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97-633: A sled , skid , sledge , or sleigh is a land vehicle that slides across a surface, usually of ice or snow . It is built with either a smooth underside or a separate body supported by two or more smooth, relatively narrow, longitudinal runners similar in principle to skis . This reduces the amount of friction , which helps to carry heavy loads. Some designs are used to transport passengers or cargo across relatively level ground. Others are designed to go downhill for recreation, particularly by children, or competition (compare cross-country skiing with its downhill cousin ). Shades of meaning differentiating
194-596: A south-pointing chariot , a vehicle with an early form of guidance system. The stagecoach , a four-wheeled vehicle drawn by horses, originated in 13th century England. Railways began reappearing in Europe after the Dark Ages . The earliest known record of a railway in Europe from this period is a stained-glass window in the Minster of Freiburg im Breisgau dating from around 1350. In 1515, Cardinal Matthäus Lang wrote
291-513: A wagonway , a predecessor of the railway, found so far was the 6 to 8.5 km (4 to 5 mi) long Diolkos wagonway, which transported boats across the Isthmus of Corinth in Greece since around 600 BC. Wheeled vehicles pulled by men and animals ran in grooves in limestone , which provided the track element, preventing the wagons from leaving the intended route. In 200 CE, Ma Jun built
388-433: A boost from high altitude winds. Compressed gas is currently an experimental method of storing energy. In this case, compressed gas is simply stored in a tank and released when necessary. Like elastics, they have hysteresis losses when gas heats up during compression. Gravitational potential energy is a form of energy used in gliders, skis, bobsleds and numerous other vehicles that go down hill. Regenerative braking
485-597: A description of the Reisszug , a funicular railway at the Hohensalzburg Fortress in Austria. The line originally used wooden rails and a hemp haulage rope and was operated by human or animal power, through a treadwheel . 1769: Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot is often credited with building the first self-propelled mechanical vehicle or automobile in 1769. In Russia, in the 1780s, Ivan Kulibin developed
582-853: A fact that the New York Times denied in error . Rocket engines can be particularly simple, sometimes consisting of nothing more than a catalyst, as in the case of a hydrogen peroxide rocket. This makes them an attractive option for vehicles such as jet packs. Despite their simplicity, rocket engines are often dangerous and susceptible to explosions. The fuel they run off may be flammable, poisonous, corrosive or cryogenic. They also suffer from poor efficiency. For these reasons, rocket engines are only used when absolutely necessary. Electric motors are used in electric vehicles such as electric bicycles , electric scooters, small boats, subways, trains , trolleybuses , trams and experimental aircraft . Electric motors can be very efficient: over 90% efficiency
679-490: A few miles apart without radio contact, yet the crews managed to reunite. The N-24 was damaged. Amundsen and his crew worked for more than three weeks to clean up an airstrip to take off from ice. They shovelled 600 tons of ice while consuming only one pound (450 g) of daily food rations. In the end, the six crew members were packed into the N-25. In a remarkable feat, Riiser-Larsen took off, and they barely became airborne over
776-671: A flight with an actual ornithopter on July 31, 2010. Paddle wheels are used on some older watercraft and their reconstructions. These ships were known as paddle steamers . Because paddle wheels simply push against the water, their design and construction is very simple. The oldest such ship in scheduled service is the Skibladner . Many pedalo boats also use paddle wheels for propulsion. Screw-propelled vehicles are propelled by auger -like cylinders fitted with helical flanges. Because they can produce thrust on both land and water, they are commonly used on all-terrain vehicles. The ZiL-2906
873-423: A gas station. Fuel cells are similar to batteries in that they convert from chemical to electrical energy, but have their own advantages and disadvantages. Electrified rails and overhead cables are a common source of electrical energy on subways, railways, trams, and trolleybuses. Solar energy is a more modern development, and several solar vehicles have been successfully built and tested, including Helios ,
