Grid is a new racing game for the X-Box 360, the PS3, and the PC.  It is supposed to come out soon.  Some of the features of Grid are full damage mode, realistic physics, wide assortment of cars, and MMO racing with online connection.

To check out a demo of Grid and see the dates of release and features, try the Codemasters site.  This site is a flash site, so it may take a while to load if you have a slow connection to the net.  You can download a demo of the game, movies, or wallpaper for your computer at this site.

Grid seems to have decent graphics, good environments, and is supposed to focus more on racing than on collecting cars.  There are a lot of games that make you wade through a bunch of dog cars before you get something decent to drive.  Perhaps this game is not as malicious.  I was not able to find out the system requirements, but as the game has not been released yet, you will probably need a pretty swift computer to play this one.

The nearest thing I could find for a release date for this game is May 30, 2008.  I just found the system requirements and recommendations here.  It looks like I will not be playing this game any time soon, as my computer is not up to snuff with enough memory to run this game.

If you are looking for a new racing game that will play on your X-Box 360, PS3 or high-grade computer, check this out.  It looks like they’ve put a lot of features into Grid that should make it a fun game to play.

With modern semiconductor electronics and computer control, it should be possible to design a cool electric car.  For batteries, use the new fast-charging lithium ion cells.  Pack enough of them in the vehicle that it has the capacity to go 300 miles between charges.  The amount of batteries would of course depend on other factors, such as the total weight of the car.

The car should be light and aerodynamic.  It should have a strong tubular aluminum frame and fiberglass body panels for good economy and resistance to corrosion.  As little cooling air will be required, the car can be faired on all sides, including the bottom.  Windshield wipers that park below the hood will be necessary for reduced aerodynamic drag.  Airbags shall be incorporated for good survivability in an accident.

The most important part of an electric car is the drive system.  Permanent magnet rare earth 3-phase synchronous motors should be used for good torque and speed control.  These motors will also be the regenerative brakes on the vehicle.  A computer control system will sense the position of the accelerator pedal and adjust the current to the motor accordingly.  Speed will correspond directly to pedal displacement.  For good starting torque and efficient operation, a manual transmission, or an electronically-shifted manual transmission will be incorporated.

In operation, the car would handle like any other car except for some improvements.  To slow down you would back off on the accelerator.  This would shunt current from the motor back into the batteries.  In most situations, this would be enough to slow the vehicle.  There would of course be a friction brake pedal for emergency stops, which would be of anti-lock four wheel disk design.  The brake pads would be designed to float above the rotor for reduced rolling resistance.

The electric car would utilize computers for speed regulation, braking control, environment control, lights, navigation, and entertainment.  There would be separate microcontrollers for each function for improved reliability in case of failure.  Control computers would be of modular design for quick replacement in case of malfunction.  Batteries would also require a computer system for charge and discharge control.  Solar cells would be mounted on the external surfaces of the vehicle for slight recharge capabilities.  The vehicle would recharge from home current overnight, from a 220V circuit for improved speed and efficiency.

There is no reason that a good electric car could not be built with technology available today.  The cost would at first be high, until mass production was effected.  There is no reason such vehicles should not have long life cycles.  Aside from the batteries, which would be easily replaceable, there is really little to wear out on an electric car.  Motors are simple and have one moving part.  Electronic controls can be designed to be highly reliable.  Aluminum and fiberglass do not corrode like steel.  Glass windows might break, but could be replaced.

An electric car is not rocket science, but it can be almost as complex to implement.  Over time, an infrastructure of recharging stations with quick-recharge capability will become available to facilitate longer trips by people in electric vehicles.  No dangerous fuels will need to be carried on cars, and no wasteful heat engines will be employed in transportation.  The only thing lacking at this time is investment money in the idea and a viable marketing campaign.  The time of the electric car will come as fossil fuel reserves become depleted.

Volkswagon designed an aerodynamic diesel-engined car that gets 285 miles per gallon.  The vehicle is made of lightweight magnesium and composite parts.  It features hollowed out gears and weighs in at 640 pounds.  Here’s a post that shows a picture of the car and explains all the different features.

There is much room for improvement in fuel efficiency in vehicles.  Aerodynamic drag is only one of the factors that prevents cars from getting better mileage.  There is rolling resistance from the tires, bearing friction, drag on brakes.  Even infrastructure factors like road condition affect mileage.  Volkswagon has made a good attempt to decrease the fuel costs associated with transportation, but it will probably be a while before these techniques are used in production cars.

In chemistry, two atoms of hydrogen combine with one atom of oxygen to form one molecule of water and release some small amount of heat.  Hydrogen and oxygen can be burned this way in an internal combustion engine to generate mechanical power.  In this case, the heat released by the reaction is used to expand a gas against a moving piston.

