-23ft (4-7m) SPEED >15mph

DID YOU KNOW? XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX The ultimate hunting machine Exploring great white 1. Smelly vision A super sense of smell is the primary detector shark hunting habits for the shark species when hunting prey. The great white can amazingly smell a single drop of blood in 100 litres of water. One of nature’s deadliest hunters in action

2. Electric impulse Jelly-fi lled canals in the shark’s head help detect electrical charges as small as 0.005 microvolts. Enough to detect the heartbeat of hiding fi sh. Hunting The great white shark, or Carcharodon carcharias, can only be described as the largest predatory fi sh in the sea. But is this techniques aquatic marauder as fearsome as the popular media would have us believe? How great whites track It’s certainly a species long in the tooth, in more ways and catch their prey than one. Firstly each of its incisors is a perfect cutting implement, triangularly serrated on both sides. These can grow up to as long as three inches. Upon maturity an adult great white can have anywhere up to 3,000 teeth jam- 3. Super hearinghearing packed within its gaping jawline. Rapid, irregularly pulsed, broadband sounds at The way in which this and its teeth operate accordingly frequencies below 600 is truly remarkable. The great white shark has a fl oating hertz, made by injured jaw, enabling it to hold onto its prey with the lower part, as prey and spawning fi sh, the upper jaw clamps down, tearing away fl esh. Couple can alert hunting sharks this with great white sizes reported up to as big as 20-feet from over one mile away. or more, carrying weight of up to 2,240 kilograms, or 4,938lb, and that’s one killer bite. The great white’s anatomy almost contradicts itself. 4. Touch-at-distance With a torpedo-shaped torso, it propels itself with its A row of fl uid-fi lled sensory powerful tail, reaching speeds up to 15 miles per hour. canals on either side of the These sharks move much like aircrafts, less like body respond to changes in pressure and movement, conventional swimming fi sh species. Yet this momentum helping it feel the presence is used at an advantage, and the great white shark shows of objects in the water. strategy in swiftly surprising prey from below. This usually consists of infl icting a fatal bite, which will sees its prey either die of shock or massive body trauma. It’s apparent that this species of shark has evolved into 5. Swallow or spit a remarkable hunting machine, quite literally the The great white shark has advanced taste receptors located on the swellings in the mouth and gums. bloodhound of the sea. The great white has developed the These help determine the palatability of its food. most diverse array of sensors of any known predator. © Imagine Publishing Ltd WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM | No unauthorised copying or distribution How It Works 021

021_HIW001.indd 21 13/10/09 17:08:23 “ Volcanoes are evidence of the inner ENVIRONMENT workings of plate tectonics” Volcanic eruptions explained

Feeling hot, hot, hot The temperature of lava can range from anything between 700 and 1,300ºC

Head Image courtesy of the US Geological Survey toHead Which is the biggest, Beneath the fastest, strongest? Earth’s crust TALLEST The instructions to building a mountain of fire

5. Composite layers 1. Mauna Loa Over centuries, a composite volcano will lay down alternating Location: Hawaii, USA layers of cooled lava and Height: At 17km (56,000ft) above its compacted ash and debris. Other submarine base, Mauna Loa is not volcanoes are built entirely of lava only the world’s tallest volcano, but layers or mounds of cinders. arguably the world’s tallest mountain. Last eruption: In 1984, after a series of earthquakes, rifts along Mauna Loa’s ﬂ anks oozed slow-moving lava for three weeks, threatening the town of Hilo.

BIGGEST ERUPTION

Image courtesy of the US Geological Survey 2. Tambora Location: Sumbawa, Indonesia The wow factor Height: 2,859 meters (9,348ft), but Although deadly, an erupting volcano is was 4,000 meters (13,000ft) prior one of nature’s most stunning sights to 1815 Last eruption: Tambora’s 1815 eruption is the largest in recorded history, emitting 150 times more ash than Mt St Helens, killing 92,000 people and creating a worldwide ‘year without a summer’. DEADLIEST Anatomy

3. Nevado del Ruiz of a volcano Location: Colombia Volcanoes are rare locations on the Earth’s crust Approximately 400 of Earth’s 500 known active volcanoes lie Height: 5,321 meters (17,453ft) where molten rock (magma) spews to the atop subduction zones, places where an oceanic plate slips Last eruption: In 1985, a relatively surface as lava, often accompanied by beneath another oceanic or continental plate. The ‘Ring of Fire’ small volcanic eruption melted a superheated gas and debris. traces a circle of highly active subduction zones around the thick snow and ice cap, creating a Geologists see volcanoes as outward evidence Paciﬁ c Ocean. killer lahar (mudslide) that descended on the village of Armero. of the inner workings of plate tectonics, the theory that the crust In a subduction volcano, magma is formed 100 to 200km A 30-metre high wall of water and is fragmented into 15 oceanic and continental plates that beneath the surface when water and carbon dioxide seep from debris killed over 20,000. diverge, converge and slide beneath one another over time. the sinking oceanic shelf, lowering the melting point of the © Imagine Publishing Ltd | WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM 022 How It Works No unauthorised copying or distribution

022-023_HIW001.indd 22 13/10/09 17:28:55 www.howitworksdaily.com “ Volcanoes are evidence of the inner THE WEBSITE THAT FEEDS MINDS workings of plate tectonics” FORUM ■ VIDEOS ■ NEWS ■ INTERVIEWS ■ FEATURES ■ PODCASTS

DID YOU KNOW? XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX TYPES OF… 4. Cinders, blocks and bombs… oh my! Volcanoes During eruptions, volcanoes can emit 3. Crater clouds of ash, red-hot cinders, blocks Craters contain several chimneys Volcanism takes the of dislodged rock and even volcanic that emit lava and debris. In rare bombs – globs of airborne lava that cases, a tremendous eruption shape of towering solidify before hitting the ground. causes the volcano to collapse on peaks and ﬂ at plateaus itself, creating a caldera – a giant crater kilometres in diameter.

Shield Wide, shallow-sloped volcanoes formed by layers of slow-oozing lava (Mauna Loa in Hawaii).

Cinder Small, single-vent volcanoes composed of a pile of shattered volcanic rock and ash (Paricutín in Mexico).

Composite Tall, steep-sloped volcanoes made from alternating layers of cooled lava and debris like ash and lava 1. Main vent bombs (Mt Fuji in Japan). A column of magma rises up 2. Side vent through the main vent. Over A volcano can eject lava from its millennia, erosion can expose ﬂ anks, not just the crater. Side vents the main vent of a long- redirect lava from the main conduit dormant volcano as a thick and feed new lava ﬂ ows. volcanic plug or neck.

Breathtaking and often devastating reminders Fissure Flat fi elds of lava that emerge from long cracks along the Earth’s rift that the Earth’s surface is actively evolving zones (Las Pilas in Nicaragua). surrounding rock. This fresh magma, which is lighter than solid thousands, of small volcanoes to fi ll the cracks, creating new Learn more rock, percolates upward through fi ssures in the crust, ocean fl oor. eventually exploding to the surface when trapped gases in the Five per cent of volcanoes are located far from the seams of For more information about magma rush to escape. tectonic plates. So-called hot spot volcanoes are fuelled by deep volcanoes visit www.avo.alaska.edu, Rift volcanoes form along the great seams of two separating sources of magma pumped to the surface through powerful the offi cial website of the plates. The mid-Atlantic ridge, which separates the North convection currents in the molten mantle. Since the deep fuel Alaska Volcano Observatory, American and African plates, is one of these seams. As the source remains fi xed while the plate slides above, the result is where you can see videos and live webcams of all the active plates pull apart, magma bubbles up through hundreds, even often a string of volcanoes like the Hawaiian Islands. volcanos in Alaska. © Imagine Publishing Ltd WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM | No unauthorised copying or distribution How It Works 023

022-023_HIW001.indd 23 13/10/09 17:29:51 5 TOP FACTS

Biology Chemistry Physics General THE EYE SCIENCE categories explained A look at the human eye How vision and sight This month in Science Welcome to the science section where you can find investigations and works explanations of the application of science in An eye-opening look at the contemporary world. The largest and most how we see… expensive science experiment in the world, 1. Retina the Large Hadron Collider The retina is the light sensitive area which starts again in November, processes light admitted into the eye and coinciding perfectly with converts it into electrical impulses which are our launch issue. You can transmitted to the brain via the optic nerve. find out how it was repaired on page 34.

29 Your heart explained

2. Optic nerve After the retina has processed light into electrical impulses, the optic nerve transports this information to the brain.

34 The LHC returns The biology of the eye is an extremely complex that light-sensitive parts of the eye SCIENCE one, especially when you consider that the are not damaged. human eye only has the rough diameter of The pupil can vary in size between 24 Vision and sight 2.54cm and weighs approximately 7.5 grams. It is 2mm and 8mm, increasing to allow up to 26 Displacement made up of around 15 distinct parts, which all 30 times more light in than the minimum. 26 Fish gills have different roles to play in receiving light into the eye and The light is then passed through the lens, which 27 Brain freeze transmitting the electrical impulses, which ultimately relay further refracts the light, which then travels through 27 Thermite image information to our brains, out of the eye, so that we can the vitreous humour to the back of the eye and is refl ected 28 X-rays perceive the world we live in. onto the retina, the centre point of which is the macula. 28 Static electricity The eye is often compared to a basic camera, and indeed the The retina is where the rods and cones are situated, rods 29 Human heart very fi rst camera was designed with the concept of the eye in being responsible for vision when low levels of light are present and cones being responsible for colour vision and specifi c 30 Fireworks mind. We can reduce the complex process that occurs to process light into vision within the eye to a relatively basic detail. Rods are far more numerous as more cells are needed to 32 Why do we get drunk? sequence of events. First, light passes through the cornea, react in low levels of light and are situated around the focal 32 Immunisation which refracts the light so that it enters the eye in the right point of cones. This focal gathering of cones is collectively 33 Atoms direction, and aqueous humour, into the main body of the eye called the fovea, which is situated within the macula. All the 33 Electromagnets through the pupil. The iris contracts to control pupil size and light information that has been received by the eye is then 34 Large Hadron Collider this limits the amount of light that is let through into the eye so converted into electrical impulses by a chemical in the retina © Imagine Publishing Ltd | WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM 024 How It Works No unauthorised copying or distribution

024-025_HIW001.indd 24 13/10/09 17:21:53 Independent evolution 8% of males can’t Hawks have Your eyes don’t Over half the brain is 5 TOP across species see green 20/2 vision! get tired involved in seeing Convergent evolution has Or red! X chromosome- Hawks have up to eight The eye is the only organ of The eye uses 65 per cent 1 produced a very similar eye 2 inherited mutations can lead 3 times better vision than the 4 the body which doesn’t 5 of the nerve pathways to FACTS across species; mammals and to colour blindness, the most average human due to actually need rest. It can the human brain. We are cephalopods’ common ancestor common of which is red/ increased levels of cones and operate at 100 per cent all very much visually THE EYE had a photoreceptive spot. green colour blindness. rods in the eye. the time. dependent beings!

DID YOU KNOW? The study of the iris of the eye is called iridology

Rods and cones Light Rods are the light-sensitive cells in our eyes that aid our vision in low levels of light. Rods are blind to colour and only transmit information mainly in Nerve ﬁ bres black and white to the brain. They are far Ganglion cells 4. Lens more numerous with around 120 million The lens is a transparent disc in the rods present in every human eye Bipolar cells eye which, with the cornea, refracts compared to around 7 million cones. light that enters the eye so that it is Cones are responsible for received by the retina. perceiving colour and speciﬁ c detail. Cones are primarily Synapsis focused in the fovea, the central area of the macula whereas rods mainly surround the outside Receptors of the retina. Cones Rods work much better in Cones daylight as light is needed to Pigmented cells perceive colour and detail. Inside the How do we human eye see in colour? How an eye sees

3. Sclera This is the fi brous, 6. Cornea white exterior of the The cornea is a eye that is an transparent layer, important protective covering the pupil, layer for the more iris and aqueous delicate insides of humour. It helps Colour is not actually inherent in any the eye. refract the light object. We only see colour because towards the retina so objects absorb some colour from light, that light is received and refl ect others. It is the refl ected ones in the correct area. that we see and that give an object a set ‘colour’. Therefore, for example, grass is not green, it purely absorbs all other 5. Iris colours in light and refl ects back green. If The Iris is the coloured part of the eye which an object refl ects all colours we will see contracts to control the level of light admitted into the eye. The hole which light it as white, if it absorbs all colours we see enters through is called the pupil. it as black. We use cones to perceive colour as rods are blind to colour.

called rhodopsin, also known as purple visual, and the impulses are then transmitted through the optic nerve to the “ The pupil can vary in size brain where they are perceived as ‘vision’. The eye moves to allow a range of vision of approximately 180 degrees and to do between 2mm and 8mm, this it has four primary muscles which control the movement of the eyeball. These allow the eye to move up and down and increasing to allow up to 30 times across, while restricting movement so that the eye does not rotate back into the socket. more light in than the minimum” © Imagine Publishing Ltd WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM | No unauthorised copying or distribution How It Works 025

024-025_HIW001.indd 25 13/10/09 17:22:52 “ The scientifi c principle might lack wow factor, SCIENCE it does enable fantastic feats of engineering” Defi ning displacement How do boats stay afl oat? Displacement enables huge ships to fl oat on the water At fi rst displacement appears to faster than the water will reach the be far from fascinating. Simply tanker’s submerging point, no matter Unladen put, the volume of an object, how large or full of cargo, it will fl oat. The ship sinks until the water it displaces when submerged in water, pushes aside Of course, if you were to drop a solid equals its own weight the same volume of water. This simple iron bar into a swimming pool, it would process allows anyone to measure the sink straight away because: fi rstly, its precise volume of any object by then weight far outweighed that of the water it measuring the amount of fl uid that was displacing and secondly, even if its either spills out of the top of the weight was less than that of the water, its container or rises by said amount in a shape would not allow it to displace the measuring cylinder. All very science weight fast enough. This is why ships’ text-book. hulls are shaped how they are. It becomes a little more interesting So while the scientifi c principle might Fully loaded when you consider that it’s this effect lack wow factor, it does enable fantastic It will continue to displace more and more that enables enormous supertankers feats of engineering like the TI class water as it’s loaded with cargo weighing up to 400,000 tons to fl oat. For supertankers, the largest ocean going- example, when a supertanker is ships in the world. They’re an incredible launched into the sea it will sink if the 379 metres long, 68 metres wide and water it displaces is equal to or exceeds have a deadweight of some 441,585 the weight of the ship itself. However, if metric tons and fl oat thanks to the law when launched its weight is less than of displacement discovered by that of the water it displaces and its Archimedes in the original Eureka shape allows it to displace the weight moment.

Water fl ows over Fish gills – a gas gills, then out exchange story No, fi sh don’t ‘breathe’ water. It’s much cooler than that Fish gill The process of absorbing oxygen and the Water fl ows in release of carbon dioxide is called ‘gas through mouth exchange’. Fish need oxygen in the same way humans do, they just go about getting it in a different way. A fi sh has gills behind its mouth, on the side of the head (unless you’re a bottom dweller like a stingray, then your gills are on the top of your head). Each gill begins with a gill arch which then splits into two fi laments, much like a wishbone. Those fi laments are lined with lamellae, which are little discs that are fi lled with capillaries. Those capillaries have oxygenated blood running through them, which is why the inside of gills are red. The more active a fi sh is, the more oxygen it “ When a fi sh is still, it can still push water through needs, and the more lamellae it has. As a fi sh swims, water moves into the mouth the gills by opening and closing its mouth” and fl ows through the gills. When a fi sh is still, it the blood fl ows in the opposite direction of the moving on to fresher, more oxygenated water. can still push water through the gills by opening water. They need this clever little trick because the Like humans, fi sh must get rid of the carbon and closing its mouth. When water passes over the diffusion only works if there is less oxygen in the dioxide created by absorbing and using oxygen. lamellae, the oxygen in the water diffuses into the blood than there is in the water. So, the blood with Gills are multi-taskers – they diffuse the carbon capillaries, oxygenating the blood. Fish have a the least amount of oxygen is meeting the ‘oxygen dioxide out of the body and into the water. Fish are ‘countercurrent system of fl ow’, which means that depleted’ water fi rst, taking what’s left, and then then free to focus on swimming.

026 | How It Works © Imagine Publishing Ltd WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM No unauthorised copying or distribution

026-027_HIW001.indd 26 6/10/10 14:22:37 Blast-off! Thermite can cut through steel as if it were paper

What is ‘brain freeze’? The Ophthalmic branch carries sensory messages from the eyeball, tear gland, upper nose, upper eyelid, forehead, and scalp. Thermite: Not a bang, but not

The Mandibular branch carries a whimper either sensory messages from The movie Alien’s menacing creature proves the skin, teeth and gums of the itself to be virtually indestructible due to its lower jaw, tongue, chin, acid blood, which can eat through whatever lower lip and skin of the temporal it touches, including steel. Thermite is region. The Maxillary branch carries chemistry’s answer to movie magic sensory messages from Thermite is what you get named after Hans Goldschmidt, the skin, gums when you combine and who discovered it in the late 1800s. and teeth of the upper jaw, ignite a metal powder and a Thermite is primarily used for cheek, upper lip, metal oxide (usually iron oxide as welding, particularly in the railway lower nose and the oxidiser and aluminium as the industry where engineers and lower eyelid. fuel). This causes an technicians need something pretty aluminothermic reaction wherein powerful to join railway tracks, and the iron oxide is stripped of its thermite can get the job done That intense pain you sometimes get when you oxygen, making it molten iron quickly and effectively. It’s also used eat ice cream too fast is technically called metal. The exothermic reaction (a in demolition, and in certain kinds reaction that releases energy in the of grenades and bombs. Thermite sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia, and it’s related form of heat) is not explosive – it hand grenades are often used in basically looks a big sparkler. The combat as a way to disable artillery to migraine headaches iron is three times hotter than and vehicles. These grenades are The pain of a brain freeze, also know as an ice cream headache, comes from molten lava – it can reach 2,750°C – ideal for a quick and relatively quiet your body’s natural reaction to cold. When your body senses cold, it wants to and can penetrate several layers of mission. If your tank’s transmission conserve heat. One of the steps it takes to accomplish this is constricting the steel as if it were paper. The UV light has been eaten away by thermite, blood vessels near your skin. With less blood ﬂ owing near your skin, less heat is it emits is so powerful you have to you aren’t going anywhere in it. carried away from your core, keeping you warm. have eye protection (like a welder’s In 2008, the television show The same thing happens when something really cold hits the back of your mouth. mask) to look directly at it. The Mythbusters tried to cut an SUV in The blood vessels in your palate constrict rapidly. When the cold goes away (because reaction is self-oxidising, which half with thermite. They ignited a you swallowed the ice cream or cold beverage), they rapidly dilate back to their means you can’t put it out with thousand pounds of thermite in the normal state. water. In other words, it is one nasty hopes of slicing it down middle from This is harmless, but a major facial nerve called the trigeminal lies close to your customer (but really cool to watch the front to back. It didn’t work, but palate and this nerve interprets the constriction/dilation process as pain. The from a safe distance). it did completely gut and ruin the location of the trigeminal nerve can cause the pain to seem like its coming from your The thermite reaction is also car. So, needless to say, don’t try it at forehead. Doctors believe this same misinterpretation of blood vessel constriction/ known as the ‘Goldschmidt process’, home. dilation is the cause of the intense pain of a migraine headache.

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026-027_HIW001.indd 27 6/10/10 14:22:57 5 TOP FACTS SCIENCE THE HEART How do x-rays work?

She’s electric Now we understand how Amy Winehouse gets her unique look… Images © Science Museum Science © Images Static electricity – mystery solved Understanding Static electricity is all about freewheeling subatomic particles how x-rays work Atoms are bundles of neutrons and positively charged protons – the nucleus – orbited by negatively charged With a small dose of x-ray energy, your doctor electrons. When an atom has more protons than electrons, it can examine your bones or circulatory system has a positive charge. Excess electrons give an atom a negative charge. Particles and atoms with opposite charges are attracted to each other, – too high of a dose and you’re doomed to a and particles with the same charge repel each other. When you rub a balloon against your hair, electrons from the hair painful death from cancer atoms jump across to the balloon atoms, giving the balloon a An x-ray is a form of energy Many of the them go right through, but stationary negative charge, or ‘static electricity’. If you put the balloon within a certain range of your bones are made from larger atoms against a wall, the negatively charged balloon atoms repel the wavelengths. Any radiation (calcium, mostly) than your other bits, negatively charged electrons from the wall atoms. As a result, atoms between 3 × 1016 Hz to 3 × 1019 Hz (30 and these atoms have a greater chance of along the wall surface end up with a positive charge that attracts the petahertz to 30 exahertz) is considered x- absorbing some x-rays. On the other side negatively charged balloon atoms. The balloon then ‘sticks’ to the ray radiation. These are very short of you, the rays strike a photosensitive wall until the electrons redistribute themselves, giving the balloon a wavelengths, just below the ultraviolet plate. The more x-rays that strike the neutral charge. region of the spectrum. The actual plate, the darker that portion of the plate. wavelength is about 10,000 times smaller That’s why the resulting image is a SHIELDING – than the wavelength of visible light. negative, with your bones the brightest: The lead casing Short wavelength rays have high energy, they absorbed the most x-rays. Doctors keeps the x- which is why x-rays pass through most can x-ray image your blood vessels or rays from things. The high energy level of an x-ray other soft tissue by injecting or making scattering in photon doesn’t ‘fi t’ with others atoms’ you drink a special contrast dye that every direction. The rays can electron orbits, making it diffi cult for absorbs x-rays. only leave atoms to absorb x-rays unless the atom is The x-rays that are absorbed by your through the large enough to accommodate the x-ray body aren’t entirely harmless. The x-ray window. photon’s energy. photons can knock electrons away from The x-ray machine at your doctor’s their atoms, creating ions and starting a offi ce generates x-rays by cranking a minor chain reaction. Ricocheting ions bunch of electrons up to a very high alter substances in your body at the speed using a highly charged cathode. atomic level, destroying or altering the These electrons are then drawn to an DNA of your cells. This ‘ionising CATHODE – A strong ANODE – The high voltage power source creates a anode made of tungsten. There, the radiation’ is what did the damage causes electrons to move large difference in electrons strike tungsten atoms and are suffered by those who endured from the cathode to the charge between the anode at high speed. either defl ected or knock other electrons unshielded, very long or frequent x-ray cathode and the anode. out of orbit. The collisions emit photons exposures in the days before the dangers at the wavelength of x-rays which are of x-rays were understood. Today’s channelled using a small window and medical x-rays are very safe when used GLASS TUBE – The entire COOLANT – A coolant oil is circulated around heat lots of lead shielding. properly, and vastly superior to being cut cathode/anode apparatus sinks attached to the cathode and anode. X-ray From there, the rays are passed open every time a doctor needed a look is held in a vacuum tube to machines are ineffi cient and generates large through some portion of your anatomy. inside you. keep out unwanted atoms. amounts of waste heat. © Imagine Publishing Ltd | WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM 028 How It Works No unauthorised copying or distribution

028-029_HIW001.indd 28 13/10/09 17:39:23 Heart lube Tubes of air Coronary bypass Veins vs arteries Heart power 5 TOP Your heart is surrounded by a Artery literally means ‘wind A coronary bypass is a The ultimate difference Your heart runs on just a few 1 membrane called the 2 pipe’. Anatomists dissected 3 surgery in which surgeons 4 between veins and arteries 5 watts of power, about the pericardium. It secretes ﬂ uid corpses to learn about the shunt a coronary artery lies in whether they actually same as a small LED light. FACTS which acts as a lubricant so body. After death, blood drains around a blockage using carry blood toward (veins) Over the course of a long the heart doesn’t suffer wear from arteries, so they were full blood vessels from other or away (arteries) from lifetime, it adds up to several THE HEART and tear when it beats. of air, hence the name. parts of the body. the heart. billion joules.

DID YOU KNOW? The heart pumps about 1 million barrels of blood during the average lifetime

SUPERIOR AND INFERIOR VENA CAVA These large veins carry blood back to the heart from organs above and below the heart, The heart – a respectively. This blood has already been stripped of its oxygen supply, and thus is a dark red or bluish colour. vital organ Your heart is a turbocharged double- pumping muscle that beats more than 40 million times every year Not only does your heart do amazing things, it PULMONARY VEINS does so tirelessly, every Static electricity – After the blood collects oxygen from the lungs, it minute of every day from returns to the heart via the moment you’re born mystery solved the pulmonary veins. (actually, even a bit before then) to the instant that you die. It weighs somewhere between eight and 12 LEFT ATRIUM Blood brimming with ounces – slightly more if you’re male, oxygen and other less if you’re female. Its sole purpose is to nutrients collects here. push blood through your circulatory When the atrium system, providing crucial oxygen and contracts, the blood other nutrients to all your organs. passes through the mitral valve and enters the left The heart is considered a double ventricle under pressure. pump because the right half sends ‘used’ blood to your lungs. There, the blood drops off a load of carbon dioxide LEFT VENTRICLE and picks up some fresh oxygen, which The left ventricle must you have helpfully provided by send blood on a longer journey than the right breathing. Then the oxygenated blood ventricle, so it has thicker returns to the left half of the heart. This walls and uses about ‘heart-to-lungs-to-heart-again’ trip is three times as much known as pulmonary circulation. The energy. Luckily, the left left side of the heart then pumps this atrium’s contraction gives the left ventricle’s output oxygenated blood to every organ in your a 20 per cent boost. body other than your lungs. Your brain, your skin, the muscles in your thigh, your spleen – they all get blood (and therefore oxygen) by virtue of your beating heart. Even the heart itself gets blood, via a special set of veins and arteries known RIGHT ATRIUM as the coronary system. The myocardial Blood from the muscle within the wall of the heart vena cava enters needs oxygen and other nutrients to this chamber of the keep beating. Unfortunately, the heart, where it coronary arteries that do this job are collects passively. very narrow, between 1.7 and 2.2 millimetres in diameter. If they become TRICUSPID VALVE clogged with cholesterol or other fatty When the right atrium contracts, it deposits, the heart stops working. This is pushes blood through the tricuspid bad for you. valve, a one-way valve leading down What’s inside Of course, the relatively simple into the right ventricle. concept of the double pump is fairly complex in practice. A series of valves RIGHT VENTRICLE your heart control blood ﬂ ow to the heart’s four Blood enters the right ventricle under pressure from the atrium’s Find out how your chambers, allow for the build-up of contraction, giving it a boost much like the turbocharger in a high- enough blood pressure to get the job performance car. The ventricle contracts and pumps blood through the heart pumps blood pulmonary valve, into the pulmonary artery and toward the lungs. done, and direct the blood to the correct around your body veins and arteries. © Imagine Publishing Ltd WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM | No unauthorised copying or distribution How It Works 029

028-029_HIW001.indd 29 13/10/09 17:39:40 World’s largest display Most rockets in 30s Tallest bonfi re Gunpowder plot Huge Catherine wheel 5 TOP Was set on 31 December 2006 The world record for the most Hiroshima, Japan was the Bonfi re Night held on 5 We have the Newick Bonfi re 1 in Funchal, Madeira, as part of 2 rockets fi red in 30 seconds is 3 setting for the world’s tallest 4 November is the celebration 5 Society to thank for the Portugal’s new year 56,405, achieved on 16 bonfi re – a quite collosal 123ft of the failed 1605 gunpowder monsterous 85-foot world- FACTS celebrations. 66,236 fi reworks August 2006. An attempt to high, lit on 9 February 2003 plot in which Guy Fawkes record-breaking Catherine lit up the sky to claim the beat this on Bournemouth as part of the city’s attemped to blow up the wheel constructed in the UK SCIENCE FIREWORKS world record. seafront in 2009 failed. Centennial celebrations. British Houses of Parliament. on 30 October 1999. How fi reworks burst into action

1. Fuse The ﬁ rst fuse sets everything in motion. After the shell is in the mortar, the fuse is lit and the ﬂ ame makes its way to the lifting charge.

