You searched for: “cars”
car (s) (noun), cars
1. An automobile or a four-wheeled motor vehicle; usually propelled by an internal combustion engine.
2. A vehicle running on rails; such as, a streetcar or a railroad car.
3. The part of an elevator, balloon, modern airship, etc., that carries the passengers, freight, etc.
4. Especially in Britain, any wheeled vehicle; such as, a farm cart or wagon (which is closer to its Latin origin).
5. A chariot, as of war or triumph.
6. From earlier times: a cart or a carriage.
7. Etymology: from Latin carrum, carrus; plural, carra; originally "a two-wheeled Celtic war chariot".
This entry is located in the following unit: carr-, carri-; car-, cari- (page 1)
cars
A fleet of cars.
This entry is located in the following unit: Venereal Terms: Names of Groups (page 4)
Lithium for battery-driven cars
(automakers need lithium for the next generation of cars running on batteries charged by electricity)
Word Entries containing the term: “cars”
An autobiography is a history of cars.
This entry is located in the following unit: paraprosdokian, paraprosdokia (page 2)
electric car, electromobile (s) (noun); electric cars, electromobiles (pl)
1. A passenger vehicle that is powered exclusively by an electrochemical power source, or partially so powered; such as, a hybrid electric car.
2. An automobile powered by a motor supplied with electric current from a storage battery or other device; such as, a fuel cell.

Electric cars were popular between the late 1890's and 1910 and interest in them has revived with new methods of generating electrical power.

This entry is located in the following units: electro-, electr-, electri- (page 5) mobil-, mobi- (page 1)
Automobile or Related Car Terms
(scientific terms about the use of vehicles including cars, trucks, or any automobiles including their technology as related to transportation)
Word Entries at Get Words containing the term: “cars”
crumple zones of cars
Crumple zones exist at the front and the back of a car and these areas are deliberately designed to crumple up like an accordion when a collision takes place.

Such actions slow the car's deceleration and dramatically reduces the impact forces. Just three feet (one meter) of crumpled car can cut the forces reaching the passengers by 90 percent.

This entry is located in the following unit: Automobile or Related Car Terms (page 2)
fuel-cell cars
A fuel cell is a type of battery which converts the chemicals hydrogen and oxygen into water, and in the process produces electricity.

Hydrogen is pumped into the cell from an on board tank, while the oxygen is taken from the air outside. Together they form steam, which is emitted through the car's exhaust.

Some car makers are putting a lot of time and effort into developing hybrid cars where the electric motors are powered by fuel cells.

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, but it is highly flammable; that is, it bursts into flames easily and as the lightest gas, it just floats away. Even so, it can be extracted from water, fossil fuels, and other substances.

The problem is to compress, or squeeze, hydrogen into a tank small enough to fit in a car. The tank can be topped off with hydrogen at refueling stations, but there are very few of such places available at this time.

The advantages and disadvantages of fuel-cell cars

    In theory, electric-fuel-cell cars could be the answer for clean cars of the future:

  • Fuel cells are reliable and make little noise since they have no moving parts.
  • Water is the only thing emitted through the exhaust.

    • There are a number of challenges still to be overcome:

  • Increasing the amount of electricity produced so the car has more power.
  • Compressing and safely storing enough hydrogen into a small tank for hundreds of miles of driving.
  • Making affordable cars which are now very expensive in that a fuel-cell system costs ten times more to make than a conventional engine.
—Compiled from excerpts found at
Car Science, An Under-the-Hood, Behind-the-Dash Look at How Cars Work
by Richard Hammond; DK Publishing; New York; 2008; pages 84-85.
This entry is located in the following unit: Automobile or Related Car Terms (page 3)