In a hydrogen fuel cell, electrons are first stripped off the hydrogen atom and are picked up by an electrode made of a conducting metal.  The protons generated by this partial reaction migrate across an insulating membrane in the cell to another electrode, where they combine with oxygen and the returning electron to form water and release a small quantity of heat.  In the fuel cell, the electron stripped off the hydrogen travels through an external circuit and does an amount of work that is equivalent to a portion of the chemical energy released in the hydrogen-oxygen reaction.

Fuel cells can have efficiencies approaching 80%.  Overall efficiency for a fuel cell vehicle varies between 45% and 35% because of losses in the electrical circuit and electrical motors which propel the vehicle.  This compares well with the 22% overall efficiency of a diesel powered vehicle.  However, there are other problems with fuel cells which keep them from being employed in more cars.

Hydrogen is not available in an uncombined state on earth.  Hydrogen can be derived from water by electrolysis, or by reacting water with burning carbon from coal.  It can also be extracted from natural gas.  Hydrogen is a carrier of chemical energy, not a source.  All practical fuel cells use hydrogen as a fuel.  This means a system for producing and distributing hydrogen will need to be implemented before fuel cells can be used in large quantities.

Fuel cells are very expensive.  This is largely because they need expensive precious metals as catalysts.  Platinum is one of the catalysts commonly used in a fuel cell.  At present, there may be $1000 worth of platinum in each kilowatt of fuel cell capacity.  Fuel cells are also subject to freezing in cold weather, as they produce water in the reaction that powers them.  It is possible to solve some of these problems with engineering, but the overall efficiency of the system will decrease.

Fuel cells have been used to power buses in Iceland, to power boats, and in submarines.  The use of these cells has been largely experimental to see how they will adapt to a transportation application.  If fuel cells are to become a more common source of power for people, they will have to become less expensive and more reliable.  Also, a system for distributing hydrogen will have to be put into operation.  In the end, it is possible that the inefficiencies in the production and storage of hydrogen will doom the fuel cell vehicle to become nothing more than a curiosity.

Axle Corporation of Japan has designed an all-electric motorcycle that has a range of 112 miles and a top speed of 93 miles per hour.  A video of the bike can be seen here.  The motorcycle has a faired body and rear wheel that incorporates an advanced permanent magnet motor.

While Axle Corporation is not manufacturing the motorcycle version of this vehicle, they are planning on marketing a scaled-down scooter incorporating the same technology.  It should be interesting to see where this vehicle leads.  With the price of petroleum in an upward spiral, electric vehicles may become more cost effective to operate.

Here is a site which describes and has a photo of an electric quadricycle.  This vehicle looks like a little green automobile, has windshield wipers, and headlights.  It is supposed to have a range of 150 km on a charge and can reach speeds of 60 km/hr.

The electric bicycle seems to be a big idea in China.  I don’t think I have seen too many American made electric bikes.  There are a few places like Harbor Freight where you can get small electric bikes with limited range.  Looking over the zipped catalog I got for the Jin Feichi Electric Bicycle Company, I could see they make many different models.  The bicycle has always been a major form of transportation in China.  It is probably no surprise that the electric bicycle would also be popular there.

I haven’t found any distributors for this quadricycle yet, so I have no idea what the price is.  The factory has a minimum order of 50 units, and I imagine shipping on a large item like this from China has got to be pretty steep.  I have no idea whether these things would be street legal in America.  I’m guessing the price has got to be less than the $32,000 minimum on a Twike, as in the last post.  It might be interesting to see about opening a dealership for these things now that gas is pushing four dollars a gallon.  The quadricycle has a four passenger capacity, which is twice as many people as you can cram into a Twike.

It’s always interesting to see what different companies are developing in different parts of the world.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see something like this becoming popular in America in the coming years.  There are many advances that have been made in electric vehicle propulsion in the last few years.  Perhaps the time has come for a different modality in transportation.

Twike is a pedal-electric hybrid vehicle.  It is a three-wheeler and has a top speed of 53 mph.  According to the manufacturer it has a range of 90 miles between charges without human assist.  With two people pedaling it is supposed to have a range of 135 miles.

The Twike is not cheap.  At the moment it is sold out in North America.  A basic Twike sells for $32,000.  The luxury version can be a lot more expensive.  The website for Twike is at Twike.com.

I saw a video of this little vehicle in operation on the net.  It seems to be quite effective at zipping around the city environment.  Although it is only a two seater, I imagine this vehicle would be quite good as a commuter car.  It is an enclosed design with windshield wiper and running lights, so it should be relatively safe.  An accident with even a small car would be likely to destroy this vehicle, so some caution should be used in driving it.

I can imagine that small, efficient vehicles for the daily commute will be more prevalent in the future.  It makes no sense to spend thousands of dollars a year on gasoline if this is not necessary.  When the price of fuel keeps going up, I imagine more people will be inclined to give these alternative vehicles a try.  For now, if you want a Twike, it is sold out.  I guess a lot of people have already decided that even though it is a bit expensive, it is better to drive an efficient vehicle than a gas guzzler.