3. Time-delayed fuse While the shell soars up into the air, the time-delayed fuse continues to burn, buying enough time to get the shell at its highest point before reaching the bursting charge.

4. Bursting charge The bursting charge is more black powder, stored higher up the shell. Once the time-delayed fuse reaches the bursting charge, the combustion sets off the stars.

5. Stars The stars begin their heat-induced chemical reactions. The shell can no longer contain the power of the combustion, and the stars are sent ﬂ ying, creating the traditional ﬁ reworks shapes.

2. Lifting charge Black powder (also called gunpowder) is ignited by the fuse, and the explosion can send a shell up to 1,000 feet into the air.

Italian-style shell Oriental-style shell Creates more elaborate bursts Inside fi reworks Produces spherical bursts What makes the firework explode How fi reworks These bright and festive chemistry experiments have been delighting explode people for hundreds of years Despite all their different colours, oxidant) that produces light and heat. The heat the fi rework in place while the fuse burns). The lift shapes, and sounds, all fi reworks causes gasses to expand rapidly, building pressure. charge, at the bottom of the shell, is basically have the same basic components. The shells are tightly wrapped cylinders, which concentrated black powder (charcoal, sulphur, and Aerial fi reworks consist of a shell provide good resistance to this pressure, giving it a potassium nitrate). When lit by the dangling fuse, made of heavy paper that holds the short time to build in intensity. Then, when the the lift charge sends the shell into the air. Basic ‘lift charge’, the ‘bursting charge’, and the ‘stars’. All reaction overpowers the shell, you get the explosive fi recrackers are just paper-covered black powder: of these glittery spectacles come from good old- fi rework effect. you light the fuse and listen to the popping sound. fashioned combustion. Combustion is a chemical It all starts when the shell is placed into a mortar The bursting charge is another round of black reaction between two substances (a fuel and an (a cylinder the same size as the shell, which holds powder with its own time-delayed fuse higher up in © Imagine Publishing Ltd | WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM 030 How It Works No unauthorised copying or distribution

030-031_HIW001.indd 30 13/10/09 17:31:56 World’s largest display Most rockets in 30s Tallest bonfi re Gunpowder plot Huge Catherine wheel 5 TOP Was set on 31 December 2006 The world record for the most Hiroshima, Japan was the Bonfi re Night held on 5 We have the Newick Bonfi re 1 in Funchal, Madeira, as part of 2 rockets fi red in 30 seconds is 3 setting for the world’s tallest 4 November is the celebration 5 Society to thank for the Portugal’s new year 56,405, achieved on 16 bonfi re – a quite collosal 123ft of the failed 1605 gunpowder monsterous 85-foot world- FACTS celebrations. 66,236 fi reworks August 2006. An attempt to high, lit on 9 February 2003 plot in which Guy Fawkes record-breaking Catherine lit up the sky to claim the beat this on Bournemouth as part of the city’s attemped to blow up the wheel constructed in the UK FIREWORKS world record. seafront in 2009 failed. Centennial celebrations. British Houses of Parliament. on 30 October 1999.

DID YOU KNOW? A modern sparkler burns at a temperature over 15 times the boiling point of water

The time-delay fuse continues to Red – Strontium and lithium burn, reaching the next cluster of stars as the ﬁ rst explosion fades. What makes Orange – Calcium the colours? Gold – Incandescence of iron, charcoal or lampblack Colours are a matter of delicate Yellow – Sodium balance. The wrong combination can Electric white – Magnesium or aluminium mean a wrong colour, or worse Colours involve different measurements and Green – Barium plus a chlorine producer combinations of oxygen producers, fuels, binders, and colour producers. You can make colour through Blue – Copper plus a chlorine producer incandescence – light created through heat (orange, red, Purple – Strontium plus copper white), or luminescence – light created from a chemical reaction without extreme heat (blue, green). It’s all about Silver – Aluminium, titanium or magnesium powder or ﬂ akes temperature control and balance.

Each set of stars is in its own cardboard compartment, allowing for separate explosions. The ﬁ rst bursting charge sets off the ﬁ rst cluster of stars. The shell rises into the air as the time-delay fuse burns. The fuse is lit, setting off the lift charge.

The short life How fi reworks of a fi rework A lot of careful planning has to go into a multi-break fi rework. All for about three seconds’ worth of explode entertainment… the shell. The bursting charge creates the heat to and circles. Hundreds of stars can be used in a single these may sit in its own individual interior shell. activate the stars that surround it and explode them fi rework shell. These are called ‘multi-break shells’. outward from the shell. The stars are where the More complex fi reworks – for example, ones that While a sight to behold, fi reworks are individually magic happens. produce a shape like a smiley face, have multiple wrapped chemistry experiments. Tapping one too Stars are balls made up of fuels, oxidisers, colour- phases of different colours, or make extra sounds hard or creating a static electricity shock with your creating combinations of different kinds of metals, like whistles – have shells with a more intricate synthetic-material clothing could be deadly and one and a binder to hold everything together. The stars infrastructure. In these types of fi reworks, there are exploding near to your face could result in horrifi c can be arranged within the fi rework shell to create more time-delayed fuses linked to various bursting burns and even blindness. They don’t have the word shapes. The shapes can be things like hearts, stars, charges with their own surrounding stars. Each of ‘fi re’ in them for nothing. © Imagine Publishing Ltd WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM | No unauthorised copying or distribution How It Works 031

030-031_HIW001.indd 31 13/10/09 17:32:08 The vaccination process in action 5 TOP FACTS SCIENCE ATOMS How alcohol works Why do we get drunk? It’s the drug of choice for many, but just how does alcohol get you drunk, and why do we suffer from the side effects? There are actually many kinds of effects in the brain, but there are some alcohol in the chemical world, well-supported theories. The slow but the one we drink the most is reactions, slurred speech and memory ethanol. It’s the particular shape of an loss of a drunk are probably caused by ethanol molecule that gives a glass of ethanol attaching to glutamate receptors beer or a shot of the hard stuff its specifi c in your brain’s neural circuitry. These effects on the human brain. The receptors normally receive chemical molecule is very tiny, made up of just two signals from other parts of the brain, but Immunisation: carbon atoms, six hydrogen atoms, and instead they get an ethanol molecule. one oxygen atom. Ethanol is water This disrupts the fl ow of signals and soluble, which means it enters the blood generally slows the whole brain down. how it keeps stream readily, there to be carried Ethanol also binds to GABA (gamma- quickly to all parts of the body (most aminobutyric acid) receptors, which notably the liver and the brain). It’s also normally serve to slow down brain you healthy fat soluble; like an all-access pass activity. Unlike glutamate receptors, through various cell membranes and ethanol actually makes GABA receptors Your body has the tools to keep you other places that are normally off limits. more receptive, causing the brain to slow A certain portion of the ethanol you down even more. But alcohol isn’t simply safe from disease drink passes through your stomach to a depressant, because it also stimulates Before the vaccine, everyone got chicken pox. You’d get it your small intestine, is absorbed into the production of dopamine and once as a kid and then wouldn’t get it again. This is a perfect your bloodstream and carried to your endorphins, chemicals that produce example of immunisation. brain. That’s what we’re really feelings of pleasure. Research hasn’t yet Antigens are foreign molecules that when introduced, the body concerned with. Research has not revealed the exact mechanism involved, recognises as an ‘intruder’ and fi ghts with antibodies, creating an conclusively determined exactly how but it may be similar to the way ethanol immune response. Antibodies neutralise the antigen so that the next ethanol accomplishes all of its various stimulates the GABA receptors. time around they know what to do. Vaccinations make immunisation even more convenient because you don’t even have to get sick the fi rst time around while your antibodies do their work. Ethanol Vaccines carry inactive bacterial toxins, killed microbes, parts of microbes, and weakened microbes. Basically, enough ‘stuff’ to catch molecule your antibodies’ attention, but not enough to actually make you sick. The particular shape of an Nowadays, instead of actually having chicken pox, kids often get the ethanol molecule makes it ideally vaccination, therefore avoiding the itchy bumps and fever but suited to getting humans drunk. creating the ‘immunological memory’ needed to fi ght it the next time Slight differences in the charge at each end of the molecule make it it tries to invade the body. Vaccinations have led to the eradication of both water and fat soluble. smallpox and are coming very close to eradicating polio worldwide. Not too shabby. Red atom = Oxygen White atoms = Hydrogen “ Your immune response Black atoms = Carbon ensures future health” Vaccinations and natural immune responses are called ‘active immunity’ because it requires the work of your immune system. ‘Passive immunity’ occurs when actual antibodies are transferred from one person to another. An example is when a mother breast- feeds her infant, transferring her own natural resistance to certain antigens in her baby. Passive immunity only lasts up to a few months. After that, the baby’s own immune system has hopefully strengthened to be able to fi ght antigens on its own. Another use for passive immunity is in rabies cases. Someone bitten by a rabid animal does not have enough time to allow for an active immunity response to a vaccine, so they are given antibodies from someone who has been vaccinated to fi ght the virus in the interim.

032-033_HIW001.indd 32 13/10/09 17:32:52 5 TOP Ancient wisdom The 117th element The light fantastic Atoms in you Inside out With its deﬁ nition stretching Although ununoctium (118) is Hydrogen with no circling An 80kg man would contain Both protons and electrons FACTS 1 back to the 15th Century, the 2 known, element 117 is 3 electron is in a plasma state 4 roughly 8,000,000,000,000, 5 exist within the central word ‘atom’ is Greek for actually yet to be and this is the main 000,000,000,000,000 nucleus, whereas electrons ATOMS invisible. This is partly true. discovered… so get looking! ingredient of stars. atoms… that’s 27 zeros! are orbital.

DID YOU KNOW? Strong electromagnetic forces bind the electrons and nucleus together

Electrons carry a What are atoms? negative charge The little things in life make the biggest difference The big bang has a lot to answer for. The made up of various numbers of protons, neutrons and astonishing cosmic forces hypothesised to have electrons. But just like the expanding understanding of created the universe formed all known types of the universe, smaller and smaller sub-atomic particles atom. Atoms which have since gone on to do great things; are being discovered all the time. This quest has led creating stars, planets, us, and indeed the pen and paper particle physicists to build the Large Hadron Collider, a used by Dmitri Mendeleev in his 1869 publication of the particle accelerator with the primary purpose of fi rst universally recognised form of the periodic table; smashing atoms with such force as to either confi rm or essentially a tabular list of the atomic weights of all 117 rule out the existence of the Higgs boson; a particle that known chemical elements. could explain the origin of the universe’s mass. Of course, depending on the way atoms are bonded Atoms hold the key to understanding where it all together they are the very substance of everything we see started; where we’re from in the truest sense and and know. Just as it’s mind-boggling to contemplate the therefore render much pre-existing philosophy The nucleus, size of the universal macrocosm as we look out into the redundant. Apparently, the answer to life isn’t out made up of protons and cosmos, the microcosm is equally astounding. Atoms are there as we once thought, it’s in here! neutrons SOUTHSOUTH NORTH WIRE COIL Any kind of conductive wire The wire should be tightly will work – you can coiled around the core. cannibalise the wire from The more winds, the more your stereo speakers. powerful your N S electromagnet will be. Careful not to wind the BATTERY wire on top of itself – the All electromagnets need a insulation could reduce its power source to provide the effi ciency. current. A battery works fi ne. POLARITY 5 TOP The direction of the current CORE determines the polarity of the FACTS You can use just about anything for electromagnet. If you want to the core, but ferrous metals will be fl ip the north and south poles ELECTROMAGNETS most effi cient. An iron nail is well- of the electromagnet, turn the IN ACTION suited to the task. battery around so the current fl ows in the opposite direction. Scrapyard magnetic 1 cranes Magnetic cranes in scrapyards turn on the powerful magnet to lift tons of metal, then turn it off How electromagnets to drop the scrap. Recycling plants 2 In keeping with the scrapyard Just by running electrical current through a coil of wire, theme, electromagnets are you can turn just about anything into an electromagnet used to separate certain metals work from huge piles of unsorted scrap and waste. Electromagnets work thanks need is a power source, a wire and a different directions, cancelling each to a fundamental force called core. When a current passes through a other out. When the current is turned Speakers 3 The speakers in your stereo or electromagnetism. In the 19th wire, the resulting magnetic fi eld takes on, the magnetic fi eld generated by the guitar amplifi er use Century, Hans Christian Ørsted noticed the shape of concentric circles around coil of wire forces the magnetic electromagnets to convert that a wire with a current running the circumference of the wire. The domains to line up, which makes the electrical energy to sound waves – variations in the current through it affected a nearby compass. magnetic fi eld gets weaker farther from core itself magnetic. The stronger the make the magnets, and the The current was creating a magnetic the wire. Coiling the wire makes for a current, the stronger the magnetic speaker cones, vibrate. fi eld. Later research showed that much more effi cient electromagnet, fi eld. This makes even more of the Electric motors electric current and magnetism are because inside the coil the magnetic domains line up, increasing the overall 4 Electromagnets, in actually two aspects of the same force. fi elds of many portions of the wire are strength of the electromagnet. combination with permanent magnets, are an integral part of This force works both ways – a moving concentrated into a small space. When the current is shut off, most electric motors, which are magnetic fi eld creates electric current. The coil is wrapped around the core, core materials revert to a non-magnetic pretty much everywhere. This is, in fact, how generators work. which should be made of a state as the domains fl ip back to the The mechanism that actually causes magnetically permeable material such original positions. However, certain Particle colliders 5 Experimental devices such as electromagnetic force involves as iron. The core itself is not magnetic substances can become permanent the Large Hadron Collider use quantum physics and the transfer of under normal circumstances, since all magnets and retain the alignment of massive supercooled electromagnets to focus the photons, but the mechanics of an the magnetic areas within it (known as the magnetic domains even in the particle beams. electromagnet are quite simple. All you magnetic domains) are pointing in absence of current.

032-033_HIW001.indd 33 13/10/09 17:33:03 Don’t let your brain go hungry

Online: www.imaginesubs.co.uk SUBSCRIBE NOW! science Phone: 0844 815 5944 to the magazine that feeds minds Inside the Large Hadron Collider All images © CERN © images All Return of the Large Hadron Collider After nine months of repair work, the biggest machine in the world (and the most expensive science experiment of all time) is once again ready for action Remember how much fun you used to have nine days later, they had to shut it down following a CERN compares this challenge to trying to launch hurling toy cars into each other for hours on major malfunction. individual needles into each other from two end? The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is Here’s the skinny on what the LHC does, how it positions ten kilometres apart. something like that – except the cars are subatomic does it, what went wrong, and what could happen The LHC manages to boost the collision rate by particles that race along a 27-kilometre circular after the European Organisation for Nuclear upping the particle count and focusing a huge track buried 50-170 metres below Switzerland and Research (CERN) fires it up again in November. number of particles into a very small area. Each France, crashing into each other at 99.9999991 per particle stream includes around 3,000 bunches, and cent the speed of light. The people doing the Why smash? each bunch contains as many as 100 billion smashing also have more noble intentions than The basic idea of the LHC is to accelerate either particles. The bunches cross each other around 30 your average six-year-old. Scientists from all over streams of protons (part of an atom’s nucleus) or million times a second, which means the LHC can the world have high hopes that the LHC will unlock streams of ions (charged atoms) in opposite produce up to 600 million collisions per second. revolutionary secrets of the universe. directions, so that they collide into each other. The As cool as smashing things together is, you can On 10 September 2008, CERN successfully sent particles – collectively known as hadrons – are so rest assured the 24 countries who funded the LHC a single particle beam around the LHC. But just tiny that making any two hit is extremely difficult. didn’t drop €3 billion just for the heck of it. They © Imagine Publishing Ltd 034 | How It Works www.howitworksDAILY.com No unauthorised copying or distribution

034-37_HIW001.indd 34 14/10/09 10:22:02 Don’t let your brain go hungry

Online: www.imaginesubs.co.uk SUBSCRIBE NOW! Phone: 0844 815 5944 to the magazine that feeds minds

Lucio Rossi, head of CERN’s Magnets, Cryostats and Superconductors group

undertook the project to fi ll in gaps in our 5 fundamental understanding of what makes the universe tick. 6 Understanding the universe is something like devising the recipe for a mysterious dish when the chef is long gone. We can never actually witness the moment of creation, so scientists have to piece MINI-GUIDE KEY Each part of the Large 7 together theories by examining what exists today. Hadron Collider explained This means, in large part, investigating the in this key guide smallest particles that make up all matter. The high 1 The collisions take places in a vacuum chamber. intensity collisions in the LHC are powerful enough 2 The tracker gauges the momentum of particles before they travel through the outer layers. 3 The electromagnetic calorimeter stops photons and electrons to measure their energy levels. to break ions and protons into smaller secondary 4 The hadronic calorimeter stops and measures any particles made from quarks, which make up protons and neutrons. 5 The superconducting coil solenoid generates a magnetic field at the collision site. This bends the path of particles, making particles we’ve never observed before. A collection it possible to identify and measure them. of sophisticated detectors will measure the 6 The return yolk (12,000 tons of iron) contains the magnetic field, which is 100,000 times more powerful than the Earth’s. 7 The muon chambers track the path of (you guessed it) muons. These are charged particles that scientists expect will be position, mass, energy, charge, trajectory, and produced when unknown particles, like the Higgs boson, decay following collisions. speed of the particles from each collision and record the results. Then scientists will pour over the data to fi gure out what sorts of particles were How does it work? produced and what they did. The results could The collision process begins collide. Detectors at the prohibitively expensive. prove or disprove various theories. Or it could turn with either hydrogen or lead. To intersection points register Instead, the LHC sports up something completely unexpected. produce a proton stream, what happens. supercooled superconducting operators strip electrons away The biggest engineering electromagnets made from The big mysteries from hydrogen atoms. To challenge is guiding the niobium-titanium cable. So, what could these particles tell us? Over the produce an ion stream, particles – that is, steering them Niobium-titanium is a years, scientists have developed a substantial body operators heat lead atoms to 550 along the circular track and superconductive metal, of knowledge about subatomic particles, called the degrees celsius and then pass focusing them into beams. The meaning that if you keep it cold Standard Model of particles and forces. But while the lead vapour through an LHC does this with powerful enough, it offers no electrical the Standard Model explains many things well, it electric current to ionise it. electromagnets, which generate resistance and sustains an doesn’t account for a number of known Once the particles are ready, magnetic fi elds to push the electrical current indefi nitely. phenomena. Scientists hope LHC experiments will the operators pass them particles in the right direction. In other words, you can use it to shed light on these perplexing mysteries: through an accelerator chain There are a total of 9,300 create electromagnets that ■ What causes gravity? outside the LHC track itself. This magnets in the LHC, including continually carry a current ■ What gives something mass, and why do some chain applies radio frequency 1,232 15-metre-long dipole (13,000 amps, in the case of the particles have mass while others don’t? electrical fi elds to energise the magnets that bend the beams LHC), while consuming no ■ What are dark matter and dark energy? particles (get them up to high so they follow the track, and 392 power whatsoever. Scientists know it makes up 96 per cent of the speed), before injecting them fi ve to seven-metre magnets The catch is that you have to universe, but since it’s invisible, they don’t know into the LHC’s circular “beam that focus the beams. keep the magnets incredibly much about it. pipe” tracks. A conventional cold. To do this, engineers fi rst ■ Why is there matter and no antimatter? As the beams zip around the electromagnet consists of a coil cool the magnets to -193.2 Scientists believe that the Big Bang created equal pipes, in a ultra-high vacuum, of wire, hooked up to a power degrees celsius, using liquid amounts of matter and its opposite counterpart, they pass through periodic source that produces an nitrogen. Next, they cool the antimatter. Matter and antimatter particles radio frequency cavities. These electrical current. The current magnets down to a steady -271 should destroy each other when they meet, yet cavities produce electrical fi elds in the wires generates a degrees celsius, using an somehow a certain amount of matter survived, that energise the particles, magnetic fi eld, thanks to the advanced refrigeration system. while no antimatter did. Scientists want to know keeping them moving at top electromagnetic effect. In the This system, essentially the why nature gave matter the edge. speed. The pipes intersect at massive LHC, the energy biggest fridge in the entire ■ What was matter like just after the Big Bang? various collision points around consumption for this type of world, uses superfl uid liquid ■ Are there other dimensions? the LHC ring, and the particles electromagnet would be helium as a coolant. © Imagine Publishing Ltd WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM | No unauthorised copying or distribution How It Works 035

034-37_HIW001.indd 35 13/10/09 18:34:39 See amazing videos of the Large Hadron Collider in action SCIENCE TV www.howitworksdaily.com Inside the Large Hadron Collider

An engineer prepares a replacement magnet to be lowered into the LHC tunnel

Engineers check connections on a dipole magnet

DID YOU KNOW?

One of the interconnections between magnets Big fridge The LHC is also the world’s largest fridge. A radio-frequency cavity, which The magnets are first accelerates particles in the LHC pre-cooled to -193.2°C using liquid nitrogen before nearly 60 tons Installing the beam pipe in Working on an of liquid helium bring the middle of interconnection between them down to a rather the ATLAS two magnets frosty -271.3°C. magnet doughnut Trouble in the tunnel Given the enormous complexity of the LHC, the As a result, the super-fl uid helium from the malfunction in September of 2008 wasn’t a total cooling system leaked into the vacuum, forming a shock. We talked to the man in charge of the LHC powerful pressure wave. “Because of this pressure magnets, Lucio Rossi, to fi nd out what happened. wave, we had magnets that were pushed, literally Rossi explained that the engineers were able to pushed,” Rossi explained. “These weigh 30 metric test some parts of the LHC ahead of time, but not tons and they were pushed, some of them a half a everything. “To be sure that the magnet works, we meter, some of them only two centimetres.” What’s next? tested them between 2002 and 2006,” Rossi said. The malfunction ended up being fairly The LHC engineers had everything replaced and in “But what we couldn’t test was the connection substantial: “We had to remove and repair and working order by early July, but they still had to cool between the magnets – the assembly of the substitute a lot of magnets. In total, we removed 53 the magnets to operating temperature. This takes magnets – the 27-kilometre long ring.” magnets – a line of magnets more or less 700 about a month per section, which pushed the re- These interconnections turned out to be a metres long. So, 700 metres of the accelerator has launch date back to November. weak link, which in turn led to major malfunction. been completely repaired. All the magnets have For the next year or two, the LHC will be operating at “The 13,000 amp current has to pass from one been removed, either repaired and put back again, only half power. But, Rossi clarifi ed, even that is magnet to another,” Rossi explained. “To do this, or completely substituted with brand new monumental. “It’s already new land, new exploration, there is a special joint, or splice. One of these failed magnets,” stated Rossi. new physics. But we don’t want to strain it too hard, and overheated.” The supercooling system added to the repair because of the intrinsic weakness in our The engineers didn’t recognise the problem time. It took about a month just to warm the interconnections system. So, we are already designing right away, and the connection heated from -270 magnets to the point that the engineers could a project to seek all the necessary modifi cations to be degrees celsius up to 800 degrees, essentially handle them. Additionally, the engineers had to able to push the accelerator to the maximum power.” melting away. Things got even worse when a remove all the damaged magnets from their At that point, the LHC will move trillions of hadrons 9,000-amp electrical arc formed between the cryostats – advanced thermos systems that help fast enough to make a full lap 11,245 times a second. It magnets. “A lot of power went into the arc,” Rossi keep the magnets cool. According to Rossi, the could be years before the LHC yields new discoveries, said, “and so everything melted in this zone repair work took eight to nine months, and but it should keep a lot of scientists very busy and very between two magnets.” involved around 300 people. happy in the meantime. © Imagine Publishing Ltd | WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM 036 How It Works No unauthorised copying or distribution

034-37_HIW001.indd 36 13/10/09 18:36:59 See amazing videos of the Large Hadron Collider in action XXXXXX 5 XXXXXXX TV www.howitworksdaily.com DID YOU KNOW? The ATLAS cavern could hold the nave of Notre Dame cathedral Know your LHC experiments There’s not much point in smashing particles together if you don’t record what happens. This work falls to six advanced detectors, spaced out around the LHC ring. Each detector is part of a different experiment CMS (Compact Muon Solenoid) ATLAS (A Toroidal LHC ApparatuS), the ALICE (A Large Ion Collider 1 serves the same basic purpose as 2 biggest detector, is like a giant doughnut, 3 Experiment) is designed to create ATLAS, but goes about it in a different way. made from eight 25-metre superconducting and observe quark-gluon plasma, a state Instead of a magnetic doughnut, it uses a magnetic coils that surround the beam pipe. of matter that scientists believe existed giant solenoid -- a coil of superconducting It’s a general detector, designed to dig up soon after the Big Bang. Lead ion collisions cable. This solenoid can generate a magnetic clues related to a variety of phenomena, will generate energy 100,000 times hotter ﬁ eld 100,000 times more powerful than including gravity, mass, dark matter, and than the centre of the Sun, essentially the Earth’s. A massive steel yoke contains extra dimensions. melting the protons. This should release the the ﬁ eld. quarks and gluons that make up the protons. As this plasma cools, it should re-form into atoms, in the same way it did when the universe was forming.