970-468: A go around is needed. Parachutes are used to slow down vehicles travelling very fast. Parachutes have been used in land, air and space vehicles such as the ThrustSSC , Eurofighter Typhoon and Apollo Command Module . Some older Soviet passenger jets had braking parachutes for emergency landings. Boats use similar devices called sea anchors to maintain stability in rough seas. To further increase
1067-632: A half years abroad. Gjøa was returned to Norway in 1972. After a 45-day trip from San Francisco on a bulk carrier, she was placed on land outside the Fram Museum in Oslo, where she is now situated inside her own building at the museum. Amundsen next planned to take an expedition to the North Pole and explore the Arctic Basin . Finding it difficult to raise funds, when he heard in 1909 that
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#17327800072371164-515: A hot exhaust. Trains using turbines are called gas turbine-electric locomotives . Examples of surface vehicles using turbines are M1 Abrams , MTT Turbine SUPERBIKE and the Millennium . Pulse jet engines are similar in many ways to turbojets but have almost no moving parts. For this reason, they were very appealing to vehicle designers in the past; however, their noise, heat, and inefficiency have led to their abandonment. A historical example of
1261-543: A human-pedalled, three-wheeled carriage with modern features such as a flywheel , brake , gear box and bearings ; however, it was not developed further. In 1783, the Montgolfier brothers developed the first balloon vehicle. In 1801, Richard Trevithick built and demonstrated his Puffing Devil road locomotive, which many believe was the first demonstration of a steam-powered road vehicle, though it could not maintain sufficient steam pressure for long periods and
1358-598: A mission by Amundsen. The scientific materials were later retrieved in 1922 by Russian scientist Nikolay Urvantsev from where they had been abandoned on the shores of the Kara Sea . The 1923 attempt to fly over the Pole failed. Amundsen and Oskar Omdal , of the Royal Norwegian Navy , tried to fly from Wainwright, Alaska , to Spitsbergen across the North Pole. When their aircraft was damaged, they abandoned
1455-582: A polar explorer as first mate on Adrien de Gerlache 's Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897–1899. From 1903 to 1906, he led the first expedition to successfully traverse the Northwest Passage on the sloop Gjøa . In 1909, Amundsen began planning for a South Pole expedition . He left Norway in June 1910 on the ship Fram and reached Antarctica in January 1911. His party established a camp at
1552-546: A simple primary task, an understanding of dogs and their handling, and the effective use of skis. In contrast to the misfortunes of Scott's team, Amundsen's trek proved relatively smooth and uneventful. In 1918, an expedition Amundsen began with a new ship, Maud , lasted until 1925. Maud was carefully navigated through the ice west to east through the Northeast Passage . With him on this expedition were Oscar Wisting and Helmer Hanssen, both of whom had been part of
1649-597: A solar-powered aircraft. Nuclear power is a more exclusive form of energy storage, currently limited to large ships and submarines, mostly military. Nuclear energy can be released by a nuclear reactor , nuclear battery , or repeatedly detonating nuclear bombs . There have been two experiments with nuclear-powered aircraft, the Tupolev Tu-119 and the Convair X-6 . Mechanical strain is another method of storing energy, whereby an elastic band or metal spring
1746-407: A special arrangement in which all four main wheels can be angled. Skids can also be used to steer by angling them, as in the case of a snowmobile . Ships, boats, submarines, dirigibles and aeroplanes usually have a rudder for steering. On an airplane, ailerons are used to bank the airplane for directional control, sometimes assisted by the rudder. With no power applied, most vehicles come to
1843-967: A specific sport: Land vehicle A vehicle (from Latin vehiculum ) is a machine designed for self- propulsion , usually to transport people, cargo , or both. The term "vehicle" typically refers to land vehicles such as human-powered vehicles (e.g. bicycles , tricycles , velomobiles ), animal-powered transports (e.g. horse-drawn carriages / wagons , ox carts , dog sleds ), motor vehicles (e.g. motorcycles , cars , trucks , buses , mobility scooters ) and railed vehicles ( trains , trams and monorails ), but more broadly also includes cable transport ( cable cars and elevators ), watercraft ( ships , boats and underwater vehicles ), amphibious vehicles (e.g. screw-propelled vehicles , hovercraft , seaplanes ), aircraft ( airplanes , helicopters , gliders and aerostats ) and space vehicles ( spacecraft , spaceplanes and launch vehicles ). This article primarily concerns