YouTube has an interesting video about a pedal-powered car being pulled over in Toronto. I tried to put in a link to it but it didn’t work.  Google “pedal car” and it shows up on the first page of search results.  It seems some artist built this car with four bicycle pedals for people riding inside to power it. The car is heavy and only gets up to a slow speed. There is a lot of rolling resistance in an automobile. A human can put out about 150 watts of power for a sustained time, so this car is about 600 watts power, or less than a horsepower, which is 746 watts.

I think it is interesting that somebody would attempt to convert a full-sized car to pedal power. The idea of a pedal car is not entirely bad. For a practical model, it would have to be much lighter with a lot less rolling resistance and drag. The advantages are it would be more stable than a bike, and it would provide an enclosure to keep out the weather. It would be slower than a gasoline powered automobile, but it would provide good exercise for a driver.

The only reason they don’t make pedal cars is that there is nowhere to drive them. A pedal car would not be able to share a lane with a motor vehicle. Perhaps when the price of gas goes to $100 a gallon people will rethink the idea of transportation and convert the roads to a more efficient means of travel. You would not want to go hundreds of miles in a pedal car, but it would beat bouncing over the roads with no suspension and in the rain on a bike.

There are a few different ways to make art with string.  In the first method, you take a board.  You cover the board with some black cloth or paint it black or white, depending on the look you want.  It is best to use plywood or particle board for this as it will not split with pounding many nails in it.

Once your board is covered with cloth or painted, you will lay out a pattern for the nails.  These are usually arranged as straight lines in some geometric pattern.  Squares and crossed lines are common, but so are line segments at various angles.  Circular arrangements are also seen often.  When you get a pattern for the nails worked out, pound the nails into the board to the same exact depth.  This can be done by cutting a small notch in a board that is the same thickness as the height of the nails you want to put in your board.  Set the notch over the mark for your nail, then lay the nail into the notch and drive it in with a hammer until it is flush with the board.  Now, every nail will be set to the same depth.

After you have nails in your board driven in your pattern, it is time to start stringing the art.  Tie off the end of your string to one of the nails at the start of your pattern.  Then, go from nail to nail, winding the string or thread around the head of the nail so it will be secure.  Run your whole pattern with the color string you are working with, then tie off the end of the string to the last nail.  It is a good idea to use a small paintbrush and some nail polish or shellac to secure the string to the nail so it will not untie or slip.

Continue making patterns with different colored thread.  Sometimes a pattern will be built in layers.  There may be different levels of thread or string wound on each nail.  Come up with an interesting design and your art will look unique.  Once you have completed your art it should be framed and perhaps glazed over with glass to keep dust off of the string.

Another way to make string art is called curve stitching.  In this method you start with a piece of illustration board.  If you want a black background, paint the board with black ink.  Once the ink is dry, lay out your pattern with a pencil.  Take your illustration board and a nail and a hammer and a backing board and punch holes with the nail at each spot that is marked on your board.  Then, take a needle and thread it with the color you want to use in your design.  Thread the string or thread through the holes in the board to form your design.  Tie off the beginning and end of your thread as before, but this time form a loop between the first hole you go through and the second.  Alternatively you could glue and tape down the beginning and end of each length of string.

String art forms very interesting patterns.  Mathematicians call these patterns bezier curves or envelope curves.  You do not have to solve the differential equations that describe these curves to make them with string art.  The pattern you follow with your string does all the hard work.  String art can be very interesting to look at, and makes a nice decoration when hung on a wall.

Before the transistor, there were vacuum tubes.  There are still vacuum tubes used in some applications, like good guitar amps.  Aside from that, the transistor rules electronics.

Vacuum tubes were big, made out of glass or metal, and sucked lots of power to heat the filament.  Tiny chips of germanium and later, silicon changed all this.  In a transistor, a small current is used to control a larger current.  Thus, the transistor is an amplifier.  Many useful circuits can be made from transistors.  Transistors are small and efficient.

In the late 1950s it was discovered how to build entire circuits on a chip.  The integrated circuit is made out of transistors, resistors, and capacitors, all built on the same material structure.  The integrated circuit can perform a complex circuit function with a minimum of interconnections.  The integrated circuit is for the most part made out of individual transistors.

None of our common modern electronic devices would be possible without the transistor.  Computers would fill whole buildings and would take a powerplant to do simple things like calculations.  The old tube circuits were notoriously unreliable and required high voltages and power to operate.  With transistors and integrated circuits, a radio transceiver  with the power of a computer can fit into a tiny pocket and serve as a cell phone.  Transistors are perhaps the most important invention man has ever devised.  Almost every electronic device contains thousands of individual transistors.  There are billions of transistors in the average computer.

What would our world be like without affordable computers, phones, entertainment devices and medical equipment?  It would indeed be a different place.  There would be no Internet without the simple transistor.  We would have no useful satellites.  People would not have the access to easy communication that they have today.  The transistor has changed the world, and offers more interesting possibilities for the future.