Peter Higgs visits the ATLAS experiment, which may fi nally fi nd the Higgs boson The hunt for Higgs Whether or not scientists fi nd it, one of the biggest stars of the LHC will be the Higgs boson. In 1964, physicists Peter Higgs, Robert Brout, and François Englert proposed this theoretical particle as a possible explanation for one of the biggest mysteries in physics – why some particles have mass and others don’t. The physicists proposed TOTEM (TOTal Elastic and Diffractive LHCb (Large Hadron Collider beauty) LHCf (Large Hadron Collider forward) that just after the Big Bang, 4 Cross Section Measurement) is 5 consists of a series of sub-detectors 6 is the smallest experiment of the bunch. particles had no mass. But as designed to measure particles very near the designed to examine a type of particle called The idea here is to observe cascades of the universe cooled, a force beams, in order to gauge proton size and the a ‘beauty quark’. The hope is observations of particles caused by LHC collisions to gain a LHC’s performance, among other things. these particles will shed light on the better understanding of cosmic rays, fi eld formed that had the relationship between matter and antimatter. charged particles from space that create ability to give particles mass. similar cascades when they encounter Whenever a particle Earth’s atmosphere. encounters this ‘Higgs fi eld’ it gains mass from a particle called a Higgs boson. This Too much gels well with other theories, but scientists haven’t been information able to confi rm that the Higgs With 150 million sensors boson exists. If it’s real, the capturing data 40 million times a LHC should reveal it. And if it second, the LHC will produce a doesn’t show up, physicists phenomenal volume of will get a nudge to pursue information for scientists to alternative theories. analyse. Specifi cally, the four experiments will result in 15 Learn more million gigabytes of data per year – that’s equivalent to a 20- For more information about the Large Hardon Collider, visit kilometre stack of CDs. This is too http://public.web.cern.ch/ much for any one computer to public/, the offi cial website for handle, so CERN will rely on “The the European Organisation for Grid” – thousands of computers Nuclear Research. You can fi nd news and information on all from around the world that are the LHC experiments. networked together via the net. © Imagine Publishing Ltd WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM | No unauthorised copying or distribution How It Works 037

034-37_HIW001.indd 37 13/10/09 18:37:21 See amazing videos of the Euroﬁ ghter Typhoon in action

Extreme vehicles Extreme Air Rail Road Sea vehicles Future General www.howitworksdaily.com TRANSPORT categories explained TV This plane should not be able to ﬂ y... Euroﬁ ghter

This month in Transport Anything that travels by road, rail, sea or air gets Typhoon explained in this section. If you’ve ever wondered what lies beneath the hull of the The ﬁ ghter plane that is so advanced Royal Navy’s most deadly and most expensive it can’t be ﬂ own by a human without nuclear submarine then you’ll find the answer in out the help of a computer launch issue. Take a look at the fantastic cutaway on page 50...

44 Fastest car on Earth Picture courtesy of BAE Systems BAE of courtesy Picture Under 46 Ejector seats construction The building of a Typhoon is certainly no easy task…

48 The deadliest sub TRANSPORT 38 Typhoon Vs F-22 42 Formula 1 cockpit 42 VW AutoStadt 44 Bugatti Veyron GS “ It is impossible for a human to ﬂ y the 46 Cat’s eyes 46 Ceramic brakes plane without the aid of a complex 46 Ejector seat computer system that makes constant 47 The sound barrier 48 HMS Astute adjustments to the wings’ ﬂ aps” © Imagine Publishing Ltd | WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM 038 How It Works No unauthorised copying or distribution

038-041_HIW001.indd 38 13/10/09 17:38:23 See amazing videos of the Euroﬁ ghter Typhoon in action TV www.howitworksdaily.com DID YOU KNOW? XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Eurofi ghter Typhoon may ground-attack weapons for taking out an be the world’s most advanced enemy’s air defence systems. killing machine, but it is also an This fl exibility is further enhanced by the Eurofi ghter extraordinary symbol of peace plane’s incredible fl ying prowess. It boasts and co-operation. After STOL (short take-off and landing) which means in action centuries of fi ghting, a handful of European that it needs just 700 metres to take-off or land countries came together to produce this (the 747 you go on holiday in requires over Just what makes the incredible aircraft. 3,000 metres). Eurofi ghter From a plan started as way back as 1979, the More impressively, the Eurofi ghter is Eurofi ghter so formidable? Eurofi ghter was developed by Germany, Italy, incredibly manoeuvrable. This is thanks in Spain and the UK (France was involved for a part to its ‘relaxed stability’ design, which is a while but then snuck off to do its own thing), reassuring way of saying that the aircraft is and production is split between the four inherently unstable, especially at subsonic countries. At present there are plans to speeds. Put simply, the plane’s delta wings produce no less than 707 examples of the and small fore fi ns create a pressure (lift) Typhoon fi ghter jet. As well as the four core countries, point which is forward of the centre of the plane is also being used by other air forces gravity during subsonic fl ight. And that around the world, including those of Austria, means it is impossible for a human to fl y Saudi Arabia and Greece. the plane without the aid of a complex Why? Because it’s quite simply the most computer system that makes constant technologically advanced fi ghter jet on the adjustments to the wings’ fl aps planet, and also the most capable. quicker than the pilot could. Once the It’s what’s known as a swing-role speed of sound is broken, though, weapon system, which means that the pressure point moves back and it is capable of different the aircraft becomes much more operational tasks and can even stable (although the computer switch from one duty to aids remain). another on a single mission. The same fl ight control Armed and ready for action For instance, it can be used systems also make the The Eurofi ghter’s formidable arsenal. The large items are, as an air-to-air (short and Eurofi ghter surprisingly easy in fact, fuel tanks, although long-distance missiles can be fi tted. The yellow devices are laser-powered bombs, medium range) fi ghter to to fl y, therefore freeing up the while the smaller grey items are short-range air-to-air gain all-important air pilot to concentrate on missiles. The thin armaments visible at the back of the superiority, while at tactical tasks. fuselage are beyond-visual-range air-to-air missiles. the same time No wonder the There is also a Mauser BK-27 automatic cannon. carrying large, Eurofi ghter Typhoon is long-range changing the way the world’s air forces think about fi ghter planes.

Small but perfectly formed The Euroﬁ ghter is remarkably compact – look at the size of the pilot in the cockpit to get an idea. The wingspan is 10.95 metres (less than that of a WWII Spitﬁ re) and the length is 15.96 metres. This helps the aircraft to be incredibly agile, allowing it to change direction fast, as well as accelerate at an astonishing rate.

Giving it full throttle The Eurofi ghter’s twin Eurojet turbofan engines combine a jet nozzle with a ducted fan. This allows effi ciency at low speeds combined with relatively quiet operation. They are equipped with afterburners (shown in operation here) which inject neat fuel into the jet stream to give a short increase in power. However, the Eurofi ghter can cruise at supersonic speeds without afterburner help. © Imagine Publishing Ltd WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM | No unauthorised copying or distribution How It Works 039

038-041_HIW001.indd 39 13/10/09 17:38:51 TRANSPORT Inside the Typhoon

Joystick The Hands on Throttle and Stick (HOTAS) is a single joystick that gives ﬁ ngertip control of up to 24 functions, including throttle, manoeuvring, target manipulation and weapon control. Take a look inside the

Radar Front end Advanced ECR-90 radar Includes in-ﬂ ight can track multiple refuelling probe. Euroﬁ ghter targets at long range.

Cockpit The high-tech cockpit is designed to make life easy for the pilot. Many functions are controlled by voice, while a head-up display puts essential data right in front of the pilot.

Fore wings Made from titanium, these aid agility and responsiveness. Ejector seat Pilot can eject from the plane at speeds of up to 600 knots.

Twin seat A special twin-seater Euroﬁ ghter is used for training.

Stealth fuselage A low frontal cross-section and the use of carbon ﬁ bre (70 per cent) and glass reinforced plastics (12 per cent) Weapons help ensure the Euroﬁ ghter can avoid There are 13 detection by enemy radar. Metals, external weapon mostly aluminium and titanium, make stations on the up just 15 per cent of the body. underside.

A stunning machine with awesome ﬁ repower

A top speed of 1,550mph means sights like this are common All pictures courtesy of Geoffrey Lee from planefocus from Lee Geoffrey of courtesy pictures All © Imagine Publishing Ltd | WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM 040 How It Works No unauthorised copying or distribution

038-041_HIW001.indd 40 13/10/09 17:37:17 THE RANGE2,045 miles RATE OF CLIMB315m/s TOP SPEED1,550mph STATS TYPHOON WEIGHT10,995kg ALTITUDE 20,000m CRUISE SPEED750mph

DID YOU KNOW? XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Take a look inside the Find out what makes the Eurofighter Typhoon the most advanced fighter on the planet Eurofi ghter Wings Tail fi n Delta wings have a span Made from carbon fi bre, it provides lateral of 10.95 metres and hold stability and houses communication systems. the fuel tanks. Typhoon vs F-22 Raptor Fuel systems Fuel is stored in three So after taking an in-depth look at Europe’s most advanced tanks in the fuselage, a fi ghter jet, the question of its performance against the tank in each wing plus American F-22 remains. It’s an argument that rages on many drop-tanks hung below each wing. An an aviation-based internet forum and it’s also one that is additional central drop- unlikely to ever have a truly real-world answer. tank can be hung under There’s a very strong argument for USAF’s F-22 Raptor the fuselage. When having air dominance over the Typhoon because of its fully fuelled, the versatility: the Raptor has stealth capabilities and Eurofi ghter more than doubles in weight to supercruises at a much higher speed than its European rival, 23,500kg. which many agree would give it the edge in all but a WVR (Within Visual Range) encounter. Due to its tiny radar Engines signature the F-22 could obliterate the Typhoon before the latter was even aware of its presence. However, development Two EF200 turbofan engines are four metres of the third phase of the Typhoon will endow the fi ghter with in length and produce full strike capabilities and improved radar to match the up to 90KN of thrust Raptor. The cost of the Raptor is also worth weighing in the each. The simple Typhoon’s defence: initially £140 million for each Typhoon construction ensures low maintenance, while versus around $339 million (£212 million) for the Raptor, there is future potential including research and development costs. to increase power by up The most reliable source of comparison comes from to 15 per cent. General John P Jumper, Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force from 6 September 2001 to 2 September 2005 and one of Discreet the few pilots to have fl own both aircraft. Speaking to the Air Engines create little Force Print News shortly before he retired, General Jumper smoke to reduce the said “It’s like asking us to compare a NASCAR car with a risk of visual detection. Formula 1 car. They are both exciting in different ways, but they are designed for different levels of performance.” He continued, “The Eurofi ghter is certainly, as far as smoothness of controls and the ability to pull (and sustain high g-forces), Eurofi ghter VS F-22 Raptor very impressive,” he said. “The manoeuvrability in close-in combat was also very impressive.” All very complimentary, but on the question of dominance Jumper stated “The F-22 Raptor has stealth and supercruise,” he said. “It has the ability to penetrate virtually undetected because of (those) capabilities. It is designed to be a penetrating aeroplane. It can manoeuvre with the best of them if it has to, but what you want to be able to do is get into contested airspace no matter where it is.” However it would seem that the real measure of success between the two planes is a fi nancial one. The US Engine Thrust: 20,000lbs Engine Thrust: 35,000lbs Senate discontinued production of the F-22 in July, with Max Speed: 1,550mph Max Speed: 1,500mph President Obama himself stating “at a time when we’re Supercruise: 840mph Supercruise: 1,220mph fi ghting two wars and facing a serious defi cit, [expanding the Altitude: 65,000 feet Altitude: 60,000 feet F-22] would have been an inexcusable waste of money”. Max Range: 2,045 miles Max Range: 1,840 miles Conversely, back in May Prime Minister Gordon Brown Cannon: Mauser BK-27 (150 Cannon: M61A2 Vulcan committed to buying a third tranche of Eurofi ghters, perhaps rounds) (480 rounds) making it a winner without even leaving the hanger. © Imagine Publishing Ltd WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM | No unauthorised copying or distribution How It Works 041

038-041_HIW001.indd 41 13/10/09 17:37:50 2 4 5 12 11 1 TRANSPORT 6 6 3 8 9 Inside an F1 car’s cockpit 26 27

7 17 25 13

24 18

19 23

28 15

14 22

10 16 20 21

MINI-GUIDE KEY Parts of the steering wheel explained in this key guide 1. FIA/Race control 11. Pitlane limiter 20. Cruise control 2. Shift lights 12. Spare 21. Selector 3. Multifunction display 13. Radio 22. Tyre adaption 4. Neutral 14. Pit stop 23. Presettings front 5. Activate front wing 15. Clutch wing 6. Multipurpose button 16. Safety car 24. Pedal map 7. KERS boost button 17. Differential 25. Fuel mix 8. Presettings down 18. Differential 26. Upshift 9. Presettings up settings 27. Downshift Images © BMW Motorsport BMW © Images 10. Acknowledge 19. Differential 28. Clutch Formula One cockpit The cockpit of a Formula One car is a high-tech and surprisingly safe place to be The cockpit of a modern Formula One car is strong to protect the driver in the event of an Regulations insist that, in an emergency, the much more than just a place for the driver to accident. Today’s FIA regulations insist on this, driver be able to get out of the car in just fi ve seconds, sit – it’s also his survival cell and an integral which is one reason fatalities are so rare in modern without having to remove anything but the harness part of the car’s structure. Formula One. The front and rear of the tub and the steering wheel. And he must also be able to The carbon fi bre ‘tub’ of the car is the principal incorporate crash protection areas to absorb impact, replace the wheel in the same time, in case the component of the vehicle and the engine and front and there is also a roll-hoop behind the driver’s damaged car needs to be manoeuvred off the track. suspension are attached directly onto it. This makes head. The sidewalls of the cockpit are as high as The steering wheel holds all the controls (except for a much lighter structure than having to rely on a possible to protect the driver from fl ying debris. for throttle and brake, which remain foot-operated) separate chassis. As well as being stiff to cope with The carbon fi bre seat is made especially for the and instrumentation, so that they’re immediately to the forces involved when the car is driving at high driver so that it is a perfect fi t, and there is a fi ve- hand. Formula One cars now have power-assisted speed around a track, the tub is also incredibly point harness to hold him in place. steering, which allows the wheel to be very small. Volkswagen’s car vending machine Glass and steel car towers are the centrepieces of Volkswagen’s AutoStadt in Wolfsburg, Germany AutoStadt (car city) is part factory, part dealership, and part theme park. All the elements come together in two 20-story car towers. When a car rolls off the factory assembly line, a robotic rail system carries it to one of two 145-foot towers, which can each hold 400 cars. A robotic lift hoists the car with a hydraulic arm and deposits it into an empty compartment. When the buyer comes to pick up the car, the lift system retrieves the car and places it on a conveyer belt leading to the KundenCenter (customer centre). The system uses only 20 per cent of the land of a conventional parking lot with equal capacity. Each tower has two lifts, and can ‘process’ one car every 45 seconds. On average, the towers deliver 600 cars a day. All in all, it’s an amazing machine. Just don’t kick it if your car doesn’t drop. Image courtesy of DooMeer of courtesy Image © Imagine Publishing Ltd | WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM 042 How It Works No unauthorised copying or distribution

042_HIW001.indd 42 13/10/09 17:40:23 © Imagine Publishing Ltd No unauthorised copying or distribution “ The top speed of the Veyron is TRANSPORT limited – if that’s the right word” How is the Bugatti Veyron so fast?

When Volkswagen decided in 1998 to wheels through a seven-speed gearbox with the you fi nd leather and aluminium, all hand-crafted. resurrect the famous Bugatti name, it option of automatic or manual shifts, the latter Even the hi-fi unit has bespoke aluminium controls. didn’t hold back. The Veyron redefi ned courtesy of steering wheel-mounted paddles. And the The top speed of the Veyron is limited – if that’s the the term supercar with power and power is then harnessed back by a set of massive right word – to 253mph because the tyres are not torque fi gures unlike anything that ceramic disc brakes. considered capable of faster speeds. No one knows has come before it. All this technology is clothed in an astonishingly what the car is truly capable of. Surely, in these Let’s cut straight to the chase. The Veyron’s mid- beautiful body hand-made from carbon fi bre and politically correct days, no one will ever have the mounted engine produces over 1,000bhp. Actually, aluminium. It is undoubtedly a modern car, yet the tenacity to produce a more outrageous machine. the offi cial fi gure is ‘only’ 987bhp, but in reality the designers managed to incorporate some of the old output is believed to be closer to 1,035bhp. Indeed, an Bugatti charm into its lines; not least with the indicator on the dash lets you know when the power evocative radiator grille and badge. And, of course, reaches the magic four-fi gure number (if you dare look the shape was defi ned by aerodynamic because you are likely to be travelling at over 200mph requirements to ensure that the car when this happens…). But perhaps even more remains fi rmly on the road. Inside, impressive is the engine’s torque fi gure of 1250Nm; the Veyron is pure luxury, that’s almost double that of the McLaren F1, itself with no plastic to be previously the world’s fastest car. seen anywhere. Those impressive fi gures come courtesy of an Instead, impressive engine, with no less than 16 cylinders arranged in a ‘W’ confi guration (essentially, two V8s joined at the crankshaft). The capacity is a hearty 8.3-litres and the cylinders are fed by no less than four turbochargers. And to keep it all cool, there are ten radiators and two independent cooling circuits. The power is fed to all four

MID-MOUNTED ENGINE 8.3-litre W16 engine is mounted in the centre of the car to ensure good weight distribution which in turn helps ensure superb handling.

CERAMIC BRAKES Massive brake discs are made from carbon ﬁ bre- reinforced silicon carbide, which is less likely to fade under heavy use, compared to steel discs. There are supercars and then there is the Bugatti Veyron. Faster, more power and more advanced than anything that came before it, the Veyron is truly the ultimate car The fastest car in the world… © Imagine Publishing Ltd 044 | How It Works BugattiWWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM Veyron No unauthorised copying or distribution

044-045_HIW001.indd 44 13/10/09 17:46:42 FASTEST 1. Bugatti Veyron EB 16.4 FASTER 2. Pagani Zonda C12 F FAST 3. McLaren MP4-12C Capacity: 8.3-litre Cylinders: W16 Capacity: 7291cc Cylinders: V12 Capacity: 3800cc Cylinders: V8 Head Max power: 987bhp Max power: 620bhp Max power: 600bhp Max torque: 1250Nm Max torque: 400Nm Max torque: 572Nm Gearbox: Semi-auto, six-speed Gearbox: Six-speed manual Gearbox: Semi-auto, seven-speed to Head 0-60mph: 2.9 seconds 0-60mph: 3.6 seconds 0-60mph: 3.4 seconds

Which is the biggest, Max speed: 253mph Pagani © Images Max speed: 214mph McLaren © Images Max speed: 200+mph fastest, strongest?

DIDDID YOUYOU KNOW?KNOW? XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXThe Veyron was named after the French racing driver, Pierre Veyron, who won the 1939 Le Mans race Inside the Bugatti What makes the Veyron purr?

RADIATOR GRILLE The central air intake is one of a number of apertures that feed air to the various radiators and intercoolers. This one also harks back to the design of classic Bugattis.

The W16 conﬁ guration enables a compact engine. Interestingly, the original Bugatti concept car of 1998 used a W18 engine

HIGH-SPEED TYRES Michelin tyres were specially developed to cope with a 250mph top speed and also offer superb grip. They can run ﬂ at for around 125 miles – but only at 50mph. Under the hood How does it make so much power? The Veyron’s engine is unusual in that it is has a W16 conﬁ guration – most supercars have a V12 engine. However, a V12 which produced FOUR-WHEEL DRIVE 1,000bhp would have been To ensure good traction, the 1,000bhp is transferred to the restrictively large – both in

road via all four wheels. Bugatti © Images capacity and in physical bulk, which is not ideal for a sports car. Veyron Grand Sport By using a W16 layout, Bugatti’s Unveiled in August 2008, the fi rst Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport was engineers were about to create an CATEGORY BUGATTI VEYRON GRAND SPORT sold at a charity auction for $2.9 million, though main production engine that was relatively compact On sale from 2009 didn’t start until early 2009. Essentially there’s no difference (it measures just 710x889x730mm) Engine Type 7993cc litre quad-turbo W16 between the original car and the Grand Sport, though the fi rst and limited to 8.3-litres. Torque 922lb-ft at 3500-5500rpm Bugatti Veyron proved so popular (Top Gear endorsements However, that alone would not Acceleration 0-60 in 2.7 seconds be enough to create the desired List price 1.4million euros withstanding) that it’s spawned several special edition models power, which is why the Veyron’s Horsepower 1001bhp at 6000rpm since. This latest in the Bugatti line is a targa top, with a removable engine has four turbochargers – Top Speed 253mph roof for a top speed of 228mph and a folding umbrella roof that can one for each bank of eight Transmission 7-speed dual clutch sequential be activated in case of rain, for 80mph max. Considering you could manual with four-wheel drive probably hit this speed simply resting your foot near the cylinders. These use the otherwise Weight 1990kg accelerator, you’re going to want to take it somewhere reliably hot. wasted exhaust gases to force air and fuel into the cylinders. And how the Veyron drinks fuel! Using standard Combined Cycle tests, it manages to travel just 11.7 miles on one gallon of super unleaded. Floor the throttle, though, and that fi gure drops to an eye-watering 2.5mpg. In other words, its rather modest 100-litre tank would be drained in just 12 exhilarating minutes! © Imagine Publishing Ltd Bugatti WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COMVeyron How It Works | 045 No unauthorised copying or distribution

044-045_HIW001.indd 45 13/10/09 17:47:15 Drogue deployment Parachute Canopy breakers Lift webs, connected container catapult to the parachute

TRANSPORT Shoulder harness reels The anatomy of ejector seats

Oxygen hose/communications lead (connects airman to aircraft systems and emergency Retroreﬂ ector oxygen supply)

How cat’s eye Headlight beam Seat ﬁ ring handle

Refl ected beam refl ectors work The most expensive seat Since the you’ll ever sit in Thirties, the simple cat’s eye has been guiding our way Legend says we have an actual cat to thank for these refl ectors. One foggy night in 1933, Percy Shaw nearly ran off the road on his way Aircraft Martin-Baker of copyright home to Halifax. But a cat’s eyes refl ected his headlights, saving his life and sparking an idea (Shaw later credited a refl ective billboard as his Electronic inspiration, however). sequencer The original design uses spherical glass retrorefl ectors (devices that refl ect light back toward its original source). The front of the sphere acts as a convex Under-seat Emergency oxygen lens, focusing a beam on the back of the sphere. The back acts like a concave rocket motor operating handle mirror, refl ecting the rays parallel to their original direction. Manual override handle Shaw’s design also cleans itself. The refl ectors sit in a rubber block, resting (deploys parachute and in a metal housing. When a car drives over the block, it sinks into the releases seat if automatic Safe/Arm handle (switches seat Survival Leg restraints housing, submerging the refl ectors in rainwater and brushing them past operation fails) from safe mode on the ground, to kit armed mode while in fl ight) built-in wipers. Ceramic brakes in-depth When all else How modern technology makes car brakes better and longer-lasting fails: ejection The disc is attached to a mounting bell (made from steel or aluminium) which, in turn, is seats explained secured to the car’s hub

Internal cooling vents force Since their 1942 debut, ejection seats have air through the discs saved thousands of lives The outer surfaces are In a worst case scenario, a pilot can pull a seat fi ring handle, initiating the bonded in place and are ultimate hasty exit – an automated ejection sequence. In the pictured very hard and resistant to wear Martin Baker Mk 14 seat, a thermal battery-powered electronic module precisely controls much of the sequence. Caliper is made from First, the system retracts the harness and leg restraints, cinching the airman lightweight aluminium and contains up to six pistons against the seat to reduce injuries. Explosive bolts fi re along the canopy above the which act on the disc airman, jettisoning it from the aircraft. If this fails, sharp ‘canopy breakers’ at the top of the seat shatter the glass. The central matrix is made from a carbon fi bre- Next, the system fi res explosive charges in a catapult assembly on the back of the reinforced composite seat. Gas pressure in the catapult propels the seat up along rails, out of the aircraft. The system severs connections to the aircraft, and activates an emergency oxygen Most car brakes use discs made of cast steel. However, there is a new supply and radio beacon in the seat. Then the system ignites a rocket motor pack material which offers advantages over steel discs. under the seat, propelling it 100-200 feet above the aircraft. This gets the airman Ceramic discs are generally made from carbon fi bre-reinforced high enough to use a parachute even in a ‘zero-zero ejection’, when the aircraft has silicon composite – silicon being a very hardwearing material, and the zero speed and zero altitude. carbon fi bre gives it the necessary reinforcement. The system then fi res an explosive catapult that deploys the drogue parachute, The material is lighter than steel, and typically shaves about 20kg from the which slows the seat’s speed (supersonic speeds are simply too fast to immediately weight of a car. Moreover, it dissipates heat better than steel which means deploy the main chute). When sensors determine the pilot is lower than 18,000 feet, that the brakes’ performance is not compromised during heavy use. It is also the system releases the drogue chute and deploys the main parachute attached to less susceptible to wear and corrosion, so ceramic discs have a much longer the airman’s harness. The system separates the airman from the seat, and the life span. Dirty brake dust is also eliminated. airman, along with a personal survival pack (including a raft), safely descends to The driver will notice improved braking ability and more ‘feel’ through the the ground. brake pedal, allowing him to modulate the braking force more accurately. Amazingly, all this happens in a matter of seconds. It takes some people longer than that to get out of their easy chairs. © Imagine Publishing Ltd | WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM 046 How It Works No unauthorised copying or distribution

046-047_HIW001.indd 46 13/10/09 17:45:01 What is the sound barrier? Breaking the sound barrier means exceeding the speed of sound at 40,000 feet, that’s about 660 miles per hour

When Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier with the Bell X-1 rocket plane in 1947, his mum wasn’t mad. This was one case where breaking something was a good thing. The sound barrier is simply the point an object exceeds the speed of sound – a speed many scientists once considered impossible. Sound is a travelling wave of pressure. A moving object pushes nearby air molecules, which push the molecules next to them, and so on. As a plane approaches the speed of sound, its pressure waves ‘stack up’ ahead of it to form a massive area of pressurised air, called a shock wave. Shock waves would shake old planes violently, creating an apparent ‘barrier’ to higher speeds. You can hear shock waves as sonic booms. Sometimes they’re even visible: the high pressure area can cause water vapour to condensate into liquid droplets, briefly forming a cloud around the plane.