1940-411: A stop due to friction . But it is often required to stop a vehicle faster than by friction alone, so almost all vehicles are equipped with a braking system. Wheeled vehicles are typically equipped with friction brakes, which use the friction between brake pads (stators) and brake rotors to slow the vehicle. Many airplanes have high-performance versions of the same system in their landing gear for use on
2037-555: A team of five made up of Olav Bjaaland , Helmer Hanssen , Sverre Hassel , Oscar Wisting and Amundsen, departed base camp on 19 October. They took four sledges and 52 dogs. Using a route along the previously unknown Axel Heiberg Glacier , they arrived at the edge of the Polar Plateau on 21 November after a four-day climb. The team and 16 dogs arrived at the pole on 14 December, a month before Scott's group. Amundsen named their South Pole camp Polheim . Amundsen renamed
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#17327800072372134-489: A vacuum, which limits their use to spaceborne vehicles. Ion thrusters run primarily off electricity, but they also need a propellant such as caesium , or, more recently xenon . Ion thrusters can achieve extremely high speeds and use little propellant; however, they are power-hungry. The mechanical energy that motors and engines produce must be converted to work by wheels, propellers, nozzles, or similar means. Aside from converting mechanical energy into motion, wheels allow
2231-422: A variety of conditions. One of the difficulties met when using gas motors is the cooling effect of expanding gas. These engines are limited by how quickly they absorb heat from their surroundings. The cooling effect can, however, double as air conditioning. Compressed gas motors also lose effectiveness with falling gas pressure. Ion thrusters are used on some satellites and spacecraft. They are only effective in
2328-528: A vehicle to roll along a surface and, with the exception of railed vehicles, to be steered. Wheels are ancient technology, with specimens being discovered from over 5000 years ago. Wheels are used in a plethora of vehicles, including motor vehicles, armoured personnel carriers , amphibious vehicles, airplanes, trains, skateboards and wheelbarrows. Nozzles are used in conjunction with almost all reaction engines. Vehicles using nozzles include jet aircraft, rockets, and personal watercraft . While most nozzles take
2425-400: A vehicle's steering through the gyroscopic effect . They have been used experimentally in gyrobuses . Wind energy is used by sailboats and land yachts as the primary source of energy. It is very cheap and fairly easy to use, the main issues being dependence on weather and upwind performance. Balloons also rely on the wind to move horizontally. Aircraft flying in the jet stream may get
2522-405: Is fuel . External combustion engines can use almost anything that burns as fuel, whilst internal combustion engines and rocket engines are designed to burn a specific fuel, typically gasoline, diesel or ethanol . Food is the fuel used to power non-motor vehicles such as cycles, rickshaws and other pedestrian-controlled vehicles. Another common medium for storing energy is batteries , which have
2619-519: Is an example of capturing kinetic energy where the brakes of a vehicle are augmented with a generator or other means of extracting energy. When needed, the energy is taken from the source and consumed by one or more motors or engines. Sometimes there is an intermediate medium, such as the batteries of a diesel submarine. Most motor vehicles have internal combustion engines . They are fairly cheap, easy to maintain, reliable, safe and small. Since these engines burn fuel, they have long ranges but pollute
2716-478: Is common. Electric motors can also be built to be powerful, reliable, low-maintenance and of any size. Electric motors can deliver a range of speeds and torques without necessarily using a gearbox (although it may be more economical to use one). Electric motors are limited in their use chiefly by the difficulty of supplying electricity. Compressed gas motors have been used on some vehicles experimentally. They are simple, efficient, safe, cheap, reliable and operate in
2813-414: Is deformed and releases energy as it is allowed to return to its ground state. Systems employing elastic materials suffer from hysteresis , and metal springs are too dense to be useful in many cases. Flywheels store energy in a spinning mass. Because a light and fast rotor is energetically favorable, flywheels can pose a significant safety hazard. Moreover, flywheels leak energy fairly quickly and affect