046-047_HIW001.indd 47 14/10/09 10:22:28 TRANSPORT What is under the hull of the Astute? The world’s deadliest

From the 16th to 21st Centuries, submarines have nuclear submarine inspired shock and awe in equal measure. HMS Astute is the latest and perhaps greatest example

First theorised in the 16th on Century by Leonardo da Vinci the and fi rst deployed during the planet, American Revolution, the deep submarines have afforded ocean. It’s a navies the advantage of moving unseen, sobering striking without warning and then thought that the disappearing without trace. Their 98-man crew will effectiveness was restricted by only two be living and things; the time they could remain submerged working within a few and the range of the weapons they carried. All metres of the core of a this changed in 1954 and again the following nuclear power plant more year, with the world’s fi rst nuclear powered complex than a power station. submarine (the USS Nautilus) and the fi rst Astute’s primary role is as an Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile (the undersea hunter-killer, operating Soviet R13). Today at least six nations include undetected hundreds of metres nuclear subs in their arsenal, although since underwater while maintaining secure the end of the Cold War, most carry satellite communication. Its stealth credentials conventional rather than nuclear weapons. are enhanced by the 39,000 acoustic tiles that The most expensive and, some would say, mask its sonar signature, as well as the 2076 deadliest of these is the HMS Astute. Sonar System capable of tracking vessels The Astute was the fi rst UK-built submarine across thousands of square miles of ocean. The in almost 20 years, developed and constructed Astute is capable of operating in isolation or as “ Construction by BAE and launched on 8 June 2007. Astute part of a taskforce with other naval vessels. It is required over 1 million contains around 50 per cent more fi repower expected to complete its 25-year life span than the sub classes it replaces, totalling without ever refuelling, patrolling submerged components, 7,000 around 30 weapons systems including six for 90 days at a time. In fact, the main limiting torpedo tubes armed with Spearfi sh torpedoes factor on its effectiveness is that it can only design drawings, 10,000 and 36 Tomahawk Cruise missiles. carry three months of food for the 98 strong all- Approximately 30 per cent larger than previous male crew members onboard. With recent separate engineering British attack submarines thanks to the bigger news that Britain’s contingent of new Trident PWR2 Pressurised Water Reactor that powers submarines are being reduced to three and not requirements and it, safety is a primary consideration, especially deployed until 2025, Astute class represents while operating in the harshest environment the immediate future of submarine warfare. 100km of pipework” © Imagine Publishing Ltd | WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM 048 How It Works No unauthorised copying or distribution

048-053_HIW001.indd 48 13/10/09 17:51:20 THE WEIGHT7,800 tons LENGTH97m SPEED29 knots STATS HMS ASTUTE CREW98 TIME TO BUILD6 years 4 months

DIDDID YOUYOU KNOW?KNOW? XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXThis 7,800 ton sub will make no more noise than a baby dolphin The world’s deadliest nuclear submarine Made in Britain The vessel was built at BAE’s submarine facility in Barrow

One of seven HMS Astute is the ﬁ rst of seven Astute-class subs to replace the Swiftsure and Trafalgar-class All images © BAE Systems BAE © images All Team effort Around 6,000 people were involved in the Astute’s construction © Imagine Publishing Ltd WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM | No unauthorised copying or distribution How It Works 049

048-053_HIW001.indd 49 13/10/09 17:51:57 Head to Head TRANSPORT SUBS What is under the hull of the Astute? On board HMS Astute Take a look beneath the hull of the world’s most advanced submarine 5 Propulsor Air and water Ultra quiet multi-bladed propeller which makes These units convert sea water into fresh 2 less noise than a baby dolphin. Hull is lined with water and oxygen. Air is puriﬁ ed to remove rubber tiles to absorb internal noise Fuel waste and carbon dioxide, hydrogen and 52 Nuclear reactor powers the sub carbon monoxide 54 for full service life of 25 years 51 48 49 53 46 12 47 1 50 6 11 14 55

7 8 13 15 24 4 26 10 16 22 25 23 9 3 27 21 32

Sonar 17 20 28 34 56 Sensors in the bow, ﬂ ank, ﬁ n and another towed behind the sub are able to detect large 35 18 19 ships up to 3,000 miles away 29 33

31 43 45 44 61 38 67 The birth of 69 60 36 66 80 39 68

42 79 82 the Astute 37 40 57 70 81 The reveal 58 41 62 Astute was the fi rst nuclear submarine to be designed Built at Europe’s largest submarine dockyard, 65 71 83 Astute fi rst emerged to public gaze in 2007 63 entirely in a 3D Computer Aided Design environment 59 78 72 84 HMS Astute is the fi rst in a program year cycle from concept design to workshop. They were then shipped 77 to design seven Astute-class subs to nuclear powered vessel. Not least of to the Devonshire dock hall and 64 76 85 replace the Royal Navy’s aging these was the fact that with space at carefully placed within the hull; an Swiftsure and Trafalgar-class. Three an absolute premium, Astute’s example of ‘plug and play’ 73 similar subs (Ambush, Artful and machinery and equipment is three construction that not only saves time Audacious) have already been times more densely packed than that but also minimised rework. 74 75 86 approved to follow. of a surface warship. The structure of the sub is made up Around 6,000 people were Astute was the fi rst nuclear of a pressure hull – a perfect cylinder involved in Astute’s construction at submarine to be designed entirely with rounded dome ends BAE’s Devonshire Dock Hall in in a 3D Computer Aided Design demonstrating that circularity is one Barrow-in-Furness, the largest environment. With very little time or of the keys to surviving deep ocean shipbuilding construction complex budget for designing a prototype in pressures. There are six sections of its kind in Europe, covering an the usual manner, this system of between the end domes each area of 25,000 square metres. Astute’s ‘virtual’ prototyping harnessed the containing different packages of construction required over 1 million power of computer test and equipment, and the hull sections are components including 7,000 design visualisation, along with continuous meticulously welded together in a drawings., 10,000 separate design and careful systems analysis. process involving more than 2km of engineering requirements and Some areas of the Astute, such as the welding, all completed without a 100km of pipework. command deck and forward engine single defect and exhaustively A number of technical challenges room, were manufactured in examined for fl aws using x-ray and had to be overcome during the 17- modules, assembled in the ultra-sonic technology. © Imagine Publishing Ltd | WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM 050 How It Works No unauthorised copying or distribution

048-053_HIW001.indd 50 13/10/09 17:50:00 FASTEST 1. HMS Astute SLOWEST 2. USS Alabama BIGGEST 3. Yuri Dolgoruki Nationality: Nationality: Nationality: Head British American Russian Weight: Weight: Weight: to Head 7,800 tons 18,750 tons 24,000 tons Length: 97m Length: 170 metres Length: 170 metres SUBSSUBMARINES Speed: 29 knots Speed: 20 knots Speed: 25 knots

DIDDID YOUYOU KNOW?KNOW? XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXThe HMS Astute can circumnavigate the world without surfacing How does a reactor power a submarine? On board HMS Astute Activator Control rods Take a look beneath the hull of the world’s most advanced submarine Masts Core support Containment lid Two masts carrying thermal imaging 5 Galley and low light cameras replace the periscope. Breaking the surface for Air and water Five chefs provide a 24-hour service to the crew less than three seconds is enough for These units convert sea water into fresh a 360˚ view of the surroundings. Six Core support ring 2 water and oxygen. Air is purifi ed to remove other masts service satellite, radar waste and carbon dioxide, hydrogen and and navigation systems 52 COOLANT IN HEAT EXCHANGE carbon monoxide 54 51 48 Washing and sleeping 49 53 One bunk for each crew member and 11 46 12 47 extra bunks for passengers, most likely 1 50 Plutonium core Heat transfer fi ns 6 special forces soldiers. The 98 man crew 11 14 55 share fi ve showers, fi ve toilets, two urinals and eight hand basins 8 7 Shield Containment vessel 13 15 24 4 26 10 16 22 25 23 9 Astute’s Rolls Royce PWR2 (Pressurised Water Reactor) contains enough 3 27 nuclear fuel to power the submarine for its entire 25 year service. This 21 32 energy is generated by nuclear fi ssion that takes place inside a heavy shielded reactor compartment that protects the crew and environment 56 17 20 28 34 from radiation. 35 Water is pumped around a circuit where it is heated by the fi ssion 18 19 29 33 process, maintaining enough pressure to prevent the water from boiling. This heat is then used to generate steam, via 30 steam generators, to drive the main turbine 31 43 45 engines. A system of clutches and gearing drive 44 61 a propulsor that transmits the power to 67 38 propel the submarine. Steam is also 69 60 used to drive the turbo- 36 66 80 generators that supply the 39 68 submarine with 42 79 82 37 40 57 70 81 electricity. 58 41 62 65 71 83 63 59 78 72 84 77 64 76 85

74 75 MINI-GUIDE KEY 86 Each part of the submarine explained in this key guide

1 Propeller 23 Main turbines 45 Port side communications office 66 Maintenance workshop 2 Upper rudder segment 24 Steam delivery ducting 46 Diesel exhaust mast 67 Sonar equipment room 3 Lower rudder segment 25 Engine room 47 Snort induction mast 68 Forward hydroplane 4 Starboard hydroplane 26 Watertight bulkhead 48 SHF/EHF (NEST) mast 69 Hydroplane hydraulic actuator 5 Aft anchor light 27 Manoeuvring room 49 CESM mast 70 Hydroplane hinge mounting 6 Rudder and hydroplane hydraulic actuators 28 Manoeuvring room isolated deck mounting 50 AZL radar mast 71 Ship’s office 7 No. 4 main ballast tank 29 Switchboard room 51 Satcom mast 72 Junior ratings’ berths 8 Propeller shaft 30 Diesel generator room 52 Integrated comms mast 73 Torpedo tubes 9 High pressure bottles 31 Static converters 53 Visual mast – starboard 74 Water transfer tank 10 No. 3 main ballast tank 32 Main steam valve 54 Visual mast – port 75 Torpedo tube bow caps 11 Towed array cable drum and winch 33 Reactor section 55 Navigation mast 76 Air turbine pump 12 Main ballast vent system 34 Part of pressure hull 56 Bridge fin access 77 No. 2 main ballast tank 13 Aft pressure dome 35 Forward airlock 57 Junior ratings’ bathroom 78 High pressure air bottles 14 Air treatment units 36 Air handling compartment 58 Senior ratings’ bathroom 79 Forward pressure dome 15 Naval stores 37 Waste management equipment 59 Battery switchroom 80 Weapons embarkation hatch 16 Propeller shaft thrust block and bearing 38 Conditioned air ducting 60 Control room consoles 81 Gemini craft stowage 17 Circulating water transfer pipes 39 Galley 61 Sonar operators’ consoles 82 Hinged fairlead 18 Lubricating oil tank 40 Fwd section isolated deck mountings 62 Senior ratings’ bunks 83 Anchor windlass 19 Starboard condenser 41 Batteries 63 Medical berth 84 No. 1 main ballast tank 20 Main machinery mounting raft 42 Junior ratings’ mess 64 Weapons stowage and handling 85 Anchor cable locker 21 Turbo generators, port and starboard 43 RESM office compartment 86 Bow sonar 22 Combining gearbox 44 Commanding officer’s cabin 65 Sonar array © Imagine Publishing Ltd WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM | No unauthorised copying or distribution How It Works 051

048-053_HIW001.indd 51 13/10/09 17:50:45 5 TOP FACTS TRANSPORT HMS ASTUTE What is under the hull of the Astute? The sub that will rule the waves Discover the awesome capabilities of the Royal Navy’s latest supersub

When the fi rst of the Astute-class subs fi nally commander never has to hunch over an optical enters full service it will not only be the Royal periscope. Instead, the optronics masts are Navy’s largest and most powerful nuclear fi tted with thermal imaging cameras, low light “ Despite weighing attack submarines, but also the stealthiest. video and CCD TV sensors, replacing Stealth is an important element of the conventional line-of-sight systems to enable over 7,800 tons, submarine’s operation because combined the Astute to fi rst capture and then analyse with advance sonar it enables the submarine any surface images. The masts are also non- Astute displays to track, identify and neutralise an enemy hull penetrating, signifi cantly reducing the before that vessel even knows the Astute is in risk of water leakage in the event of any a sonar profi le the vicinity. Much of the equipment is shock damage the vessel may incur. mounted to prevent the transmission of sound Astute is equipped with the Thales Sonar equivalent to a and vibration into the surrounding ocean, and 2076, the world’s most advanced sonar system, active vibration technology is also used with employing the processing power of 2,000 baby dolphin” vibrating mounts tuned to a frequency laptop computers to locate and identify other effectively cancelling out the vibration of the vessels that may be present across thousands equipment itself. There is also a multi-bladed of square miles of ocean. It is an integrated propulsor housed at the rear and designed for passive/active sonar that operates through near-silent running. The whole of the hydrophones fi tted to the bow, fl anks and fi n. submarine casing is enveloped in a very dense However, details of Astute’s counter measures rubber skin to reduce sound transmission into are a closely guarded secret, in particular the the ocean and also to diminish the exact thickness of the hull which could be an submarine’s own sonar profi le. All this indicator of dive performance. What we do technology combines to make the submarine know is that it is manufactured from special virtually invisible in the ocean. grade submarine steel and coated in over In the cockpit itself, two Thales Optronics 39,000 rubberised acoustic tiles to mask its CM010 periscopes will ensure that Astute’s sonar signature.

Plug and play Some areas were manufactured as modules then carefully placed within the hull

The hull Despite being the ﬁ rst part to emerge, Astute’s hull is its most closely guarded secret © Imagine Publishing Ltd | WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM 052 How It Works No unauthorised copying or distribution

048-053_HIW001.indd 52 13/10/09 17:52:18 5 TOP Slippery when wet You are what you eat First in class Too many cooks? No easy task Despite weighing over 7,800 On a ten week patrol, the Since 1945 Barrow has built A team of fi ve chefs (one One of the most challenging 1 tons and measureing 97m in 2 crew of Astute would get 3 the fi rst of class for every 4 petty offi cer caterer, one 5 engineering projects in the FACTS length, the Astute displays a through an average 18,000 Royal Navy submarine as well leading chef and three chefs) UK, building Astute has been sonar profi le that is equivalent sausages and 4,200 as every submarine currently provide 24 hour service to described as “more complex HMS ASTUTE to a baby dolphin. Weetabix for breakfast. in service with the Navy. the crew. than the space shuttle”.

DIDDID YOUYOU KNOW?KNOW? XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXIf it was positioned in the English Channel the Astute could hit targets in North Africa Weapons and missiles View from When it comes to offensive capability, Astute marks a signifi cant leap over the submarine classes it replaces. the bridge With a total of 38 Spearfi sh torpedoes and Tomahawk An interview with missiles – more than any previous RN submarine – and Astute’s commander six 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes, Astute has the capability to accurately engage targets over 1,000 miles away while remaining undetected. Powered by a high-performance thermal engine, Spearfi sh has an analogue homing system and communicates with the launch submarine through a wire-guidance link. Meanwhile the Tomahawk Block IV Land Attack Missile (LAM) is the latest version of McDonnell Douglas’s medium-to-long range cruise missiles, designed to operate at low attitude and launch while the Astute is fully submerged. It is capable of delivering pinpoint strikes 2,000km from the coast. As far as defensive capabilities are concerned, Astute is armed with Boeing UGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles. This short range turbo-fan propelled missile carries a single warhead and is designed for surface-to- Andy Coles, OBE is 47 and surface strikes at a range of around 140km. commanding Astute will mark the pinnacle of a 30-year Navy career that began as a radar operator. He told us what he’s most looking forward to from the experience. “HMS Astute is a keenly awaited and extremely capable submarine which will prove to be a very potent weapon for the Royal Navy for the next 25 years. She represents a massive increase in capability over previous classes and I am really looking forward to putting the submarine through her paces during sea trials. Her offensive capability has been greatly enhanced; while she carries the same Spearfi sh Spearfi sh torpedoes and Tomahawk Cruise torpedoes missiles as previous classes, Astute’s Weighing nearly payload is signifi cantly increased and a two tons, the return to six torpedo tubes greatly Spearfi sh is a enhances the fl exibility. Astute is also serious weapon the fi rst submarine to have non hull- penetrating optronics masts, making it Tomahawk Block IV Land much easier for me to see what is Attack Missile (LAM) happening on the surface as the picture The UK is the only nation, other than the is displayed on several large screens in USA, to have the Tomahawk Block IV the Control Room, the submarine’s operations centre. One of the signifi cant design changes is to enable the submarine to operate with Special Forces and I am looking forward to proving that part of the sea trials. “Of course, none of this technology would work if it wasn’t for the people. Astute has been designed to reduce the manning at sea. I have a highly trained crew; from the offi cers, senior ratings and junior ratings who operate the submarine to marine engineers Learn more (propulsion, mechanical and electrical systems), weapon engineers to ensure For more information about the weapon and electrical systems are HMS Astute visit at maximum readiness and warfare www.naval-technology. specialists to operate them. Finally, I com/projects/astute/ where you can fi nd more facts about have a team of logisticians who look this formidable addition to the after everything from storing the Royal Navy fl eet. submarine to providing three meals a day for over a hundred submariners.” © Imagine Publishing Ltd WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM | No unauthorised copying or distribution How It Works 053

048-053_HIW001.indd 53 13/10/09 17:52:48

Exploration System Solar Universe The Astronomy General SPACE categories explained Dissecting the Sun Inside the Sun The giant star that keeps us all alive… A celestial wonder, the Sun is a huge star formed granulation cells about 1,000 kilometers across and which from a massive gravitational collapse when space appear across the whole solar surface.” dust and gas from a nebula collided, It became an At its core, the Sun’s temperature and pressure are so high orb 100 times bigger and weighing over 300,000 and the hydrogen atoms are moving so fast that it causes fusion, This month in times that of Earth. Made up of 70 per cent hydrogen and about turning hydrogen atoms into helium. Electromagetic raditation Space 28 per cent helium (plus other gases), the Sun is the centre of our travels out from the Sun’s core to its surface, escaping into Ever dreamt of booking a solar system and the largest celestial body anywhere near us. space as electromagnetic radiation, a blinding light, and ticket to space on a “The surface of the Sun is a dense layer of plasma at a incredible levels of solar heat. In fact, the core of the Sun is commercial space craft? temperature of 5,800 degrees kelvin that is continually actually hotter than the surface, but when heat escapes from Thanks to Richard Branson’s moving due to the action of convective motions driven by the surface, the temperature rises to over 1-2 million degrees. SpaceShipTwo this may soon heating from below,” says David Alexander, a professor of Alexander explained that astronomers do not fully understand be a possibility. Turn the page physics and astronomy at Rice University. “These convective why the Sun’s atmosphere is so hot, but think it has something to take a look at how this motions show up as a distribution of what are called to do with magnetic ﬁ elds. sub-orbital craft will take passengers to the edge of space and back again. Radiative zone The ﬁ rst 500,000k of the Sun is a radioactive layer that transfers energy from the core, mostly toward Beneath the the outer layers, passed from atom to atom. surface of Sun’s core The core of a Sun is a dense, extremely hot the Sun 56 Through Saturn’s rings region – about 15 million degrees – What is the Sun that produces a made of? nuclear fusion and emits heat through the layers of the Sun to the surface. Convective zone The top 30 per cent of the Sun is a layer of hot plasma that is constantly in motion, heated from 57 On-board SpaceShipTwo below.

61 Space suits The Statistics The Sun SPACE 54 The Sun 56 Radio telescopes 56 Saturn’s rings 56 Van Allen radiation belt 57 SpaceShipTwo

58 Gravity NASA of courtesy images All Diameter: 100 times Earth 60 Ocean tides Right conditions Engine room Mass: 300,000 times Earth 60 Adaptive optics The core of the Sun, which acts like a The centre of a star is like an engine Average surface temp: 61 Spacesuits nuclear reactor, is just the right size room that produces the nuclear fusion 1-2 million degrees and temperature to product light. Core temp: 15 million degrees 62 Dextre space robot required for radiation and light.

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054-055_HIW001.indd 54 6/10/10 14:30:45 Magnetic inﬂ uence How the Sun affects the DIDDID YOUYOU KNOW?KNOW? XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXEarth’s magnetic field

Solar wind Solar wind shapes the Earth’s magnetosphere and magnetic storms are illustrated here as approaching Earth.

Plasma release Bow shock line The Sun’s magnetic ﬁ eld and plasma The purple line is the bow shock line and releases directly affect Earth and the the blue lines surrounding the Earth rest of the solar system. represent its protective magnetosphere.

What is a Solar eclipses When the moon blocks out the Sun solar ﬂ are? A solar eclipse is a unique phenomena where the moon passes directly into a line between the Earth and the Sun, partially or A massive explosion, but one that completely blocking our view of the Sun. The Sun is blocked happens to be several million according to the relative orbits of each celestial body. There degrees in temperature… are two kinds of eclipses: one where the moon orbit shows the outer edge of the Sun, or where the moon lines up perfectly “A solar ﬂ are is a rapid release of energy in the solar and the Sun is blocked completely from view. atmosphere (mostly the chromosphere and corona) resulting in localised heating of plasma to tens of millions of degrees, acceleration of electrons and protons to high energies, some to near the speed of light, and expulsion of How big material into space,” says Alexander. “These electromagnetic disturbances here on Earth pose is the potential dangers for Earth-orbiting satellites, space- walking astronauts, crews on high-altitude spacecraft, and power grids on Earth.” Sun? Our Sun has a diameter of 1.4 million km and Earth a diameter of

Sometimes, the orbits of the Earth and Sun line up almost Solar fl ares can cause geomagnetic storms on the perfectly so that the Sun is blocked (eclipsed) by the 13,000km Sun, including shock waves and plasma expulsions moon, shown here with a shadow cast from the eclipse, taken from the ISS What is a sunspot? Signifying cooler areas, sunspots show up as dark dots on the photosphere (the visible layer of plasma across the Sun’s surface). These ‘cool’ regions – about 1,000 degrees cooler than the surface temperature – are associated with strong magnetic fi elds. Criss-crossing magnetic-fi eld lines can disturb the fl ow of heat from the core, creating pockets of intense activity. The build up of heat around a sunspot can be released as a solar fl are or coronal mass ejection, which is separate to but often If the Sun were the size of a accompanies larger fl ares. Plasma from a CME ejects from the basketball, Earth would be a little Sun at over 1 million miles per hour. dot no more than 2.2 mm

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054-055_HIW001.indd 55 6/10/10 14:32:00 SPACE Radio telescopes What frequency Radio is a quasar? telescopes explained 2. Antenna 1. Incoming Some objects in space are viewable waves are not hindered by gas and dust An antenna collects incoming An antenna fi lters with the naked eye. Other anomalies between stars, so you can ‘look’ straight radio waves waves from the tip such as quasars (the most powerful through a galaxy to the other side. Quasars source of energy in the universe – a kind of star were found because of radio telescopes.” galaxy) and pulsars (spherical neutron stars) According to Dr Shostak, a radio telescope require the use of a radio telescope. These uses a very low-noise amplifi er that collects telescopes receive and amplify frequencies radio waves, themselves collected using 3. Receiver from deep space using antennas, and measures massive antennas. The signal passes through The receiver amplifi es and their intensity. the antenna, spreads through a fi ltering detects radio wave data “By studying the intensity of radio system, and breaks into thousands of frequencies, astronomers can monitor the frequency channels – a bit like a Doppler conditions of space,” says Dr Seth Shostak, a satellite that measures the speed of senior astronomer at the SETI Institute. “Radio frequencies. What are Saturn’s Van Allen radiation and why are they belt explained rings made of… there at all? Particles around the Earth, but why? EARTH – The Earth acts like a Rotational INNER RADIATION BELT – Why does Saturn have rings? The answer has to do with something called the Roche generator, holding particles like axis Regions of the inner core lobe, named after a French astronomer. It seems when a planet orbits around a star (eg a magnet are dense with electrons our Sun) and that planet has its own orbiting objects (eg a moon), a gravitational pull occurs between the objects. Around Earth, orbiting rocks formed into the moon. On Saturn, the rocks never coalesced and are still orbiting. Interestingly, the rings are only a few miles in thickness because of the highly localised effects from the Roche lobe. Dr Steve Maran, a noted astronomer, says Galileo was the fi rst to discover the rings, but could not explain them. Today, viewing angles from the Hubble Space Telescope reveal an enormous region SATURN – The Roche lobe D Ring C Ring B Ring A Ring extending widely around the Magnetic axis causes gravitational forces planet. There’s also one around Saturn to hold rocky OUTER RADIATION BELT – The particles distinct outer ring, which outer region provides SOUTH ATLANTIC – This region Maran attributes to geysers protection from solar rays is particularly high in radiation emitting from the icy southern polar region on Microscopic particles – mostly electrons and protons – F Ring Saturn, leaving a more are assembled in a region about 70,000km from Earth’s G Ring distinct trail. surface. But why does it exist? The Van Allen radiation belt is named after James Van Allen, INNER RINGS – Inner rings are a NASA scientist who discovered it 50 years ago, but modern Cassini made up of rock particles that scientists refer to it as the magnetosphere because it’s not a Division never formed into a moon round belt – it’s a region around Earth. According to Dr Steve OUTER RINGS – Outer rings are Maran, astronomer and author, the magnetosphere is caused Encke caused by geysers in the south Division by a constant outstreaming of solar winds held in place by pole of Saturn Earth’s magnetic fi eld (unlike other planets, Earth has a molten iron core that acts like a generator or motor). “At fi rst, scientists “The rings are only a few thought the discovery showed how much we don’t know about space,” says Maran. “Now we know that the magnetosphere is miles in thickness” responsible for Earth retaining most of its water and shields us from solar rays and planetary disturbances.”

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056-057_HIW001.indd 56 6/10/10 14:33:33 THE HEIGHT4.5m tail TOTAL WINGSPAN42.7m STATS SPACESHIP 2 LENGTH 18.3m MAX SPEED Mach 3.5

DIDDID YOUYOU KNOW?KNOW? XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXIts predecessor, SpaceShipOne, now hangs in the National Air and Space Museum, Washington DC

Sub-orbiting craft “ The rockets will then The SpaceShipTwo will ﬂ y to sub-orbit on its single rocket booster, but before reaching high propel the craft up to altitude, will fold its wings for ‘feathering’ 360,000 feet in about which causes the craft to slow down. 90 seconds” Single rocket booster The single rocket booster will save fuel during an air-launch. On NASA spacecraft, two rocket boosters are required for lift-off. Six passengers Six passengers will ﬂ y to a sub-orbital altitude of about 110km over Earth.

VMS Eve The VMS Eve will carry SpaceShipTwo up to an altitude of 60,000 feet, or Folded wings almost twice that of a Feathering will slow commercial aeroplane. the craft, but will also allow it to ﬂ oat at sub- orbit and eventually descend back to earth, where the wings will fold out again and glide to a landing. How it works

SpaceShipTwo Galactic Virgin © images All This second-generation spacecraft will fl y 4,000km/h at 110km over Earth Imagine fl ying 110 kilometres (360,000 miles) Just before reaching maximum altitude, the The key to how SpaceShipTwo works is the single- over the Earth, soaring across the Pacifi c spacecraft will use a rather unique feathering rocket booster, which would normally not be Ocean at 4,000km/h, seeing entire technique. The wings of SpaceShipTwo will fold up enough to launch the vehicle into space. Most NASA continents, and reaching a sub-orbital altitude that and ultimately slow the aircraft which will then spacecraft use two solid-rocket boosters. Instead, only astronauts – and a handful of millionaires – slowly descend to Earth’s atmosphere. During re- the Eve launch vehicle will carry SpaceShipTwo into have seen. entry, at approximately 60,000 feet, SpaceShipTwo high altitude. Mission abort for most spacecraft is In the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo, designed by will fold its wings back into position automatically, highly expensive, because the rocket fuel is Burt Rutan and Scaled Composites, commercial and glide back to dry land without using any more consumed at launch regardless of whether the craft space fl ight will become routine – like catching a fuel or rocket boosts. Combined, this air-launch with reaches orbit. With SpaceShipTwo, during the air- fl ight from Vienna to New York. The spacecraft, the VMS Eve, assisted breaking (which uses the launch at high-altitude, the rocket boost can be shut currently being built in California and almost ready gravitational pull of the Earth), and free-fall descent down at any time – say, because of a mechanical for its fi rst test fl ight, is made of a carbon-composite use a limited amount of fuel – about as much as a problem or electrical failure – and aborted so that material and uses a rocket powered by nitrous oxide commercial fl ight. the craft can re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere and that will propel the craft at 4,000 kilometres per glide back to land. hour. In fact, this is the most important difference What a ride! “Less fuel, and indeed clean fuel, all add up to a between SpaceShipTwo (which uses a single rocket SpaceShipTwo will travel space launch system which will be completely and consumes less fuel) and the Space Shuttle at three times the unprecedented in its low environmental impact (which uses two rockets – and more fuel). speed of sound compared with current space fl ight,” explains Sir To launch the SpaceShipTwo into space, Virgin Richard Branson, who is funding the spacecraft Galactic will use a mothership launch vehicle called construction for Scaled Composites, speaking in a the Virgin Mothership (VMS) Eve that carries the press release. “The spaceship’s carbon footprint for spacecraft to about 50,000 feet, or several thousand each of its passengers and crew will be around a feet above the typical altitude for aeroplanes. The quarter of that for a simple return trip from London rockets will then propel the craft up to 360,000 feet to New York.” in about 90 seconds, or three times the speed of Virgin Galactic says the SpaceShipTwo rocket sound. SpaceShipTwo will carry six lucky testing will resume this autumn, with a planned passengers at a time. fi rst launch in late 2009 or early 2010.. © Imagine Publishing Ltd WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM How It Works | 057 No unauthorised copying or distribution

056-057_HIW001.indd 57 13/10/09 19:28:23 SPACE How gravity works

WhatSurprisingly weak yet mysteriously powerful, is gravity? gravity is the super glue of the universe

Everything in the universe is made That’s what makes Newton’s discoveries so of matter – the cosmic ‘stuff’ of amazing, even today. Gravity – this wimp of a creation. Mass is a measurement of force – is somehow powerful enough to pull the amount of matter contained in the moon into orbit and keep the Earth any object, from planets to protons. The Earth, cruising in a perfect elliptical path around the for example, has a mass of 5.9742 × 1024 Sun. Without the constant tug of gravity, kilograms, while the mass of a single proton is planets would crumble into dust and stars 1.67262158 × 10-27 kilograms. would collapse. When we think of gravity, we usually think Gravity is also responsible for giving objects of the gravitational force exerted by massive weight. But don’t confuse weight with mass. (literally) celestial bodies like the Earth, the While mass is a measurement of the amount of Moon or the Sun. But the truth is that any matter in an object, weight is the downward object of any mass – even a sub-atomic particle force exerted by all of that matter in a – exerts a gravitational pull on nearby objects. gravitational fi eld. In the zero-gravity vacuum Sir Isaac Newton proved that objects of of space, objects are weightless, but they still greater mass exert a stronger gravitational have mass. force. That’s why we typically talk about On the surface of the Earth, where the force gravity in reference to planets and not protons. of gravity is essentially constant, we consider But the shocking truth about gravity is that mass and weight to be equal. But that same even a colossal hunk of rock like the Earth object – with the same mass – will weigh 17 per exerts an exceptionally puny pull. An infant, in cent less on the Moon, where the gravitational fact, can defeat the combined gravitational pull is weaker. On Jupiter – not the best place to pull of every single atom on the planet by start a diet – that same object will weigh 213 per lifting a wooden block off the fl oor. cent more. Falling force Legend has it that Galileo famously disproved Issac Newton Aristotle by dropping two cannonballs of Sir Isaac Newton was born in 1642, the different mass from the top of the Tower of Pisa same year that Galileo died. While and showing that they land simultaneously. In Galileo proved that objects of different 1971, astronaut Dave Scott dropped a feather masses fell at the same rate, it wasn’t until Newton published his revolutionary and a hammer on the moon, proving that all Principia Mathematica – the most objects fall at the same rate in a vacuum. infl uential physics text of all time – that this mysterious force was fi nally given a name: gravity. Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation was the fi rst to explain gravity in clear, mathematical terms. It was also the fi rst truly ‘unifi ed’ theory, explaining both earthly and heavenly mechanics. To readers of his day, it would have been completely inconceivable to imagine that the same force that pulls apples from trees could also coax the moon into orbit. Over 300 years after their publication, Newton’s elegant formulas still played a vital role in putting humans on the moon for the fi rst time.

058-059_HIW001.indd 58 13/10/09 17:57:47 5 TOP Black hole Mighty moon Escape velocity Gravity and ﬁ tness Pulling power A black hole’s gravitational pull The moon’s low gravity Deimos, a moon of Mars, has Prolonged exposure to zero Size and mass effect gravity: 1 is so strong that even light 2 means objects weigh one 3 such low gravity that if you 4 gravity poses health risk for 5 Uranus has 14.5 times the FACTS can’t escape from what’s sixth of their Earth weight. A jumped, you’d easily achieve astronauts, including bone mass of Earth but because of known as its ‘event horizon’, an strong man could lift a small escape velocity and send loss, muscle atrophy and its size, it only has around 90 GRAVITY invisible boundary around it. car on the moon! yourself into space. even immune problems. per cent of Earth’s gravity.

DIDDID YOUYOU KNOW?KNOW? XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXAlbert Einstein won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921 What is gravity? 8. Escape velocity 1. Short-range With enough velocity, the cannonball will escape If a cannonball is ﬁ red from a the Earth’s gravitational pull entirely. The Earth’s mountain peak above the Earth’s escape velocity, as calculated by Newton, is 11.2 atmosphere, gravity will pull it kilometres/second (7 miles/second). down in the direction of the centre of the Earth. 1 8 2

2. Mid-range With a higher muzzle velocity, the cannonball travels a longer horizontal Albert distance, while falling at the same 3 rate of acceleration (gravity). Einstein While Newton was able to mathematically prove the existence of gravity, he had no idea where it came from or how it actually worked. In the Newtonian world view, gravity was a Newton’s constant, independent force that acted instantaneously. If the Sun were to Cannon disappear, Newton argued, then the Understanding planets would immediately spin off gravitational into the void. forces 4 In 1905, a young and unknown Albert Einstein postulated that light travelled at a discrete speed limit through the vacuum of space. Since nothing can travel faster than light, the force of gravity cannot act instantaneously. If the Sun disappeared, it would take over eight minutes for the loss of gravity to 3. Long-range be felt by Earth. With enough But Einstein’s most mind-boggling muzzle velocity, the cannonball reaches gravitational insight came in 1916 with the horizon. In this the General Theory of Relativity. In his 5 case, the curve of radical view of the universe, the three the Earth makes dimensions of space are merged with a 6 the Earth’s surface 7. Elliptical orbit fourth dimension of time and ‘fall away’ slightly A little more speed represented as a ﬂ exible, two- produces an elliptical orbit, from the cannonball, dimensional ‘space-time’ fabric. like the paths of the planets 5. Orbital velocity 6. Circular orbit around the Sun. allowing it to travel According to Einstein, objects of At a precise muzzle A little more speed results in a even further before great mass act like bowling balls on a velocity, the cannonball continuous circular orbit. Fixed landing. will balance its positioned satellites reach a circular trampoline, bending and warping the 7 gravitational fall with the orbit with a launch velocity of space-time fabric. If a smaller object curve of the Earth, 11,300kph (7,000mph). rolls too close one of these bowling resulting in a circular orbit balls, it will be drawn toward it. Gravity that collides with the 4. Half orbit cannon. Here, the horizon effect is is not some mysterious independent exaggerated. The surface of force, but the result of the collective the Earth falls away from the wrinkles in the fabric of the universe. cannonball nearly equal to gravity’s rate of acceleration. © Imagine Publishing Ltd WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM | No unauthorised copying or distribution How It Works 059

058-059_HIW001.indd 59 13/10/09 17:58:09 © Imagine Publishing Ltd No unauthorised copying or distribution

Don’t let your brain go hungry

Online: www.imaginesubs.co.uk SUBSCRIBE NOW! SPACE Phone: 0844 815 5944 to the magazine that feeds minds Turning the tides How ocean tides work Gravitational forces tip ocean waters like a bathtub Earth There are two scientifi c principles at work, says Iheanyi N You’re sitting on a beach, cooking a barbecue with Osondu PhD, an associate professor of geography at the family. The Sun sets in the distance. You look Fort Valley State University in Georgia. “The rotation of the around and – like the famous scene from Chitty High tide Earth produces the Coriolis effect,” he says. “The movement Chitty Bang Bang – you’re surrounded by water. The of currents of water and air is affected by Coriolis. Ferrell’s law states that any object or fl uid phenomenon of ocean tides is caused by gravitational moving horizontally in the northern hemisphere is defl ected forces as the Earth moves around the Sun, and the moon to the right of its path of motion regardless of compass moves around the Earth. direction. In the southern hemisphere, it is defl ected towards the left.”

High tide The Sun’s gravitational pull Moon

The Sun

Moon pull A second reason for ocean tides rising and lowering: the Tides ocean tends to bulge on the side of the Earth that is closest Gravitational pull There are also three kinds of tides on the planet, to the moon. “The moon makes one complete rotation It helps to think of the ocean as a giant bathtub fi lled says Osondu. Diurnal is when the tide rises and round the Earth every 29 and a half days,” says Osondu. with water: if you tipped the bathtub to one side, the lowers once per day, and is common in the Gulf “On the other hand, the Sun also infl uences the tides. It water would rise. In the ocean, the water levels of Mexico. Semidiurnal, common in the Atlantic should, however, be noted that the moon has a greater change when gravity pulls water to one side of the coasts, has two similar tides per day. Mixed infl uence on tides than the Sun because it is nearer, even Earth, which causes the water level to lower on the tides, where there are two dissimilar tides per though the Sun is much larger.” other side. day, are common in the Pacifi c coasts. Adaptive optics recreate an image The wavefront from a star looks distorted Reassembling a twinkling star as it passes through the atmosphere. Adaptive optics is a fascinating fi eld – this image. Next, a deformable mirror is used to adjust A deformable mirror technology is used in telescopes and can the image. This mirror acts like one in a hall of is moved a few microns to adjust for reconstruct an image so that it matches mirrors, except the mirror can be moved a few tilt and focus. how the object looks in space, without the microns to fl atten the image. The image passes distortions from the Earth’s atmosphere. It’s the through the deformable mirror multiple times, and same technology now being used by optometrists to each time a phase reconstructor – a series of PHASE determine which glasses you might need to wear. complex algorithms – smooths the image. RECONSTRUCTOR When astronomers study a star, the light is In a last step, the adjusted image enters the emitted in a spherical shape called a wavefront. As output phase, which shows the adjusted image In the output phase, PHASE the wavefront passes through the atmosphere, the without the distortions of tilt and focus. “Adaptive the corrected SENSOR spheres are distorted in the same way that a distant optics cancel out the effects of the atmosphere as wavefront is shown car is distorted by the heat on a paved road. Some well as the imperfections of the telescope,” says without distortion. parts of the star are tilted – like the slanted image Stuart Shacklan, a group supervisor of the high you might see on a wall when the Sun shines contrast imaging group in the optics section at Jet through a window. Other parts are out of focus. Propulsion Laboratory, a research arm of NASA. A phase reconstructor The distorted image is called the input phase, or Adaptive optics are used in most astronomical uses algorithms to wavefront phase. Initially, a tilt mirror captures the telescopes such as the Palomar Observatory in further enhance the wavefront, which measures the complex tilt of the California and the Keck Observatory in Hawaii. image.

060 | How It Works © Imagine Publishing Ltd WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM No unauthorised copying or distribution

060-061_HIW001.indd 60 6/10/10 14:34:52 Don’t let your brain go hungry

Online: www.imaginesubs.co.uk SUBSCRIBE NOW! Phone: 0844 815 5944 to the magazine that feeds minds

DIDDID YOUYOU KNOW?KNOW? XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXA spacesuit weighs approximately 280 pounds on the ground

Helmet This has a purge valve to remove carbon dioxide if the backup oxygen supply must be used. Here oxygen ﬂ ows from behind Space suits the astronaut’s head, over the head and down his or her face. Helmet lights and camera inside and out These are important for seeing in dark spots. The devices are mounted on the EVA and ﬁ tted over the How a modern spacesuit works helmet.

Communications Hard upper torso carrier assembly The CCA is a vital The HUT is a hard fi breglass vest shape shell. Its communication tool for primary function is to support arms, lower torso, mission control. This fabric cap helmet, life-support backpack and control module. contains microphones and It also acts as a mini-tool carrier. speakers for use with the radio. This permits hands-free Liquid cooling and ventilation garment radio communications within The LCVG is produced from nylon tricot and spandex the suit. long underwear, laced with thin plastic tubes. Cool water fl ows through these to elevate the heat. In-suit drink bag Hydration is essential with astronauts exerting so much Lower torso assembly energy. The IDB plastic pouch This one-piece unit contains pants, is mounted inside the HUT, knee and ankle joints, boots and lower containing 1.9 litres of water. waist. The LTA is fi tted to the upper Astronauts drink this through half of the EMU by a metal connect a small tube positioned next to ring, looping to tether tools so these their mouth. don’t fl oat away.

Maximum absorption garment Primary life-support subsystem The PLSS is an essential backpack worn by Astronauts can spend up to Astronauts. It contains all manner of essential several hours moon-walking life-support apparatus, such as oxygen tanks, and the absorbent MAG permits carbon dioxide scrubbers/fi lters, cooling them bathroom trips on the go, water, radio, and electrical power, ventilating without having to pressurise fans and warning systems. and depressurise both the space suits and the spacecraft. Keeping an astronaut safe Astronaut Edwin E It may not look comfy, but every part is necessary “Buzz” Aldrin walks on the surface of the moon The modern space suit, or Extravehicular tailored EMU. Both are vital in regulating body heat during the Apollo 11 Mobility Unit – that’s EMU for short – is an from interstellar environments. Mylar, a white extravehicular activity environmental simulator, built intricately to fabric, produces a refl ective layer, minimising UV ensure maximum life support and mobility for an radiation effects on the astronaut. The EMU also astronaut in strenuous space conditions. includes either heat exchangers to blow cool air or The EMU is far removed from old-fashioned styles. water-cooled garments to stop condensation within Instead of being specifi cally tailored for individual the helmet and on the visor. astronauts, the EMU is assembled by component The EMU helmet is as elaborate as the main torso. pieces of varying sizes that can be put together to fi t These are made from clear plastic or durable any given astronaut. One size fi ts all. The EMU is polycarbonate. Coverings are included to refl ect made from a mix of hard and soft components, sunlight, with visors tinted to reduce sun glare, including nylon tricot, spandex, urethane-coated, much like a pair of sunglasses. nylon, Dacron, neoprene-coated nylon, Mylar, Gore- Dacron and Kevlar are used to protect astronauts Tex, Kevlar and Nomex. from micrometeoroids. The EMU has multiple layers Dacron, neoprene-coated nylon and Gortex are of these durable fi bres to ensure no tearing occurs

All images courtesy of NASA of courtesy images All integral. These are used as primary insulators in the from exposed surfaces of the spacecraft. © Imagine Publishing Ltd WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM | No unauthorised copying or distribution How It Works 061

060-061_HIW001.indd 61 13/10/09 18:39:26 “Dextre weighs 1,560kg and space cannot be assembled on Earth” Making repairs in orbit

Dextre as attached to the International Space Station All images courtesy of NASA of courtesy images All Dextre the

Dextre being unpacked and space robot readied for launch The robot that will fix the International Space Station And you thought fixing your toaster was a Each joint is controlled by a separate computer processor and challenge! On the International Space Station, runs a set of predetermined computer code. “CPUs control components sometimes need repair or must be co-ordinated movements,” says Rey, explaining that the robot is The Statistics moved for scientific tests. In October of this year, the mostly controlled from the ground but does have some Dextre Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator, or Dextre, will become autonomous behaviour. “All the joints are rotary joints so they operational after an entire year of tests in space. have to move in a co-ordinated fashion.” The 3.67-metre tall Why send a repair robot into space? The primary reason has robot weighs 1,560 kilograms and had to be ‘orbitally to do with saving time for human astronauts, who can focus on assembled’. The colossal bot has four main tools it will use for science experiments on the space station and because the robot repairs. Rey described the two important characteristics of is impervious to radiation and other space hazards. “Dextre Dextre which makes it the ultimate space repairbot. also helps reduce the risk from micrometeorites or suit failures First, Dextre uses an inverse kinematic engine to control joint that astronauts are exposed to during an EVA (Extravehicular movement. The ‘inverse’ is that the joints are instructed on the Height: 3.67 metres Activity),” says Daniel Rey, the manager of Systems Definition final place to move one of its repair tools, and then must work Weight: 1,560 kilograms for the Canadian Space Agency in charge of the project. backwards and move joints to arrive at that position. Rey Arm length (each): Dextre is an electrical robot – as opposed to the common described this as similar to instructing a human to put a hand 3.35 metres hydraulic and pneumatic robots found on Earth – because the on a doorknob, and then knowing that you need to move an Handling capability: robot itself won’t require as much maintenance, space station elbow, forearm, and shoulder to that position. A second 600 kilograms Crew: 98 repairs require precise movement, and there is no leakage. The characteristic is called forced moment sensor, which measures Average operating power: robot has two large, electrically controlled arms, each with the forces applied on the joints and is used for correcting inputs 1,400 watts seven degrees of movement. from an astronaut to avoid errors and joint bindings. © Imagine Publishing Ltd 062 | How It Works www.howitworksDAILY.com No unauthorised copying or distribution

062_HIW001.indd 62 14/10/09 10:23:24 © Imagine Publishing Ltd No unauthorised copying or distribution 5 TOP FACTS

Computing Electronics Electronics Gadgets Gadgets Engineering Engineering Communication Domestic Entertainment Medical General iPHONE TECHNOLOGY categories explained explained Understanding the iPhone

Get inside the iPhone 3GS, the super-computer that lives in your pocket The iPhone 3GS is not just a phone, it is an iPhone. The This month in iPhone has created a whole new category for itself. With Technology just three models – the iPhone, Our technology writers iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS – it is already well have years of experience in on its way to conquering the world. And it’s covering the most exciting not just a phone, it’s also an MP3 player, topics from gadgets to internet tablet, gaming platform, GPS device engineering to medical and so much more. Every hardware and technology. software revision has bought an immense set of features that makes the iPhone even more powerful than before. Apple has released two hardware revisions since fi rst launching the iPhone, the 3G and the 3GS. While the iPhone 3G was more about features, the iPhone 3GS is all about speed. In other words, the iPhone 3GS is like upgrading your desktop computer with a faster 67 Heatseeking missiles processor and more RAM. The iPhone experience is a combination of both powerful hardware and sophisticated software. Let’s talk about the hardware fi rst. Amazingly, the iPhone 3GS hardware specifi cation is somewhat similar to a desktop computer from 1998, demonstrating just how much has been achieved in the technology sector in a relatively short space of time. 72 DVD burning explained iPhone 3GS hardware design makes it one of the fastest handhelds available today. It also includes some unique features such as a digital compass which makes GPS navigation more intuitive and accurate. Support for OpenGL ES 2.0 also makes the iPhone 3GS the next generation portable gaming device. Visionary Anthony J D’Angelo, once said “Do not reinvent the wheel, just realign it”. 72 How to see in the dark Apple gets it. The iPhone operating system is nothing but Mac OS X realigned for portables. TECHNOLOGY This brings the iPhone very close to an 64 iPhone 3GS elegant Mac experience. The iPhone OS has a lot of Mac OS X components with few touch- 66 Bionic eyes specifi c components designed specially for 66 Eco light bulbs Outside the the iPhone. The iPhone OS kernel, the central 67 Sidewinder missiles component of most computer operating 68 Radar iPhone 3GS systems, and OS X kernel use the same code 68 Digital sound The main features of the iPhone 3GS explained base, and so do many other components. 68 Keyless ignition 68 Beer widgets 69 PC fi rewalls 69 Geiger Counter iTunes Safari iPod App Store Calendar 70 GPS navigation Portable iTunes Mobile Safari Almighty iPod, A virtually Powerful 72 DVD burning with wide browser with with support endless calendar with range of audio, support for for Genius number of support for 72 Night-vision goggles video and HTML5 and Mixes, ways to extend Microsoft 73 Digital SLR camera iTunes store streaming podcasts and the functions ActiveSync and 74 3D movies content multimedia more of the iPhone CalDAV © Imagine Publishing Ltd | WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM 064 How It Works No unauthorised copying or distribution

064-065_HIW001.indd 64 13/10/09 17:59:44 5 TOP iPhone 3GS CPU power iPhone 3GS Java mystery 3D internet on iPhone iPhone 3GS vs PSP Open source iPhone 3GS CPU speed is As of now the 3GS doesn’t Mobile Safari will soon get In terms of hardware the PSP A large portion of iPhone 1 underclocked to 600MHz 2 support Java apps, despite 3 support for OpenGL ES 4 is far inferior than the iPhone 5 software is made from open FACTS from its original 833MHz. This CPU hardware acceleration acceleration via WebGL, a 3GS, with CPU clocked at source projects. This includes should give it a longer life span for Java called Jazelle RCT standard to display 3D 333MHz (vs 600MHz) and FreeBSD Inc, GNU FSF, SQLite, iPHONE and increased battery life. Java-acceleration technology. graphics on web browsers. 32MB RAM (vs 256MB RAM). OpenLDAP and others.

DID YOU KNOW? The iPhone was recently announced as the most successful brand ever

Anatomy of an iPhone How an Don’t try this at home as it will invalidate your warranty! iPhone’s Instead, take a look at this iPhone we exploded under screen controlled conditions at the How It Works lab works? USB cable Intergrated headset Power pin Discover the and microphone workings of the iPhone’s SIM holder revolutionary SIM slot touch screen

Li-ion battery Proactive anti-reﬂ ective coating Bonding layer

Protective glass cover

iPhone LCD screen

iPhone logic board

iPhone 30-pin dock connector Outer shell Image © iﬁ xit.com

COMPONENT iPHONE 3G iPHONE 3GS CPU ARM 1176J(F) 620MHz, underclocked ARM Cortex-A8 833MHz, underclocked to to 412MHz 600MHz RAM 128MB DRAM 256MB DRAM Storage 8 / 16 GB 16 / 32 GB Display 320x480 320x480 Input Multi-touch touch screen display, Multi-touch touch screen display, three three axis accelerometer axis accelerometer, digital compass Wireless technologies Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0 Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 Driving lines Camera 2.0 megapixels with geotagging 3.0 megapixel with geotagging and automatic focus, white balance and Glass substrate exposure Sensing lines Battery life Up to fi ve hours talk time / data on Up to fi ve hours talk time / data on 3G, 12 3G, ten hours on 2G hours on 2G Protective cover Image © ifi xit.com ifi © Image Up to six hours data on Wi-Fi Up to nine hours data on Wi-Fi All in a day’s work Up to 24 hours audio Up to 30 hours audio Each component works together seamlessly to provide Up to seven hours video Up to ten hours video you with endless entertainment and functionality Inside the

064-065_HIW001.indd 65 13/10/09 18:00:13 TECHNOLOGY Bionic eyes How a bionic eye works Helping the blind How an eye implant recover their sight restores sight Your retina is the layer of cells at the back of the eye which responds to So how does this tiny light. Diseases that affect the retina device perform miracles? 5 may cause the sufferer to lose their sight. However, some clever brains in America have developed an implant to act as a wireless communication system between eye and brain. In the eye An ultra-thin chip with an electrode array, The retinal covered with 60 electrodes, is embedded into 4 implant sends 6 the retina. The patient wears special glasses signals to the fi tted with a digital camera, which captures user’s brain images in the form of light and dark spots and sends the information to a video processor in the glasses. Look at a car and this light and dark image is then converted into an electrical signal and transmitted to the implant by a tiny wire. 1 Once the chip picks up the signal, the 3 electrodes produce a light and dark pattern, which the brain perceives as the car. Such sophisticated technology has already enabled a number of previously blind test 2 subjects to distinguish light and dark and also to perceive shapes. All Images © Second Sight Second © Images All 1. Digital camera 2. Video microchip 3. Transmitter 4. Receiver 5. Retinal implant 6. Optic nerve This captures images as light The microchip in the glasses The transmitter receives This is implanted under the surface The implant’s electrode array Having received the visual and dark pixels and sends receives the pixel information the electrical impulses of the eye. Then, having received is stimulated in a similar way information from the optic them to the video processing and translates them into from the video microchip, the signal from the transmitter, to photoreceptors. Electrical nerve, the brain interprets it unit. In the not-so-distant electrical pulses, which it converts them into a radio electrical pulses are sent down a signals generated by this as a pattern of shaded spots. future, greater detail and then passes on to the radio signal before sending it to microscopic implanted wire to the response then travel down In time patients learn to colour will be captured. transmitter in the glasses. the radio receiver. artifi cial retinal. the optic nerve. perceive these as images. Eco bulbs, money saver? Why these technologies use different amounts of resources Light is a complicated thing. It can behave like a wave widen their orbit around the nucleus in the middle of an atom. or a particle. Most theories in physics talk about it When they’re pulled back to their original orbit, they throw off behaving like a wave, when it travels fast splits into a photon. Traditional light bulbs use heat passing across a the colours of the rainbow and combines again to make white, fi lament of tungsten to do this. Energy-saving light bulbs use a and creates beams (think of the sunbeams you see through a tube fi lled with argon gas and mercury vapour. When electrons window). Light bulbs however, whether energy-saving or move from one end to the other, they cause the mercury atoms traditional, rely on light’s particle-behaviour alter-ego. in the tube to throw off light in the ultraviolet range. In 1905 Albert Einstein was studying how light can possibly Producing heat requires much more energy than creating generate energy. This is called the Photoelectric Effect. He enough charge to excite the mercury atoms inside a fl uorescent theorised that light can create particle-like entities called tube. This means that energy-saving light bulbs are exactly that: photons, which throw off energy. It’s possible to create light- they require less energy to be pumped into them in order to emitting photons under the right conditions, and light bulbs function. And as they don’t heat up the element that creates the take advantage of this. light, it also lasts longer, giving them their extended life span. The traditional light bulb had been invented a good 28 years before Einstein’s theory, and utilised a variant on it. An atom of In a fluorescent tube the visible light is produced as a secondary a reactive element – tungsten is usually the fl avour of choice effect of the mercury vapour throwing off photons. The ultraviolet thanks to its capability to withstand intense heat – will DID YOU photons react with the phosphor coating on the inside of the tube produce light when the electrons within it are excited by an and this produces visible light. external force. This makes them temporarily speed up and KNOW?

066_HIW001.indd 66 6/10/10 14:36:55 THE TOP SPEEDMach 2.5 LENGTH 3.0m WARHEAD 9.5kg STATS AIM-9 WEIGHT85kg RANGE 11 miles COST$85,000

DIDDID YOUYOU KNOW?KNOW? XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXThe missile fl ies towards its target at speeds of 1,900mph Missiles in action: AIM-9 Sidewinder This air-to-air missile mercilessly seeks out its prey – there’s little chance of escape! ON THE Hangers MAP Attach the missile to the launcher under the aircraft Warhead 9kg of explosives wrapped Deployment in lethal titanium rods It is estimated that Optical target detector Sidewinder missiles have Laser beams bounce off the killed around 270 people Rocket motor target and back to sensors worldwide over the last 50- Creates minimal Tail control fi ns plus years. Over 110,000 smoke to avoid Adjustable, to steer the Seeker missiles have been produced detection missile to its target The infrared ‘eye’ of the for 28 countries and just one missile, with its control per cent of them have been Front fi ns system just behind used in combat. Here are just Provide lift and stability to some of the war zones where keep the missile in fl ight the missile has seen action: 1. Second Taiwan Strait crisis Precision Date: 1958 The deadly weapon can hit Location: Taiwan Strait, Taiwan All Images © Raytheon © Images All a target 11 miles away

Named after a venomous ‘very hot’ or ‘not very hot’. In other words effectively anticipates where the target 2. Vietnam war snake that is sensitive to it can ‘see’ heat. The sensors, plus its will be at the point of impact. Date: 1959-1975 infrared and so can sense the assembly of mirrors and lenses, spin off- In fact, the Sidewinder doesn’t actually Location: North Vietnam heat of its prey, the deadly centre so that they can scan a wide vista impact with its target, but is designed to 3. Falklands confl ict Sidewinder missile does much the same. and also work out where the heat is in explode just before it hits it, to ensure Date: 1982 First tested in 1953, the Sidewinder is a relation to the missile. For instance, if the maximum damage. Lasers positioned Location: Falkland Islands heat-seeking, short-range air-to-air target is over to the right, the sensors will behind the forward fi ns emit light and, missile used by fi ghter aircraft. Once detect more infrared when they are when the missile is close to the target, 4. Lebanese civil war launched, it will fl y towards a hot target – aimed in that direction. the light bounces off it and back to Date: 1975-1990 usually the engines of an aircraft or The sensors feed information to the sensors on the missile, telling the Location: Bekaa Valley, another missile. guidance control system that, in turn, systems to trigger the warhead. Lebanon The key to the system is hidden in the move the fi ns at the back of the missile to The Sidewinder is launched from an 5. Gulf war nose of the missile. The seeker consists of steer the Sidewinder towards the target. aircraft and is initially propelled by a Date: 1990-1991 an array of sensors that react to infrared Or rather, aim it at a point slightly ahead rocket motor that hurls it forward at a Location: Persian Gulf light; similar in principle to the CCD of the target to ensure that it doesn’t end speed of Mach 2.5 (about 1,900mph). Once sensor in a digital camera but simpler in up chasing it and never catching it. This the fuel has been used up, the missile 6. Soviet–Afghan war that it only judges its surroundings as is called proportional navigation and glides the rest of the way to its target. Date: 1979-1989 Location: Afghanistan

The warhead 4 5 1 The front mid-section of the Sidewinder charge to explode. This blasts the is packed with explosives. Like the rest of titanium rods apart into thousands of the missile, though, this 9kg warhead is fragments which hit the target at high highly sophisticated. It consists of a high speed, causing cataclysmic damage. explosive wrapped with around 200 A safety device in the missile means titanium rods, plus an initiator explosive. that the warhead cannot be activated

When the missile is within range of its unless the missile has been accelerating 6 target, the low-power initiator is at 20g for ﬁ ve seconds, therefore ensuring 2 activated. This, in turn, ignites explosive it is at least 1.5 miles away from the 3 pellets which then cause the main launching aircraft.

067_HIW001.indd 67 13/10/09 18:02:07 Don’t let your brain go hungry

Online: www.imaginesubs.co.uk SUBSCRIBE NOW! TECHNOLOGY Phone: 0844 815 5944 to the magazine that feeds minds Radar and widgets How radar fi nds objects How sound inspired radiowave observation Radar uses a radiowave-based version of echo location to fi nd moving and stationery objects. When you make a noise in a space that echoes, the sound is bounced back to you – you hear it again a moment or so later. If the sound is moving, somebody standing still and listening to you will hear the sound go up and down as it moves past them. This is called the Doppler effect. Understanding We can’t go around shouting at aeroplanes in order to fi nd them, no matter how frustrating Terminal 5 can be, so instead radiowaves are used. They produce exactly the same digital sound phenomenon as sound. For example, an aircraft is fi tted with a radar transmitter. When another transmitter sends a burst of We’ve come a long way from the gramophone, radiowaves in its direction, they’re bounced back. The speed but what exactly is digital sound? with which they bounce back, and the wavelength of the waves, Record collections may still be en vogue, but both vinyl and cassette mediums represent determine where the aircraft is and the rate at which it’s moving an archaic analogue technology that has been superseded since compact discs came to relative to the transmitter. the fore. Imagine the pits and grooves in a record or the magnetically charged surface of “Sir, what are tape that store the information as a variable wave: in contrast, digital sound is stored as a series of all those distinct peaks and troughs, rather like the battlements of a castle. Translating from analogue to green lines digital is called encoding and in terms data storage, it saves an enormous amount of space. coming out of This is the basis of Dolby’s digital audio technologies and the encoding process allows Russia?” companies like Dolby to tease apart digital sound into separate channels for a surround sound experience: 5.1 surround, for example, consists of a left and right channel communicating movement, a focused centre channel for dialogue, a pair of surround channels and a resonant low- frequency bass.

It’s not carbon dioxide that actually makes the bubbles in a drink – it’s dirty glasses. CO2 is DID YOU invisible; what you see is its silhouette outlined KNOW? by trace elements. Starting Creating the perfect your car frothy beer head Two pints of CO2 and a shot of without a key liquid nitrogen Keyless car ignition is becoming more common A widget is a small plastic ball with a hole in one end, which is added to a beer can. – but how does it work? Beer is loaded with gaseous nitrogen and Necessity is the mother of invention and these days, gadgets are carbon dioxide, and a chaser of liquid nitrogen just necessary. Keyless ignition simply allows the motorist to come within before canning. When these elements are under range of their vehicle then press a button to start the engine. It uses a pressure they’re relatively inert, but remove the technology called RFID, or radio frequency identifi cation: an RFID chip (the lock) pressure (by pulling the ringpull) and they expand. If is placed inside the car that will unlock the ignition system when activated. Only they evaporate in a thick liquid they don’t get through its corresponding fob (the key) can activate the chip using a radio signal, which as much of the liquid as they would in a thin one works like a barcode in a supermarket. RFID used to use a 40-bit encryption before they’ve been dissipated, because the speed of system that wasn’t particularly strong and proved fallible, with high-profi le evaporation is constant, but the distance they travel victims of failed RFID security that include David Beckham, who lost two BMW depends on how fast they can move. This movement X5s with keyless ignition to thieves. creates the head on your beer. The nitrogen-fi lled widget On the plus side, there’s no physical key to replicate, keyless systems include pulls beer into it and shoves it back out again at high security measures that prevent you from locking your key inside and it has more speed when the pressure of the can is released, practical signifi cance for disabled drivers. exciting both elements to move through the liquid faster and aerating it with the evaporating gases. © Imagine Publishing Ltd | WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM 068 How It Works No unauthorised copying or distribution

068-069_HIW001.indd 68 13/10/09 18:41:16 Don’t let your brain go hungry

Online: www.imaginesubs.co.uk SUBSCRIBE NOW! Phone: 0844 815 5944 to the magazine that feeds minds

DID YOU KNOW? Hans Geiger was involved in Nazi Germany’s attempt to build an atomic bomb

Installed Many modern routers are equipped with Getting effective hardware fi rewalls. to grips with Geiger Counters First developed at the turn of the 20th Century, Geiger Counters still work in much the same way The Geiger Counter was invented by Hans Geiger and Ernest Rutherford in 1908 to detect alpha particles, one of four main types of radioactivity (the others being beta, gamma and x-rays). It was later modifi ed by Geiger and his Always safe! student Walther Müller to detect the others and again in 1947 by …but a little extra Sidney Liebson into the Halogen Counter – which is the software protection technology still widely used today. can’t hurt either. A Geiger Counter typically consists of four parts; a power supply, a visual and audio readout and the crucial Geiger-Müller tube that measures the radiation. The GM tube is fi lled with a low pressure inert gas such as neon, helium, argon and, most commonly today, halogen. It is usually coated with metal or ZoneAlarm is one graphite to create the cathode, while the anode wire, charged Protect your of the most with around 1,000 volts, passes through the centre. GM counters popular free Firewalls “ Geiger Counters were used to PC with prevent human exposure to harmful levels of radiation” fi rewalls work by pointing at a suspected source of radiation, which Your PC is under releases pairs of ions and electrons in the gas that are attracted to the negative cathode or positive iode. It is this cascade of attack – defend it! charged particles that creates the electrical current measured by the audio readout, usually an oscilloscope or LCD display, in Hackers, viruses, spyware and block certain IP addresses or domain names, milliroentgens (or microsieverts) per hour. It is the readout or trojans are ganging up on us, control particular protocols, give access to speaker that creates the ‘click’ for each particle registered; the threatening the safety of our certain ports and bar others, or discard any more rapid the clicks, the more intense the radioactivity. computers and, heaven forbid, our privacy. information with undesirable words and Historically, Geiger Counters were used to prevent human Attacks come from people using the internet. phrases. Firewalls can be set up in one of exposure to harmful levels of ionising radiation which can They send rogue data to your PC via the two ways – they can allow all traffi c to fl ow cause anything from minor skin burns to fatal cancers and phone lines or enable spyware to send until certain criteria is met or they can genetic damage. At the height of the Cold War they were private details out. Without a fi rewall, you prevent all traffi c until certain criteria is met. routinely supplied to civil authorities and even hospitals in leave your computer open to attack but put Either way, a good fi rewall analyses and preparation for nuclear war, however these days their uses are one in place and your PC becomes much checks both inbound and outbound traffi c far more diverse, ranging from astronomy, medicine and more secure, giving you peace of mind. It is against the fi lter’s set of rules, discarding engineering to military environments. important to fi ght back and that is where a any rogue data. This not only prevents fi rewall is essential. damage to your PC but also helps to stop The basic GM tube design In simple terms, a fi rewall monitors and spyware sending out any data you wish to has barely changed Electron Ionising radiation fi lters the information that travels through keep private. cascades your internet connection into your PC. Think It is possible to buy a hardware fi rewall - Volts of a fi rewall as a physical brick construction too. It operates as a standalone device, such in a building that prevents fi re spreading as a router, that is confi gured via a web- + Volts from one area to another. Firewalls have based interface. Hardware fi rewalls tend to Side view fi lters that allow certain data to pass and be used to protect networks of computers Low density gas others to be halted at the gate. The fi lters can and are not essential for home computing. Inner conductor (anode) Outer conductor (cathode) © Imagine Publishing Ltd WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM | No unauthorised copying or distribution How It Works 069

068-069_HIW001.indd 69 13/10/09 18:41:43 Military Deliberate European Signal You know, but 5 TOP beginnings inaccuracies GALILEO problems others don’t The Global Positioning Satellite The GPS system had in-built The European satellite system Early GPS receivers had poor A GPS receiver will tell you 1 System (GPSS) was originally 2 inaccuracies until 2000. 3 GALILEO is scheduled for 4 reception in built-up areas. 5 where you are, but won’t tell FACTS designed for the American Before 2000, the US military completion in 2010. Its Most receivers now have others. The tech used in military to make their nuclear degraded the signal for satellites will broadcast GPS chipsets capable of receiving many GPS and satnav devices TECHNOLOGY GPS missiles more accurate. civilian use. data to the highest accuracy. a strong signal everywhere. can only receive messages. How does GPS and satnav work?

GPSGPS devices have become the must-have car accessorynavigation and these devices now help millions of people ﬁ nd their destinations every day. It’s all made possible by a network of satellites orbiting the Earth at over 8,000mph…

Orbiting the planet 11,000 miles How to ﬁ nd above us, satellites are constantly yourself! sending signals down to Earth. These satellites Discover how your satnav system and GPS technology started out as and GPS plot and map your position part of the USA’s military attempt to improve missile accuracy. The satellites send a constant stream of signals broadcasting their exact position to Earth, where a GPS or satnav system can receive it. The signal sent to your receiver will tell it how far away the satellite is and its direction. Once the receiver has this information This is another GPS from three different satellites it satellite, there are 24 in can start calculating your total but only three are This GPS satellite needed for accurate position, using triangulation. is broadcasting triangulation. There are 12 satellites on each side the time and its of the Earth at any one time, as position to a base they have to cover the whole station on Earth. planet. These will be at different positions in the sky. Once you have four satellite signals, your receiver can start to calculate altitude as well as position. The more signals you receive, the more accurate the results will be during the journey. New systems will become Master Control Stations control available over the next few years satellite positions when in orbit, that improve on the average 15m as well as issuing ofﬁ cial accuracy. These systems rely on correction data. new satellites that orbit to stay in exactly the same position, and ground stations to relay the signals. In Europe the system in development is called EGNOS and promises accuracy to 2m. What is EGNOS? EGNOS is the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service. EGNOS will give Europe independence in the technology and improve accuracy. When the service becomes available, it will increase accuracy from 20m to 2m through a system of ground-based relay stations. Many handheld receivers have support for EGNOS already built in, along with the US counterpart WAAS. © Imagine Publishing Ltd | WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM 070 How It Works No unauthorised copying or distribution

070-071_HIW001.indd 70 13/10/09 18:09:30 Military Deliberate European Signal You know, but 5 TOP beginnings inaccuracies GALILEO problems others don’t The Global Positioning Satellite The GPS system had in-built The European satellite system Early GPS receivers had poor A GPS receiver will tell you 1 System (GPSS) was originally 2 inaccuracies until 2000. 3 GALILEO is scheduled for 4 reception in built-up areas. 5 where you are, but won’t tell FACTS designed for the American Before 2000, the US military completion in 2010. Its Most receivers now have others. The tech used in military to make their nuclear degraded the signal for satellites will broadcast GPS chipsets capable of receiving many GPS and satnav devices GPS missiles more accurate. civilian use. data to the highest accuracy. a strong signal everywhere. can only receive messages.

DID YOU KNOW? An in-car GPS updates every second to maintain an accurate position Get the kit GPS kit comes in many different guises, so take a look at our pick of the best devices

GPS navigation Forerunner 405 Price: £229 This feature-packed watch includes a high-sensitivity GPS receiver that tracks your route and speed, plus a heart This third satellite rate monitor to keep you makes it possible for within your optimal range of your receiver to plot effort. Navigating all the your position using a watch’s functions is done via process called the innovative touch bezel on triangulation. Garmin its face. Also included is a Virtual Partner who can set a Garmin nüvi challenging pace as you look The navigation to improve performance. software on the GPS Edge 705 1340T device pinpoints the Price: £260 Price: £219.99 reported position and Garmin plans a route. Operating system Operating system Proprietary Proprietary Software Software nüviphone Proprietary City Navigator Europe NT 2010 Map coverage Map coverage Price: £TBC Basemap Western Europe Installation Installation Garmin has recently entered Pre-installed on internal ﬂ ash Pre-installed on internal memory the mobile phone market memory Additional storage with a brand new device that Additional storage microSD card microSD card Dimensions combines the navigational Dimensions 122 x 75 x 16mm functionality of the nüvi 109 x 51 x 25mm Weight Weight 161.6g range of PNDs with an 104.9g Display iPhone-style mobile phone, Display 4.3” available in bundles with 2.2 inches (176 x 220px) Additional features ALK’s excellent CoPilot Live These base stations Additional features TMC receiver (life-time receive GPS Heart rate monitor, speed/cadence subscription), safety camera navigation software. High- monitor, online connectivity database transmissions and pass end navigation features are all data to the Master included, with European A GPS tool for cyclists, the Part of Garmin’s new in-car Control Station. map coverage and text-to- Edge 705 is a fully featured range, the nüvi 1340T features speech navigation GPS complete with heart rate a pedestrian mode that has prompts. monitor. The device is the ability to guide you compact and lightweight and around the London it doesn’t feel too rugged, Underground. When driving although the buttons on the you can pick from a ‘Less fuel’ sides of the unit are preference option which is protected against the designed to calculate routes elements. The package comes using the least amount of with two bike mounts and fuel. Overall it’s a good- plenty of cable ties to ﬁ x to looking and functional your bike securely. update to the series. “ Once the receiver has this information from three different satellites it can start calculating your position using triangulation” © Imagine Publishing Ltd WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM | No unauthorised copying or distribution How It Works 071

070-071_HIW001.indd 71 13/10/09 18:09:53 TECHNOLOGY How to burn a DVD

The anatomy 2 DVD of a DVD disc burning explained Just what happens 3 after you click the burn button? 1 So you’ve got a DVD burner and some software like Nero or Toast and you want to transfer some video you’ve shot to DVD. Ever wondered just how your PC and that software accomplishes this task? Read on… 4 Hitting the Burn button will start the burning life cycle, which is essentially a four-step process. The fi rst step is the process of converting the existing 1. Recording layer 2. Wobbled groove 3. Pits 4. Laser video fi le into a format that can be read from the DVD. A dual-layer disc has two This is embedded in the Pits or bumps, depending on DVD recorders use a red This is known as transcoding and will take a recording layers. Layer 0’s plastic surface and which side you look from, laser to read and write DVDs. proportionate amount of time depending on the fi le metallic coating is altered to provides the recorder with are where the laser heats up The reading laser is not as become translucent, allowing the timing information a tiny pinpoint of dye. This strong as the writing laser size. The next part in the process is building, which is the laser to pass through it needed to place data changes the dye’s physical because it does not need to the construction of the disc. This is where menus, when focused on Layer 1. accurately on the disc. build, burning on data. heat up the recording layer. links and navigation are put together to make sure they work on the disc. ensures a player or program does not get confused that’ll remove copy protection, allowing users to The next stage is the big one where the and tries to read any further into the disc. make backups of their favourite movies. AnyDVD information is written to the disc. This involves the Burning your own video content to a recordable (www.slysoft.com) is a program that removes copy physical process of transferring the data from the DVD disc doesn’t hold any legal issues, the content is protection on a DVD movie as soon as it’s inserted hard drive and placing the data onto the disc. How yours. However, commercial DVD movies do have into the drive. This then allows users to back up the long this part of the operation takes depends on a copyright issues. It is illegal to make even a single movie using a DVD burning tool. Theoretically, number of factors, including the DVD writer’s copy of a DVD and the majority of DVD-burning individuals could face up to two years in jail, an burnspeed capabilities. Finally, there is the lead out, software does not allow the copying of protected unlimited fi ne and possible civil action from the which marks the end of the burning process. This material. There is commercially available software copyright holders. Night-vision goggles From air-sea rescue to counter surveillance, night vision goggles have literally changed the way we see Night vision typically utilises two types of technology; thermal imaging (infrared) and image intensifi cation or light enhancement, of which the latter is the most portable and therefore suitable for use in night vision goggles. Light Enhancement devices take the photons present in ambient light (typically moon or starlight) from the front lens, pushing them through a photocathode tube that converts them into electrons, a microchannel plate containing millions of photoelectric channels that multiplies them before bouncing them against a phosphor screen to convert back into the distinctive green-tinged image seen through the eyepiece. Night vision was fi rst developed for tanks by both sides in WWII before being made portable for sniper scopes in Vietnam and fi nally for goggles in the Fifties. Now used by military, police and rescue operations worldwide, devices are classifi ed as Generations 0-3, with consumer (Gen 1) devices starting from as little as I can see you… £200 to far more expensive and sophisticated Gen 3 devices for military and No longer will total darkness prove counter-surveillance purposes. an obstacle

072_HIW001.indd 72 13/10/09 18:10:18 Don’t let your brain go hungry

Online: www.imaginesubs.co.uk SUBSCRIBE NOW! Phone: 0844 815 5944 to the magazine that feeds minds

DIDDID YOUYOU KNOW?KNOW? XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXThe ﬁ rst digital camera to go on sale was a Kodak DSC-100 in 1991 hosting a petite 1.3 megapixel sensor

Main dial Built-in fl ash All the shooting modes are Most DSLRs will accommodate a ‘built-in’ or ‘pop up’ positioned on this dial including; fl ash tucked into the top ledge. In some shooting Auto (A), Program (P), modes the fl ash will pop up Aperture priority (AP), automatically and in other scenarios How does Shutter priority (S/Tv) and photographers can activate the Manual (M). Some fl ash themselves. Behind this sits shortcut scene modes the fl ash hot shoe where such as portrait, external fl ash units can be slid landscape and macro into position. your DSLR are also available here. Flash button Top dial Depending on the This dial allows users to shooting mode or alter values such as the f/ creative purpose users camera stop (aperture) and may need to activate the shutter speed when in fl ash manually, in which the appropriate modes case this button should (AP or S) or when be pressed. work? shooting in manual. Many camera owners are Lens mount content to shout “Cheese” When the markers are aligned correctly, and push the shutter button photographers can slot a lens on to the to get an image, but we go mount and twist it under the hood to fi nd out into a locked position. exactly how it happens

Shutter button Depressing this button half way will focus the lens on the scene in front of the lens when set to Auto Focus. Pressing this button completely will take the shot.

Focus Assist beam When shooting in low light levels a light will emit from this area, illuminating the subject to help the autofocus fi nd it’s focus point. In many cameras this also doubles up as the self Mirror system and image sensor The mirror fl ips up out of the way when the shutter is timer indicator, where it will released to reveal the image sensor behind it, this then fl ash during the countdown. electronically captures and records the picture.

Lens Lens switches The larger ring on the lens body On the side of the lens there is a switch marked AF and MF – these refer to operates the lens’s focal length and auto and manual focus. Some lenses will also include a stabilisation the front, the smaller ring controls switch, which can be activated or deactivated. It is recommended to have the focus when in manual. this on when shooting handheld and off when resting on a tripod.

The dawn of the digital format has A DSLR (digital single-lens refl ex) camera employs The sensor is formed of millions of pixels laid out revolutionised the imaging industry and a mechanical mirror system that directs the light in thousands of rows and columns: the more pixels in turn the way we work our cameras. travelling through the attached lens upwards at a 90 or dots of light, the higher the megapixel count and Furthermore the internal DNA of the degree angle allowing the photographer to compose in theory the higher the resolution. The light travels camera body has been entirely restructured to make the shot through the viewfi nder. As the shutter through a colour fi lter above the individual sensors way for the new electrical system; or has it? button is pressed the exposure takes place: the and is converted from light waves into an analogue In fact fi lm and digital cameras operate in a mirror swings out of the way and the shutter opens signal which is then processed through a digital similar manner. Varying the size of the lens’s allowing the lens to project the light on to the image convertor. Next the conversion is fi ne tuned through diaphragm (aperture) in tandem with the amount of sensor. In low light scenarios the shutter will need to a series of fi lters that adjust aspects such as white time the shutter is open, focusing light onto the stay open for a longer period of time for the image to balance and colour. The resulting image can be image detection material, the only difference being be recorded, this is why photographers support made into a JPEG by compressing the fi le size and that this is now received in an electrical rather than their cameras with tripods as the smallest degree of discarding unnecessary pixels. The fi nal image is chemical form. camera shake will disturb the quality. shown on the LCD. © Imagine Publishing Ltd WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM | No unauthorised copying or distribution How It Works 073

073_HIW001.indd 73 13/10/09 18:11:01 5 TOP Toy Story in 3D Avatar movie Lenticular 3D technique Bah, humbug The big screen This autumn, Pixar released One of the most highly Lenticular 3D techniques Disney’s next movie to feel The largest cinema screen in 1 Toy Story in 3D, with Toy Story 2 anticipated movies of the year 3 require that you keep your 4 the 3D force will be the 5 the world is the LG IMAX FACTS 2 due to do the same in early is James Cameron’s Avatar, head perfectly still… festive release of the classic A theatre in Darling Harbour, 2010, and Toy Story 3 will also which uses polarisation for a something which can prove Christmas Carol starring Jim Sydney. It measures more TECHNOLOGY 3D MOVIES get the 3D treatment. 3D effect. slightly challenging for some! Carrey. than 1,015 square metres! Movie technology revealed

Early 3D viewers Over 150 years ago, the

ﬁ rst device to use the is now available on DVD visual depth perception trick – called a stereopticon – projected an image for both eyes Monster Aliensvs that made a photograph look more realistic, although not in 3D. It wasn’t until the original View-Master, which debuted in 1939, and its ability to show a slightly different image to the left and right eye that made 3D viewing possible. Today, the technique is still used, even in the high-end IMAX theatres and using computer monitors with products like the Nvidia 3D Vision.

View-Master The View-Master, released in 1939, showed two slightly different images, one for the Life-like left eye and one for the right, to simulate 3D vision. movies use A an optical B trick for 3D How 3D movies are made Movies in 3D – such as the upcoming Avatar – one vantage point, your right eye sees the other side, and your make the cinema come alive with objects and mind combines them into one (objects beyond several meters Binocular characters that seem to have life and limb. Yet, look two-dimensional). The optical trick, which we perceive Binocular vision is the ability beyond the simple 3D goggles we’ve worn at the naturally in the real world, is easy to duplicate in movies and to see one object with depth theatres for decades, the visual trickery is a games by shifting the left and right eye images slightly. The hard perception, since one eye technical marvel – and one that your own body does every day. part is making 3D objects actually look real without giving you a views from one vantage point and the other eye views In fact, your eyes are perfectly situated for depth perception at headache or making you feel woozy. from another. about three inches apart. Objects in the real world, viewed from a The shifting that occurs for 3D images – one for the left eye, one metre or so away, have a realistic look because your left eye sees for the right eye – requires directors to shoot with two cameras,

074-075_HIW001.indd 74 6/10/10 14:38:31 5 TOP Toy Story in 3D Avatar movie Lenticular 3D technique Bah, humbug The big screen This autumn, Pixar released One of the most highly Lenticular 3D techniques Disney’s next movie to feel The largest cinema screen in 1 Toy Story in 3D, with Toy Story 2 anticipated movies of the year 3 require that you keep your 4 the 3D force will be the 5 the world is the LG IMAX FACTS 2 due to do the same in early is James Cameron’s Avatar, head perfectly still… festive release of the classic A theatre in Darling Harbour, 2010, and Toy Story 3 will also which uses polarisation for a something which can prove Christmas Carol starring Jim Sydney. It measures more 3D MOVIES get the 3D treatment. 3D effect. slightly challenging for some! Carrey. than 1,015 square metres!

Anaglyph 3D monitors The red/blue glasses The 3D movie emits one A 3D monitor is distinct from (anaglyph method) you see for video in mostly red the other methods used for many older 3D movies – such as colours, and one in mostly displaying 3D movies, IMAX 3D Polarisation is used for the Spy Kids 3D ﬁ lm from a few cyan colours although the technique IMAX movies in 3D as well, years ago – are still used (showing an image for the left The goggles enhance but the 3D effect is sometimes, but the and right eye separately) is the the red colours for one enhanced by using two polarisation method is now same. With a 3D monitor, the eye and blue colours for video projectors in the more common. With the red/ the other video signal is displayed for 30 theatre, one for the left eye blue goggles (which actually frames of a 60Hz video signal The red/blue glasses and one for the right. In use red and cyan), one eye for the left eye, and then 30 are now used for addition, the goggles used perceives the red colours of a cereal boxes frames for the right eye. for IMAX movies used scene and your other eye electric signals to shutter perceives the cyan colours, off the left and right eye for which are slightly offset from the portion of the video each other. You perceive them that is being shown for the as one combined image. opposite eye, increasing the depth perception and the 3D effect.

When the colour reaches the goggles, tiny slits only allow a certain portion of the light spectrum through Polarising Polarisation – used as a 3D movie technique – works the same as the polarisation used on sunglasses. Tiny, microscopic slits are arranged perpendicular to the light emitted from the movie projector so that only a portion of the movie (such as the colour green for one eye and red for the other) is allowed to pass through. With 3D polarisation, the slits let a portion of the movie through for the left eye and a second portion for the right eye. Polarisation, Types of 3D explained according to Rob Hummel, was invented in the 1800s using mineral crystals on goggles that looked like heavy opera glasses. 3D exists in four different guises How 3D movies are made positioned next to each other. They then shift the recorded video and one for the right,” says Rob Hummel, the CEO of Prime Focus Learn more slightly. To perceive the 3D effect, you need goggles that help you Post Production who has held posts at Technicolor and Walt perceive the fl at image in the same way your brain blends left Disney Studios. If you want to fi nd a list of all the 3D movies released or and right images into one. Of course, there are several ways to The only real challenges with 3D, which might be resolved in forthcoming, take a look at make this work, such as polarisation (which lets only a specifi c the next decade, are that the fl ying objects tend to make us sick www.3dmovielist.com and light spectrum through a lens) and by showing left and right when viewed for long periods, there is no way to send the left and visit the illustrated list section. It portions of interlaced video (the pixels on a computer monitor). right video to your eyes unless you wear goggles, and existing contains an exhaustive list of movies along with pictures and “3D is a stereo-optical illusion that mimics what we do video – even movies fi lmed this year – cannot be converted to 3D information. naturally by showing two separate images, one for the left eye easily.

074-075_HIW001.indd 75 6/10/10 14:38:50 DID YOU Ancient world Ancient places & Buildings Industry Inventions times Medieval places & People war & Weapons General HISTORY categories explained KNOW? The defensive duties of a castle

The inner wall Up to four metres thick, with seven guard towers, the Inside a inner wall can only be reached by going through a dark passageway and the great square tower, making it difficult for medieval intruders to find their way to the keep. This month in History castle The History section is the Master’s lodgings place to find out fascinating This room on the second floor facts about how things of the keep is circular. Unlike worked in days gone by. A many residential quarters in castles, it is elaborately and personal favourite from this elegantly decorated. launch issue sees us explain the grim workings of madame guillotine, the machine that gruesomely claimed the life of many a French aristocrat during the French revolution and claimed its last victim as surprisingly recently as 1977.

Moat This moat is at the south end between the outer and inner wall. Horses drank from it, and the water was used to fill baths.

78 Guillotines

Stone slope Crusaders built this 24-metre thick stone slope to protect the castle’s south side. Its smoothness made it difficult for invaders to scale. 78 Mummiﬁ cation

80 How heraldry worked Why did castles die-out? HISTORY Gunpowder came into use in the 13th Century and 76 Medieval castles spelled the end of castles as military strongholds. 78 The guillotine Thick, high stone walls could withstand the forces of 78 Egyptian mummiﬁ cation catapults and trebuchets, but did not hold us as well against cannon ﬁ re. Some castles functioned solely as private residences 79 Tyrannosaurus Rex for nobles and were built on aesthetic principles. Defensive castles evolved 79 Flintlock pistol into castle-fortresses, with low-angled walls and rounded towers. 80 Heraldry © Imagine Publishing Ltd | WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM 076 How It Works No unauthorised copying or distribution

076-077_HIW001 NEW.indd 76 13/10/09 18:14:44 The world’s largest castle… THIS MONTH ON According to Guinness World Records, the world’s largest castle is Prague Castle. Built around 880 CE by Prince BoÐivoj, Prague Castle DID YOU is actually a complex of towers, palaces and other buildings in KNOW? various architectural styles. It covers nearly 70,000 square metres.

The stereotypical fairy tale castle design was actually the result of centuries of improvement upon existing structures Medieval castles were an important part of NOVEMBER HIGHLIGHTS feudal society. They began to appear around 1066 AD with the invasion of William the Conqueror. As he moved through England, Scotland and Wales, William had more than 30 castles built to help maintain power over his newly conquered lands. These castles served as bases for lords who held land from king and pledged loyalty and military service to him in return. These lords leased parts of their land to lesser lords and barons, who Great hall had knights that served under them. The large hall to the left of the These imposing structures had multiple functions. Castles courtyard was used for banquets, 02 November meetings and receptions. It were bases of offensive operations, defensive contains beautiful examples of strongholds, seats of government and Beckoning Silence 21.00 This follow-up to the multi-award Gothic architecture. private residences for land-holding winning Touching The Void continues the barons, knights and lords and their epic story of climber Joe Simpson’s battle for survival in the Andes. A moving and families. Most were built in stages over questioning exploration of why men climb long periods of time and modiﬁ ed as and why they feel the need to test themselves in the most brutal and greater defences were needed. Although unforgiving landscapes on the planet. their structures varied, they generally consisted of a tall building in the centre, which could function as a residence, prison or storage area, surrounded by one or more walls. Some castles were Courtyard built on a mountain or hilltop, or on the Krak des Chevaliers began as a edges of cliffs, to make invasion that motte and bailey but was little bit more difﬁ cult. upgraded to a concentric castle. The courtyard is only on the north 09 November side of the castle and separated Rise And Fall Of The from the outer wall by a ditch. Berlin Wall 21.00 For 28 years, the Berlin Wall split a city in two and divided a nation. While its dangers kept most GDR citizens at bay, others were spurred on to overcome it . This documentary examines the most daring escapes, and interviews former border Postern gate guards, politicians, spies and escapees. Many castles contained one or more secondary entrances, or postern gates, through which its residents entered and exited. Image © DK Images DK © Image

24 November Darwin’s Brave New World 20.00 Recounts the extraordinary and often harrowing story of Charles Darwin’s 30-year struggle to piece together the mystifying puzzle he saw in nature and ﬁ nally publish his theory about the evolution of life on Earth.

Learn more

For more information about Krak Des Chevaliers, the castle pictured here, visit Outer wall http://tinyurl.com/yzpo3v2 The outer wall of Krak de Chevaliers, where there is a detailed a 12th century castle built in Syria, is history of this formidable three to five meters thick with 13 medieval fortress that guard towers. protected the crusaders. © Imagine Publishing Ltd CATCH US HERE: WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM SkyHow 529 & 530(+1)It Works | 077 No unauthorised copying or distribution Sky HD 545 Virgin 234 & 235(+1)

076-077_HIW001 NEW.indd 77 13/10/09 18:15:59 HISTORY Mummiﬁ cation explained

The guillotine The forgotten art of was the official Some blades mummiﬁ cation were raised method of by means of a Mummies have been found in many parts of the world, but crank on the execution in side of the Egyptian mummies are the most well-known due to their France until scaffolding distinctive appearance and unique embalming process 1981

The scaffolding contained grooves to guide the blade downward

Blades could be curved or flat, but Some angled blades executioners worked best had a casket nearby to catch the The condemned’s head as it fell head was immobilised by a lunette © 2005 David Monniaux David 2005 ©

Ancient Egyptians used to bury their An extreme way of dead directly in the hot sand, which wrapping up Meet Madame dried and preserved them somewhat. warm for winter When they began using caskets, the bodies Guillotine decayed instead. Around 2600 BCE, Egyptians began experimenting with a way to preserve During the French Revolution, anatomy professor their ancestors. They learned that bodies Joseph-Ignace Guillotin proposed that capital decayed from the inside out, starting with punishment in France should be carried out by their organs. Embalmers perfected a process decapitation on people of all classes because it was the most by which the organs were removed and the humane method available. Dr Antoine Louis of the Academy of body dried prior to burial. This practice, Surgery designed the machine that came to be known as the known as mummifi cation, was used for nearly guillotine after pointing out that beheading by sword was 3,000 years. highly impractical. Mummifi cation was an expensive process The guillotine consists of a wooden frame with an angled and could take up to 70 days to complete. The blade that runs along grooves. After the executioner raises the embalmers worked in open tents, out in the weighed blade with a rope, the condemned is placed on a desert and away from the general population. platform with his or her head in a round wooden frame called After washing the body, they removed the a lunette. The executioner lets go of the rope, allowing the brain from the skull. In order to get into the blade to drop. Until abolishment of the death penalty in 1981, brain cavity, embalmers put a chisel up the France continued to use the guillotine as its method of body’s nose and hit it with a hammer to crack execution. Although still legal in a few other countries, the through the bone. Then, they inserted a long guillotine has not been used since. hook to pull out brain matter. After cutting a slit in the left side of the body, “ Beheading by sword embalmers removed the abdominal organs. They were washed, wrapped in linen and was impractical” packed in jars. Natron, a naturally occurring several stages and coated it with resin. The salt, was added as a drying agent. The body linen helped keep the body together and was rinsed with wine and fi lled with incense prevented moisture from entering. A rigid Numerous witnesses have scaffold was then fi tted over the body and a reported heads moving, speaking and natron, then covered with more natron. A DID YOU and blinking for a few seconds slanted table allowed fl uids to drip from the funeral mask attached to the face. Finally, the after decapitation. body as it dried while guards kept away completed mummy was placed into a KNOW? scavengers. Once the body was dry, container decorated to look like a person, embalmers wrapped it in linen strips in called a suhet. © Imagine Publishing Ltd 078 | How It Works WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM No unauthorised copying or distribution

078-079_HIW001.indd 78 13/10/09 19:45:48 THE One T-Rex weighed the same as… 1 X Bull elephant 10 X Horses STATS T-REX 1 X Double decker bus 2 X Small helicopters

Binocular, Small arms The T-Rex may have colour vision relative to size been one of the largest Large, meat-eating dinosaurs, muscular legs but it might not have been a predator at all Tyrannosaurus rex – from Greek and Latin words meaning ‘tyrant’, ‘lizard’ and ‘king’ – was one of the largest carnivorous dinosaurs to walk the earth. It lived about 85 to 65 million years ago, in lightly forested North American river valleys and plains. The Strong, bone- crushing jaw T-Rex stood more than four metres tall and 12 metres long, weighing in at fi ve to seven metric tons. Some Serrated, fossil evidence shows that the female T-Rex may have banana- been the larger of the sexes, although there’s no way to shaped teeth know for sure. Its banana-shaped, serrated teeth gripped fl esh and its massive jaw crushed bones as it downed more than 200 kilos of meat in one gulp. Likely prey included the Triceratops horridus and the Torosaurus, each about the size of an elephant. There have been several nearly complete How T-rex Tyrannosaurus rex skeletons found since the fi rst bones were discovered in 1894, some of which included soft tissue. From these, palaeontologists have learned that the hunted T-Rex had a lot of bird-like traits. It likely had a one-way air sac system that kept its lungs constantly full of fresh air, hollow bones to lighten its body weight, and binocular, prey colour sight. It also had a wishbone, or furcula. Some palaeontologists believe that our assumptions of scaly, lizard-like skin might not be entirely accurate and that ON THE T-Rex could’ve even had feathers. MAP Controversy about the T-Rex centres on whether it was a 5 6 predator or a scavenger, as well as whether it moved 4 slowly or quickly. Many palaeontologists believe that the Where did T-Rex live? Tyrannosaurus rex was strictly a predator, but those who Western North America, 2 7 question this assumption point to its short, weak arms fossils found in: 1 Montana with two-fi ngered hands, large legs suited for walking 2 Wyoming 1 distances and a strongly developed sense of smell. These 3 New Mexico 3 seem more in line with what we know of scavengers 4 South Dakota rather than predators. Others argue that muscle scars 5 Alberta, Canada found on skeletons show that the T-Rex had strong arms. 6 Saskatchewan, Canada They also believe that their binocular sight and hollow 7 possibly Mongolia (Tarbosaurus bataar found bones indicate a faster-moving predator. However, there is closely related, may be predators today will sometimes scavenge if fresh prey same genus) isn’t around, so T-Rex could’ve actually been both.

The physics of the Flint strikes The pan holds a against the steel small amount fl intlock pistol to create sparks of gunpowder A piece of fl int held First developed in the between steel jaws 16th Century, the flintlock The cock, or hammer, pistol was a revolution, holds the fl int in place changing the way we Pulling the trigger strikes the fl int This spring waged war and its against the steel holds the steel impressive mechanism in place until the Catalonian fl int strikes it was used by armies for fl intlock pistol, Gunpowder is kept over 200 years circa 1711 dry by the pan cover © Imagine Publishing Ltd WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM | No unauthorised copying or distribution How It Works 079

078-079_HIW001.indd 79 13/10/09 18:20:53 It’s not a family crest Coats of arms belong to individuals, not family DID YOU surnames, so searching databases may turn up many HISTORY KNOW? different coats of arms. Heraldic symbols explained

Divisions of the fi eld The shield may be sectioned into portions called divisions. Divisions may be used to marshall (combine different Heraldry explained coats of arms) or difference (distinguish one coat of arms from another). Marshalling may consist of dimidiation, Ordinary dividing two coats of arms in half and Ordinaries are basic geometric charges splicing them together in the middle. bordered by straight lines. There are Combining was also done by putting two several agreed-upon ordinaries as well coats of arms on one shield. As with as variations. ordinaries, divisions of the fi eld can also A fess is a horizontal band that runs vary widely. across the centre of the shield, taking When a division is done along an up one third to one fi fth. Bars are a ordinary, it is known as a party. Shields diminutive of the fess, with two narrow divided horizontally are party per fess. horizontal bands. When a band runs Party per pale is halved vertically, while diagonally from the upper left to the party per bend is divided diagonally lower right of the shield, it is called a from upper left to lower right. A shield bend. One variation is the bendlet, with can also be party per bend sinister, two narrow diagonal bands. If the band meaning that it is divided diagonally is vertical, it is called a pale. A pallet has from upper right to lower left. Shields two vertical bands. The saltire is an x- divided by a diagonal x are party per shaped cross, also known as St saltire, but quarterly or party per cross is Andrew’s cross, while a chevron is a v- a traditional cross division. Party per pall shaped line pointing upwards. divides the shield into a y-shape, and the Generally the lines meet at a right angle, party per chevron divides the shield but it may be diminished (with an according to a chevron. obtuse angle) or enhanced (with an acute angle). Finally, an ordinary depicting a triangle, fl at side at the top and point side down, is a pile.

Party per fess Party per pale

Fess Bend

Party per bend Party per bend sinister Saltire Pile

Party per Party per cross saltire Bars Pallets

Party per Party per pall chevron Bendlets Chevronels

080-081_HIW001.indd 80 13/10/09 18:21:28 It’s not a family crest Coats of arms belong to individuals, not family DID YOU surnames, so searching databases may turn up many KNOW? different coats of arms. Heraldry explained Although it’s often believed that coats of arms were for nobility only, people from all walks of life bore them during medieval times

Crest Heraldry is the art of creating, The crest is a symbol, often an animal or displaying and describing a the head of an animal, indicating heredity. coat of arms. These designs, also known as armorial Helm bearings or armorial achievements, are The helm or helmet joins the used by a particular person or group of crest to the shield, and its people to represent themselves in various style and colour designates ways. Coats of arms essentially combined the bearer’s rank. designations already in use on insignias, seals, emblems, banners and shields. Through different elements a coat of arms Coronet does three different things: it displays A person entitled to wear a ownership of land, identifi es the holder’s coronet typically displays family and identifi es the individual. one to identify himself in his coat of arms. It is unknown exactly when coats of arms were adopted, but most historians believe that they appeared sometime in Field the late 11th Century to early 12th Century. The fi eld is the shield’s Knights may have used coats of arms to background, either solid or identify themselves, as they would patterned, which may be otherwise not be recognisable due to their divided into sections. helmets. By the 14th Century, people of all walks of life, as well as religious communities and corporations, could Ordinaries assume and bear coats of arms. They An ordinary is a basic geometric simply had to avoid taking up coats of arms design consisting of straight Motto lines that runs from side to side The motto would typically be a saying – Supporters that belonged to another person, family or or from top to bottom. either a philosophy or a battle cry – These are animals, group within their area. historically associated with a family. people or other objects In the 16th Century, several European placed on either side of countries such as England and France the shield. Their use is began to pass laws of heraldry or the Law of often strictly governed. Arms. These laws state that coats of arms Dissecting a can only be borne if you are granted the Shields right by the State or the Crown, or if you can The actual shape of the shield could prove an ancestral right to do so. Many coat of arms change over time and varied countries today have Chief Heralds as well Each element on a coat of arms holds a according to the artist’s whim. as special courts that grant arms and rule specific meaning, and rules govern how and However, individual elements of the on confl icts. where each symbol and colour is used shield held important signifi cance. Tinctures – describing the coat of arms Tinctures are the colours and patterns used to There are fi ve colours: blue, red, purple, black and white with a black tail. Erminois and pean are formally describe, or emblazon, a coat of arms. green. Respectively their names are azure, gules, variations of ermine. Vair represents the fur of a grey Metals are the light tinctures, gold and silver. purpure, sable and vert. They are also represented and white squirrel, with ounter-vair as a variant. Offi cially known by Or and argent, the metals can be by differently oriented lines. Furs are the fi nal Potent and counter-potent are similar to vair but represented by yellow or white respectively. In the category of tincture. The furs are ermine, ermines, with a t-shaped bell. Because coats of arms were absence of any colour at all – such as in engravings – erminois, pean, vair, counter-vair, potent and used for identifi cation, it was important to adhere to Or is instead represented by small black dots on a counter-potent. Ermine is designed to depict the the Rule of Tincture. This rule decrees that metal white background. winter coat of the stoat, a small weasel, which is cannot be put next to metal, or colour next to colour.

080-081_HIW001.indd 81 13/10/09 18:21:57 Proudly Send us your associated with questions! The How it Works experts are ready and waiting to answer your questions www.sciencemuseum.org.uk so fire them off to… imagine-publishing.co.uk howitworks@

Because enquiring minds want to know…This is our first issue, so we asked Imagine that! our colleagues at Imagine Publishing to provide us with the questions they’ve always wanted answers to. Here are the sometimes disturbing results.

How It Works is proud to welcome the curators and explainers from the National Science Museum to the Braindump panel Doug Millard Senior Curator of Space Technology Doug Millard is Senior Curator of “When Space Technology at the Science were we Museum. Doug has produced many space last on the exhibitions, written articles, papers and books including a history of the Black Arrow satellite moon and launch vehicle and its engines, lectured widely and appeared on why television and radio. He is currently researching the history of the Apollo 10 command module. haven’t we Rob Skitmore Assistant Curator of Technology been back Rob Skitmore is Assistant Curator of Technology at since?” the Science Adam Smith Museum. With a background in IT, Rob has worked on exhibitions n Gene Cernan, the last human to decision to return, there has been no spanning diverse topics in the walk on the moon, stepped off its need too. Project Apollo happened What is history of technology including time dusty surface and onto his because President Kennedy and the jailbreaking an measurement, genetic modification spacecraft’s ladder in the early US Congress wanted it to; a and post-war British technology. morning of 14 December 1972. demonstration of American scientific iPhone? Rob’s interests lie in gadgets, Seventeen hours later Cernan and and technological capability to Helen Laidlaw, robotics and computer technology. Jack Schmitt, his fellow moon walker surpass that achieved by the Soviet n Apple ensures the on the Apollo 17 mission, blasted off Union with its Sputnik and cosmonaut quality of software Rik Sargent from the Sea of Serenity to be programs. Once Neil Armstrong had available for the Science Museum Explainer reunited with their crew mate Ron stepped onto the Moon in 1969 and iPhone by screening Rik is an Evans, orbiting high above in the been ‘returned safely to the Earth’, before release Explainer in the command service module. Cernan Kennedy’s objective had been through the built-in Science had said, as he climbed the ladder, achieved – the space race had been App Store. There are Museum’s that he believed it would not be too won – and the political will to maintain other applications that will run on an interactive long before people once again a multi-billion dollar manned moon iPhone but haven’t made it into the Launchpad walked on the moon. program evaporated. Will we return? App Store. There are several ways you gallery. When Rik Well, almost 40 years on and we Possibly, but whoever gives the can get round the restrictions and isn’t blowing up have yet to return. Why is this? Put decision will have to be happy with the install third-party software. The phone stuff or putting people in bubbles crudely it is because, for those huge price tag it brings with it. is then said to be jailbroken. he trains the Explainer team in the people who would have made the Doug Millard Rob Skitmore principles of science. © Imagine Publishing Ltd 084 | How It Works www.howitworksDAILY.com No unauthorised copying or distribution

084-087_HIW001.indd 84 14/10/09 14:07:11 What’s on at the Science Museum? Prove It! All the evidence you need to believe in climate change ■ Opens 22 October ■ FREE Explore the scientiﬁ c evidence The speed at which the galaxy is that human activity is behind moving is almost incomprehensible climate change.

Measuring Time “Exactly how fast is ■ From 13 October ■ FREE The newly refurbished our galaxy moving?” Measuring Time gallery displays Dan Howdle one of the fi nest collections of ■ Until the 20th Century it would have been virtually impossible to reach clocks and watches in Britain. any sensible fi gure for the speed with which our galaxy – the Milky Way – is travelling through space. Many scientists would not have presumed the Force Field – the galaxy to be moving at all. This all changed, however, when the universe ultimate multi-sensory was shown to be expanding from a huge explosion or big bang of creation, experience ■ with the Milky Way and the billions of other galaxies seemingly spreading Charges apply out across the cosmos. But how could we measure this speed of travel for See, hear, feel and even smell our Milky Way? Scientists in the Forties had predicted that there should be what it would be like to venture residual evidence of the big bang in the shape of cosmic background into space with a ride in the radiation infi ltrating the whole of space. When this was duly discovered in Science Museum’s extraordinary the Sixties it was used as the frame of reference with which to gauge the new multi-sensory experience. rate at which our own galaxy is speeding through the universe. It turns out Why is radiation Cosmos and Culture: to be some 1.3 million miles per hour (2.1 million km/hr)! so dangerous? Doug Millard how astronomy has Stuart Dixon shaped our world ■ There are many different types of ■ Until 2010 ■ FREE radiation, for example visible light is a reduces quality. Analogue TV has 625 Cosmos & Culture traces 400 What is the form of radiation. Some are more interlaced lines of which 576 contain years of telescope technologies, harmful than others. For example, difference picture information. explores our changing there are on average 15,000 Broadcasters experimented with perceptions of our place in the between hi-def radioactive particles travelling analogue HDTV but found it used too cosmos, and examines the role through your body every second! and normal much bandwidth to be viable. With astronomy has played in our With all this radiation exposure, the introduction of digital television everyday lives. telly? broadcasting, digital compression can why aren’t we all dying of cancer? Jo Cole be used to shrink the HDTV signal to a Well, it is not the amount of radiation Centenary talks ■ Recently, TV took the biggest leap in which you come into contact with, as reasonable size. ■ Talks cost £6 per person. picture quality since the arrival of every single one of these particles The output of modern TVs is To book your place call colour back in the Sixties. High has the potential to cause cancer, it’s described using numbers. For 0870 870 4771. defi nition TVs offer images up to four example, 720p means 720 just the probability of that occurring times as detailed than those by progressively scanned lines. That’s is about one in 30 quadrillion! The Age Of Wonder standard TVs. much more detail than 576i or SDTV Only approximately one per cent of ■ 2 November 2009, 19.30 – 21.00 Standard defi nition (SDTV) and even better pictures can be had fatal human cancer is caused by (doors open at 19.00) televisions display the picture in a with TVs that can display 1080i (i for these 30 trillion radioactive particles Take an in-depth look at the series of interlaced lines. Interlacing is interlaced) or even 1080p (p standing which pass through our bodies in a relationship between poets and showing alternate lines every other for progressive). typical lifetime. scientists during the Romantic frame. This saves bandwidth but Rob Skitmore Ionising radiation has the energy to era with Dr Richard Holmes, detach electrons from their author of the bestselling book associated atoms, therefore causing The Age Of Wonder. the atom to become positively charged. These charged particles are Living in a digital world referred to as radicals and are highly ■ 23 November 2009, 19.30 – 21.00 reactive due to their unstable nature. (doors open at 19.00) Radicals are very important for Dame Wendy Hall, Professor of certain processes in the body such as Computer Science at the the killing of bacteria. However, many University of Southampton, unwanted effects such as mutation explains what it will mean to be of cells can be a problem. Scientists a digital citizen in the future. have found lots of evidence to suggest that these radicals cause mutations in cells which can give rise For further information visit to cancer. the what’s on section at Rik Sargent www.sciencemuseum.org. uk/centenary. © Imagine Publishing Ltd WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM | No unauthorised copying or distribution How It Works 085

084-087_HIW001.indd 85 13/10/09 18:25:17 Because enquiring minds want to know…

Which way does water really drain at the equator? April Madden n The Coriolis effect is the name given to the inertial force experienced by liquids and gases due to the rotation of the Earth. It explains why cyclones rotate “How much force clockwise in the southern hemisphere and anticlockwise in the northern. Factors that go into deciding is generated by which way water will go down a plughole are numerous. The Coriolis effect often gets wrongly associated with this type of Niagara Falls?” drainage and the truth is that it is too small a force to have any noticeable impact. Jonathan Gordon The direction which water n Niagara Falls is comprised of two major sections separated by Goat Island. They are exceptionally wide and due to this drains at the equator is much they allow approximately 1,833.33 cubic metres of water to pass over the edge per second. more dependent on the geometry To find out how much The mass of one cubic To find the mass of F=ma of the container and the direction force this will generate metre of water is roughly 1,833.33 cubic metres of which that water was added to we can use force = mass 1,000kg. water: 1,000 x 1,833.33 = a = 9.81 metres per the container. The motion of x acceleration. 1,833,333.330kg second squared water molecules at any given instant will also affect this. Therefore, the force which this water exerts = 1,833,333.330 x 9.81 = 17,985,000 newtons every second! In other words, there is no It must be noted that this is the force which would be experienced if all of this force could be concentrated on an specific direction water will drain infinitesimal point. It is not the force you would experience per second if you stood under Niagara Falls, as you would only at the equator as the variables are represent a tiny area of that which the water is hitting. too numerous. Rik Sargent Rik Sargent

Do dogs see in and cones. Rods help us to determine range of colours which are in our visible differences in brightness and spectrum. It is thought that dogs can black and white darkness where cones are sensitive to see different shades of yellow and blue colour. We have three types of cones: as they have cones which correspond and how do we some are sensitive to red light, some to being able to detect these know? are sensitive to green and some to wavelengths of light. Whether their Natalie Johnson, blue. Dogs have more rods than yellow is the same as yours or mine is a n Contrary to popular humans and less cones. Rods need different matter. belief, dogs do have less light to work and this accounts Rik Sargent some colour vision for dogs having better night vision though this is than humans. Humans rely more on undoubtedly different cones and the differences in to the vision of wavelength are harder to detect when humans. there is less light, hence we don’t see In the human eye there very well in the dark. are two types of Dogs are said to have dichromatic HUMAN COLOUR DOG COLOUR photoreceptors called rods vision; they can only see a part of the RANGE EXAMPLE RANGE EXAMPLE © Imagine Publishing Ltd 086 | How It Works www.howitworksDAILY.com No unauthorised copying or distribution

084-087_HIW001.indd 86 14/10/09 10:24:57 What’s on at the Science Museum? Listening Post n Until 2010 n FREE Listening Post is a critically acclaimed electronic art work, the result of a collaboration between US artist and composer Ben Rubin and statistician and artist Mark Hansen.

Dan Dare and the Birth of Hi-Tech Britain n Until March 2010 n FREE Enjoy a nostalgic hour looking “Is eating fish really back at an era when Britain was at the forefront of technological good for your brain?” innovation after World War II. Ben Biggs Plasticity – 100 years of n Yes, especially really oily fish which are rich in omega-3 fatty acids called making plastics Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Omega-3 is vital n Until January 2010 n FREE for brain growth/development, functioning and production of neurotransmitter – This exhibition looks back at Leo the chemicals which relay signals between the brain cells. Baekeland’s world-changing The human body cannot easily synthesise these fatty acids and so a constant discovery and displays just some supply is very important. Just like a healthy machine your brain needs oil, and of the cornucopia of new plastics this comes in the form of omega-3. and products which followed. If freezing Rik Sargent something Science Museum IMAX So, how do whales and other 3D cinema: causes it to lose Why don’t marine mammals handle this Now showing n Entry charges apply energy, why does whales get the tremendous pressure increase? They have adapted to collapse their thoracic Fly Me To The Moon 3D (U) ice expand and bends? cavity, lungs, and alveolar sacs. Get ready to launch into this have the energy Dan Howdle Whales have very weak and flexible rib animated space spectacular and n Any scuba diver is aware of the cages. While diving, the thoracic join three curious houseflies that to burst pipes? dangers of decompression. When you cavity is collapsed so no air can get in. sneak on board the Apollo 11 Mark Kendrick dive deep in high pressure water, the When this collapse occurs, there is spaceship mission to embark on n Water is different to most other air which you breathe from your tank still air with high nitrogen levels a cosmic adventure. substances as upon turning into ice, will have the same pressure that the present, in the alveolar sac, which is Space Station 3D (U) its volume expands by roughly nine water is exerting. If this were not the the site of gas exchange. Marine Feel the force of a rocket launch, per cent causing it to become less case then the air wouldn’t come out of mammals have adapted to this by accompany astronauts on a dense. This is due to nature of the your tank. At a depth of 33 feet the air creating a cartilage build up in the space walk and experience bonds between the molecules and the pressure is twice that of atmospheric bronchioles. This allows for alveolar life in zero gravity as you blast shape of those molecules. air pressure on land. collapse and storage of the air in the off to space. High pressure nitrogen from this air Upon changing state, a substance bronchioles. This is important Also showing… needs to absorb or release a certain dissolves in your bloodstream and because nitrogen is no longer at the Dinosaurs Alive! 3D (PG) amount of energy to undergo the water in your body. Anyone who had site of gas exchange and cannot be Sea Monsters 3D (PG) phase transition. For a solid turning unscrewed a lid on a shaken fizzy absorbed into the body. Deep Sea (PG) into a liquid, this energy is needed to drink bottle knows that bubbles start Therefore the nitrogen will not fizz break the bonds in the solid therefore to fizz up due to the lessening of in their bloodstream upon ascent, n IMAX Booking Line: needs to be absorbed by the system. pressure. The same effect happens to therefore making them effectively 0870 870 4771 For a liquid turning into a solid, this the nitrogen in the bloodstream of a immune to the bends. More info: energy is released as the bonds form. diver if they ascend too quickly. Rik Sargent www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/ For 1kg of water at freezing point to imax Whales can dive deep without change into ice, it must give off Prices: £8.00 adults any worries 333.55kJ to the surroundings, just to £6.25 children/concessions undergo the phase transition. This large amount of energy is normally Visit the Museum given off as heat, which means it gives Exhibition Road, South the molecules in the atmosphere Kensington, London SW7 2DD. more kinetic energy. Open 10am – 6pm every day However, if water is contained in a except 24-26 December. steel pipe at freezing point, the energy Entry is free, but charges apply given off will be passed on to the for the IMAX 3D Cinema, molecules and bonds in the pipe, simulators and some special causing the pipe to burst. exhibitions. Rik Sargent © Imagine Publishing Ltd www.howitworksDAILY.com | No unauthorised copying or distribution How It Works 087

084-087_HIW001.indd 87 13/10/09 18:25:47 For connoisseurs of kitDVDs/Blu-ray and savants • Books of stuff • Gadgets • Videogames • Toys

Illustrated Encyclopedia Of The Universe Price: £22 ISBN: 978-1-4053-3309-2 An encyclopedia by name, fl ick to any page and a litany of facts ranging from our comparatively mundane solar system to anomalies at the far reaches of the cosmos conspire to raise the profi le of this hardback higher than a mere reference tome, while a mesmerising array of photos and illustrations will suck you in faster than a quantum singularity. Verdict: Move over Patrick Moore… Sky-Watcher 130P SupaTrak Telescope Price: £199 Cheap isn’t necessarily The Sky-watcher 130P includes Get it from: synonymous with poor quality 10mm and 25mm eyepieces, plus a x2 www.telescopeplanet.co.uwww.telescopeplanet.co.uk however. The foundation of the 130P Barlow lens for magnifi cation power THE CHANCES ARE that if you’re the is the 130mm parabolic mirror that of up x260, a fi nder scope and a average person who hasn’t dabbled provides a surprising clarity of image remote for the SupaTrak motorised War: From with astronomical pursuits beyond to the aperture for the price. Mount mount. It’s an affordable package for Ancient Egypt pointing a pair binoculars at the moon stability is questionable and though the beginner looking to move towards when it’s looking bright, then the there’s no danger of the tripod intermediate technology, though be To Iraq image you conjure in your mind when tipping over, a highly resolved focus warned, it makes no concessions for Price: £30 you think of a telescope will be the will take some time to settle even the absolute beginner. Those ISBN: 978-1-4053-4133-2 refractor variety. This scope places the after a slight knock. unfamiliar with putting a scope of this Five millennia split into seven ages of eyepiece at the opposite end of the Standard with most telescopes is type together will be completely the most prominent confl icts in objective lens: but this isn’t the the motorised tracking system that, thrown by a manual that throws history are covered here with an fundamental design of the Sky- once calibrated, allows you to press a several Sky-watchers together and admirable attention to fi ne detail and Watcher Explorer 130P. It’s a refl ector button for it to automatically track to expects you to make sense of fi gures. DK takes this volume a rank scope that uses a highly polished a pre-programmed celestial body. rudimentary instructions. But with up with the inclusion of fascinating concave mirror at the base to focus Sky-Watcher’s SupaTrak technology that in mind, it would still make an personal accounts and small the light of the image and aperture for is also capable of following moving excellent Christmas gift for any snapshots of the lives of POWs. aperture, it represents the cheapest bodies through the sky for minutes budding astronomer. Verdict: form available. on end. Verdict: © Imagine Publishing Ltd | WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM 088 How It Works No unauthorised copying or distribution

088-092_HIW001.indd 88 13/10/09 18:27:01 SAVE 30% NOW! Flip to pg 82 now for full details

Ghostbusters: The Video Game Format: 360/Wii/PS3/PC/DS/PSP Price: £44.99 Get it from: www.argos.co.uk The actual game part of a movie tie-in takes a back seat to huge marketing budgets and licensing fees so often that these days, we tar them all with the same brush. So spare Ghostbusters the same prejudice, because it’s a bit of a gem really. It has all the eye-candy with none of the slapdash concept: you play a voiceless experimental weapons technician recruited by Egon to test proton pack revisions on one of the Ghostbusters’ invariably dangerous contracts. With superb voice-acting and entertaining banter between the team, it’s an engaging interpretation especially for fans of the franchise. Verdict: Borderlands Format: PC/PS3/360 ■ Price: £34.99 Super Get it from: www.amazon.co.uk Despite being the setting of a smorgasbord of Precision Gyroscope games and fi lm, there’s something compelling about a post-apocalyptic wasteland setting that endures like the half-life of uranium-238. & Gimbals kit Borderlands capitalises on our fascination with the genre by fusing a fi rst-person shooter with strong You spin me right round baby, right round... role-playing features and stylish cel-shaded visuals. It Price: £107.64 and time-consuming manufacturing apes original games like Fallout 3, Diablo and cult movie Get it from: www.gyroscope.com process used to create it. Mad Max, but in its execution it becomes more than a sum of its parts. It AT A GLANCE, the Super Precision The Gyroscope comes with a small excels as a multiplayer game with a party of four and with upwards of 50 Gyroscope appears to be a lump of motor that spins the brass disk up to hours for the main missions alone, you’re getting value for money. metal cast into a spherical shape with an impressive 12,000RPM, which will Verdict: a smaller disk on a swivel in the centre. continue to spin for around seven Motionless, it’s no more interesting minutes once the motor has been than a paperweight but there’s a clue detached. The gimbals kit is sold Dragon Age: Origins Format: PS3/360/PC ■ Price: £49.99 in the name as to its higher purpose. separately and enables a dozen or so Get it from: www.play.com The central disk made from solid brass extra confi gurations, ideal for From role-play game stalwarts BioWare, creators of with an aluminium chassis, lathed to a laboratory or classroom experiments, Mass Effect and Knights Of The Old Republic, precise shape and set with high-grade but it also makes an original step up comes a new breed of fantasy game. Actually, this miniature bearings. The result is from a Newton’s Cradle for an low-fantasy tale of a fractured continent struggling centrifugal motion that almost seems executive toy. against a supernatural terror known as the Blight, self-perpetuating, due to the deliberate Verdict: straddles PC RPG gaming of old and its successful transition onto console. Dragon Age couples the Canadian developer’s deft touch for storyline and scripting with a seamless combination of turn-based and action-oriented combat. BioWare’s knack for the Hero’s illusion of complete freedom permeates dialogue throughout, lending Dragon Age the feel of an interactive novel between bouts of bloody combat. Steam Verdict: Forza 3 Format: Xbox 360 ■ Price: £49.99 Turbine Get it from: www.game.co.uk Forging ahead with the times, Microsoft’s proud It’s physics, but not as we know it spearhead of the racing car simulation genre has Price: £189.99 spin up to speeds of around included the almost ubiquitous time reversal Get it from: www.gyroscope.com 2,500RPM. The cost of the Hero’s mechanic that has come to the fore recently. Has THE HERO’S STEAM Turbine gets its Steam Turbine is in the precision Forza sold out? Absolutely not. The option to use it name from the Greek mathematician, manufacturing process rather than at any point is available, but forget about recording Hero of Alexandria, who is believed to the materials and you’d have to have a any legitimate lap record if you do. Plus, Forza 3 have invented the predecessor to this keen interest in the sciences to foot remains stoically hardcore, with 400+ cars and steam turbine. Operating it is simple: the best part of £200 for it, but it realistic physics modelling. And there’s the loyal Forza syringe water into the turbine then fi ll makes an interesting addition to GCSE community of course: you’re unlikely to fi nd a bigger collection of car the burner with methylated spirits physics kit. enthusiasts anywhere in the world. This is petrol-head paradise. and light the wicks for the device to Verdict: Verdict: © Imagine Publishing Ltd WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM | No unauthorised copying or distribution How It Works 089

088-092_HIW001.indd 89 13/10/09 18:27:31 For connoisseurs of kitDVDs/Blu-ray and savants • Books of stuff • Gadgets • Videogames • Toys

Seriously, what is the fastest: man or car?

to the completely crass yet entertaining exercise in pointlessness that is the demolition Clarkson Duel of a Morris Marina. Many of these The Geek Atlas Price: £19.99 Seems like a silly question, no? Yet are undoubtedly Top Gear feature Price: £22.99 Get it from: www.amazon.co.uk under strict scientifi c controls, rejects that failed the edit on the ISBN: 978-0-596-52320-6 Jeremy Clarkson conducts an drawing board due to lack of It’s not short on facts but selecting experiment pitching the motoring scientifi c merit, but even if the sight 128 museums, research facilities and muscle of the Aston Martin v12 of a £150,000 Ferrari California historical locations from around the Vantage against rugby winger Tom doesn’t make you slightly moist, it’s world (but mostly England) gives a Varndell in a 100 metre drag race. If worth an hour of your time just to somewhat narrow view of human you think the outcome is a foregone fuel your unmitigated ire for scientifi c achievements. This is an conclusion, then maybe you should Clarkson’s smug rhetoric. absorbing read but it won’t be our steel yourself for a shock. Verdict: fi rst choice of traveller’s guides Clarkson Duel is a vehicle for when embarking on our world tour. conducting experiments ranging Verdict: from those with vague rationale behind them, like whether a penny or Ford Scorpio will hit the ground fi rst from 150 feet,

Grand piano versus Marina… who’d have thought that would happen? Nikon D3000 nikon_D3000_frontdown1 Entry-level DSLR �caption: without the frills, but The ideal tool to break into the world of all the thrills of more DSLR photography The Dad Manual sophisticated models Price: £14.99 Price: £399 (body only) ISBN: 978 1 84425 443 9 Get it from: www.jessops.com Swallow your pride pops, and put FOLLOWING HUGE SUCCESS with the away your jumpsuits Fathers 4 D40, it’s about time a new model fi lled The mode dial accesses Justice: Haynes Dad Manual isn’t a its place. Enter the Nikon D3000. It’s Aperture and Shutter Priority, guide to good fatherhood, but with obvious that this camera has been Program, Manual, Auto, six instructions on how to keep your built fi rmly with the beginner in mind, scene modes and Flash off. The offspring occupied with the likes of providing the learner photographer fi nal click of the dial sets you up in pizza planes, juggling and ‘growing with all the manual freedom they need Guide mode, designed to tell you how fun things’, it will teach you the skills to get creative, while being heavily to capture the pictures you don’t know models, but it has a fantastic ‘grab to make you the object of envy at bolstered by modes and shooting how to take, which has to be the and-go’ feel about it which, after all, is your kids’ primary school. functions designed to help you fi nd D3000’s crowning glory. It doesn’t surely what photography is all about? Verdict: your feet photographically. have the elegance of the higher-end Verdict: © Imagine Publishing Ltd | WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM 090 How It Works No unauthorised copying or distribution

088-092_HIW001.indd 90 13/10/09 18:28:07 SAVE 30% NOW! Flip to pg 82 now for full details BlackBerry Curve 8520 Slimmer, lighter and cheaper: is this new BlackBerry really ahead of the curve? Price: £221.30 SIM-free The other obviously new feature is Get it from: www.ebuyer.com the rubberised coating that runs RIM HAS DECIDED to take a few along the perimeter of the device in chances with the new 8520. It’s an effort to keep the 8520’s retail and lighter and cheaper than the others maintenance costs down – and and also the most media friendly, unfortunately it’s not the only one. featuring an above average The camera, for instance, is a loudspeaker and a 3.5mm headphone fl ashless two megapixel version, jack. But top of the list here is the although picture quality was 8520’s trackpad, used in place of the reasonable and 5x digital zoom more traditional trackball proving perfectly adequate for most point- both more robust and practical while and-shoot requirements. For an entry The Brain Book still fully customisable for sensitivity. level device aimed more at Price: £25 As a result the 8520 felt light to the consumers, it’s an interesting choice, ISBN: 978 1 4053 4129 5 touch, responsive and effi cient for albeit an undeniable evolution rather An autopsy of the brain’s structure, skimming menus or vertically than revolution. function and an insight into the The Curve 8520 scrolling websites. Verdict: history of human understanding of forsakes former the brain and the frequently macabre classy chrome for a rubber jacket physician practices of the past. It’s peppered with CGI and illustrations that frequently lapse into bouts of experimentation, with you as the test Wi-Fi Body Scale subject. Food for the mind. Verdict: Keep slim with the help of your Mac Price: £129 Get it from: www.withings.com A CONSTANT REMINDER of your personal homepage at Withings. rapidly expanding waistline will com, where you can view all of bring a shudder to most, but with your measurements on a timeline the Connected Body Scale it graph. Wireless communication needn’t be that way. The device between scales, Mac and iPhone measures weight, body fat and app means that you can keep BMI and all you have to do is log on tabs on your stats at all times and to the provided web link, add your is an ideal way to help achieve your Eee Box Wi-Fi network and a password and body goals. Small, compact and cute: does the you’ll be logged in to your own Verdict: Eee Box have the brains to match its beauty? Price: Eee Box B202 £200, Eee Box B204 £320 Get it from: uk.asus.com IF YOU ARE on the market for an inexpensive and small desktop machine, take a look at the ASUS Eee Box series nettops. The low-end B202 model sports the Intel Atom N270 Apollo 11 Owners’ processor, a 160GB hard disk, a wireless adaptor and a multiformat Workshop Manual memory card slot. The high-end B204 Price: £17.99 model adds to this the ATI Radeon HD ISBN: 978 1 84425 683 9 3400 graphics card, the ability to play No idea what to do with that re-entry high-defi nition videos via an HDMI capsule sitting in your back garden? connector, and features a built-in This novel manual won’t tell you, but it Bluetooth adaptor. Both machines does chronicle the history of NASA come with Windows XP as standard, mission AS-506 to the moon and all though Linux-philes will have no the vital statistics and diagrams of the problem installing a slimline version of rocket and its technology, as we’ve the Red Hat OS. come to expect from Haynes. Verdict: Verdict: © Imagine Publishing Ltd WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM | No unauthorised copying or distribution How It Works 091

088-092_HIW001.indd 91 13/10/09 18:29:09 Unless you’re Ray Mears, a reliable multi-tool can

For connoisseurs of kit and savants of stuff make all the difference. But which is best? DVDs/Blu-ray • Books • GadgetsMulti-tools • Videogames • Toys

1 2 3 4 Leatherman Wenger Ranger Buck: 730 X-Tract Leatherman Price: £49.99 Skeletool-CX Alinghi Sailing Get it from: Surge Camo Price: £69.95 Price: £129.95 www.whitbyandco.co.uk Get it from: Knife Get it from: Price: £89.95 The Buck: 730 X-Tract boasts by far the www.whitbyandco.co.uk www.whitbyandco.co.uk Get it from: sexiest locking blade of the multi-tool Designed with economy in mind, the The popularity of the Leatherman www.whitbyandco.co.uk group test, which matches the Skeletool is, as the name suggests, a brand doesn’t come without a price There’s something reassuring about Skeletool for razor sharpness. It also compact and minimal multi-tool and this is the most expensive multi- picking up a specialist multi-tool and houses the biggest diversity of locking solution. An extremely sharp locking tool in the group. But though we’d not having the foggiest what some of devices into its stubby chassis, from a blade comes in just under the three- question why a camoufl aged chassis the instruments do. The Alinghi simple fold-out bottle opener to an inch UK legal threshold and is and black tools should cost so much provides the basics for a yachtsman to impressive spring-loaded set of pliers accessible while the tool is closed. more than the vanilla Surge (especially maintain his vessel, so in our limited and a push-button screwdriver set that Once opened, the Skeletool’s design as we’re not going to be diffusing knowledge of the subject we’ll reserve slides either way for the Phillips/fl at effi ciency becomes apparent with bombs behind enemy lines in the near judgement on the effectiveness of the head option: always handy. We’re every tool combining multiple future), Leatherman’s panache for shackle opener and marlinspike. We slightly dubious about the actual functions, including pliers with superb craftsmanship is still the most have to admit though, there’s defi nite necessity and longevity of some of standard and hard-wire cutters and prominent feature of the Surge Camo. satisfaction in the size and weight of these elaborate mechanisms, but they an ingenious carabiner that doubles For the outdoors type who wants for the Alinghi, plus the Swiss Army have a defi nite appeal to the as an effective bottle opener. It’s not nothing, this is one of the most endorsement indicates the quality you enthusiastic gadgeteer and, if for some the most aesthetically pleasing of versatile tools available – even if it does can expect: particular attention must reason whittling wood fl icks your multi-tools but it combines look like something Mike from Spaced be paid to the pliers, whose simple switch, you could look a lot less cool Leatherman’s trademark quality with would own. fold-out lever mechanism is ingenious. using an inferior blade. ergonomic practicality. Verdict: Verdict: Verdict: Verdict:

088-092_HIW001.indd 92 13/10/09 18:29:53

Our experts are waiting to INBOX answer your Feed your mind. Speak your mind Imagine Publishing Ltd questions Richmond House 33 Richmond Hill Bournemouth Dorset BH2 6EZ ☎ +44 (0) 1202 586200 Web: www.imagine-publishing.co.uk www.howitworksdaily.com Magazine team Editor in Chief Dave Harfi eld dave.harfi [email protected] ☎ 01202 586229 Art Editor Duncan Crook Senior Sub Editor Jon White Head of Design Ross Andrews Contributors Mike Anderiesz, Ben Biggs, John Brandon, Kunal Deo, Shanna Freeman, Ed Grabianowski, Tom Harris, Dan Howdle, Natalie Johnson, April Madden, Lynsey Kay Porter, Dave Roos, Phil Raby, Adam Smith, Carrie Williford Cover image BAE Systems PLC, Geoffrey Lee at Planefocus , iStockphoto Photography DK Images, iStockphoto, Magic Torch, Science Museum, Reuters, NASA, Getty All copyrights and trademarks are recognised and respected Advertising Digital or printed media packs are available on request. Head of Sales James Hanslip ☎ 01202 586423 [email protected] Account Manager Natalie Stainer ☎ 01202 586432 [email protected] International How It Works is available for licensing. Contact the International department to discuss partnership opportunities. International Manager Cathy Blackman ☎ +44 (0) 1202 586401 [email protected] Subscriptions Subscriptions Manager Lucy Nash [email protected] For all subscription enquiries ☎ 0844 826 7322 Overseas +44 1795 414779 Email: [email protected] 13 issue subscription (UK) – £41 Get in touch! 13 issue subscription (Europe) – £50 13 issue subscription (USA) – £50 If you have a question on science, technology, transport, 13 issue subscription (ROW) – £60 Circulation history, space or the environment and you’d like our experts Circulation & Export Manager Darren Pearce ☎ 01202 586200 to answer in full How It Works style then you can get in touch Production Production Director Jane Hawkins in one of the following ways… ☎ 01202 586200 Founders Managing Director Damian Butt Finance Director Steven Boyd Email Creative Director Mark Kendrick Send your questions to the address below. We can’t guarantee an answer straight away but if it’s Printing & Distribution Wyndeham Heron, The Bentall Complex, Colchester Road, a good enough question it may well find its way to our Q&A pages or might even become a feature Heybridge, Maldon, Essex, CM9 4NW in its own right! [email protected]@imagine-publishing.co.uk Distributed by Seymour Distribution, 2 East Poultry Avenue, London, EC1A 9PT ☎ 0207 429 4000 Disclaimer The publisher cannot accept responsibility for any unsolicited material Online lost or damaged in the post. All text and layout is the copyright of Imagine Publishing Ltd. Nothing in this magazine may be reproduced in whole or part The How It Works website includes a thriving forum where readers get without the written permission of the publisher. All copyrights are recognised and used specifi cally for the purpose of criticism and review. Although the together to chat, debate, squabble and answer each others’ questions. Sign magazine has endeavoured to ensure all information is correct at time of print, prices and availability may change. This magazine is fully independent up, introduce yourself and join in. www.howitworksdaily.comwww.howitworksdaily.com and not affi liated in any way with the companies mentioned herein. Snail mail If you must, mail your letter into us at the address below. Remember though, it’s more expensive and has a far bigger carbon footprint than its digital counterpart. After the sermon, send your letter to… How It Works, Imagine Publishing, 33 Richmond Hill, Bournemouth, Dorset BH2 6EZ © Imagine Publishing Ltd 2009 Next month, we’ll be replying to ISSN 2041-7322 your letters and emails right here © Imagine Publishing Ltd | 094 How It Works No unauthorised copying or distribution

094_HIW.indd 94 13/10/09 18:33:35 HOW…the perfect paper TO plane MAKE The perfect paper plane step-by-step! Construction materials: 1 x A4 sheet of paper 1 x ruler 2 x hands

The current world record for time spent aloft by a paper plane stands at 27.6 seconds and was set by American Ken Blackburn, having held and lost the record several times previously before Step 01 Step 02 Step 03 reclaiming it in 1998. In Fold a piece of A4 paper Fold the nose along the centre Locate the two vertical creases at case you’re hoping to blow lengthways and then open it out line until the tip reaches the the top of the paper, about two his record out of the sky, again. Fold the top left and right bottom of the fold. Then open up inches from the top left and right Ken hit the weights to corners into the central fold as the paper right out back to its hand corners. Pull them towards improve his throwing shown above. original shape. each other so that they meet while power and is an the central crease forms a triangle aeronautical engineer, so that folds down into the middle of he knows a thing or two the paper. The top of the paper should now form a trapezium about how to keep a plane shape. in the sky. We’ve chosen this variety of paper aeroplane, commonly known as the Cobra, because of its balance between ease of construction and propensity to stay aloft. Other models require tape and scissors, but the Cobra’s elegant design and delightfully graceful ﬂ ight makes it a favourite on Step 06 Step 07 How It Works. The Cobra Now repeat step ﬁ ve, but this time This is the tricky part: the trapezium should currently be folded down so already has a fairly fold the corners behind the that the paper forms a rectangular shape, as shown above. Take the top weighty front end, but if trapezium. You’ll need to unfold left and right corners and tuck them into the centre so that the points you want to give it a real them again and turn the paper meet in the middle – they should collapse neatly underneath the edge, try a paper clip or back over. trapezium to form step eight. two on the nose.

096-097_HIW001.indd 96 13/10/09 18:30:59 SEE THIS PLANE

BEINGVisit www. MADE paperairplanes.co.uk/ to watch a schultz.php video of this paper plane getting constructed The perfect paper plane step-by-step! TOP 5 PLANE MAKING TIPS 1 Ensure that the folds you make are accurate and they all line up as they should. 2 When creasing along a line, use the edge of a fingernail to make sure the fold is sharp. 3 If necessary, try a practice run first, just to get yourself familiar with the folds and how the shape progresses. 4 Use a ruler to line the edges up if you’re not able to do it accurately using just your hands. 5 For extra effect, why not use different coloured paper and make a whole air force to bombard your mates at work!

Step 04 Step 05 Fold the trapezium downwards Take the top left and right-hand over its bottom line so that the corners, fold them over into the paper forms a rectangular shape centre so that the points meet in TIME FOR THE again, as can be seen in the the middle and bottom of the diagram for step ﬁ ve. trapezium fold. Then unfold again. TEST FLIGHT…

Step 08 Step 09 Step 10 The shape of the plane should be Fold the wings down halfway so Your paper plane is ready to fl y! Some suggest obvious by now. Turn the paper that the edge of the wing is now that this model makes a good dart, to be held fl at over then fold it in half along the parallel with the fuselage and the and thrown hard. In practice though, we found it to be an central crease, making sure that nose remains fl at, but not shaped excellent and accurate glider: fi nd a slight rise, hold it parallel the fl aps remain on the outside. to a point. to the ground and use your arm more than your wrist to gently push it airborne.

096-097_HIW001.indd 97 13/10/09 18:31:23