2910-438: Is desirable and important in supplying traction to facilitate motion on land. Most land vehicles rely on friction for accelerating, decelerating and changing direction. Sudden reductions in traction can cause loss of control and accidents. Most vehicles, with the notable exception of railed vehicles, have at least one steering mechanism. Wheeled vehicles steer by angling their front or rear wheels. The B-52 Stratofortress has
3007-466: Is limited snow, sleigh and sledge are given equal preference in local parlance. The word sled comes from Middle English sledde , which itself has the origins in Middle Dutch word slēde , meaning 'sliding' or 'slider'. The same word shares common ancestry with both sleigh and sledge . The word sleigh , on the other hand, is an anglicized form of the modern Dutch word slee and
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3104-628: Is little evidence, it was said that Amundsen had a brief affair with his landlady in Antwerp —until he came home and found her dead after an apparent suicide. His biographer Tor Bomann-Larsen also suggests a romantic relationship between Amundsen and Sigrid Castberg, wife of the lawyer Leif Castberg from Gjøvik , in the years before the South Pole expedition, a relationship Amundsen broke off after that expedition in favour of Kiss Bennett. Author Julian Sancton noted that in his younger years, Amundsen
3201-524: Is never empty , a propeller could be made to work in space. Similarly to propeller vehicles, some vehicles use wings for propulsion. Sailboats and sailplanes are propelled by the forward component of lift generated by their sails/wings. Ornithopters also produce thrust aerodynamically. Ornithopters with large rounded leading edges produce lift by leading-edge suction forces. Research at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies lead to
3298-591: Is restricted to tip jet helicopters and high speed aircraft such as the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird . Rocket engines are primarily used on rockets, rocket sleds and experimental aircraft. Rocket engines are extremely powerful. The heaviest vehicle ever to leave the ground, the Saturn V rocket, was powered by five F-1 rocket engines generating a combined 180 million horsepower (134.2 gigawatt). Rocket engines also have no need to "push off" anything,
3395-505: Is the most-produced helicopter. The top commercial jet airliner is the Boeing 737 , at about 10,000 in 2018. At around 14,000 for both, the most produced trams are the KTM-5 and Tatra T3 . The most common trolleybus is ZiU-9 . Locomotion consists of a means that allows displacement with little opposition, a power source to provide the required kinetic energy and a means to control
3492-575: The Antarctic Plateau as King Haakon VII's Plateau. They left a small tent and letter stating their accomplishment, in case they did not return safely to Framheim. The team arrived at Framheim on 25 January 1912, with 11 surviving dogs. They made their way off the continent and to Hobart , Australia, where Amundsen publicly announced his success on 7 March 1912. He telegraphed news to backers. Amundsen's expedition benefited from his careful preparation, good equipment, appropriate clothing,
3589-747: The Bay of Whales and a series of supply depots on the Barrier (now known as the Ross Ice Shelf ) before setting out for the pole in October. The party of five, led by Amundsen, became the first to reach the South Pole on 14 December 1911. Following a failed attempt in 1918 to reach the North Pole by traversing the Northeast Passage on the ship Maud , Amundsen began planning for an aerial expedition instead. On 12 May 1926, Amundsen and 15 other men in
3686-532: The Fram – and he did so off Cape Chelyuskin . But, the ice became so thick that the ship was unable to break free, although it was designed for such a journey in heavy ice. In September 1919, the crew got the ship loose from the ice, but it froze again after eleven days somewhere between the New Siberian Islands and Wrangel Island . During this time, Amundsen suffered a broken arm and
3783-650: The Philippines , a traditional carabao -drawn sled is known as the kangga . It is still used in place of wheeled carts over rough or muddy terrain, while also having the advantage of traveling over rice paddy dikes without destroying them. Some of these originally used draft animals but are now more likely to be pulled by an engine (snowmobile or tractor). Some use human power. Today some people use kites to tow exploration sleds. There are several types of recreational sleds designed for sliding down snowy hills ( sledding ): A few types of sleds are used only for
3880-551: The Americans Frederick Cook and Robert Peary had claimed to reach the North Pole as a result of two different expeditions, he decided to reroute to Antarctica. He was not clear about his intentions, and Robert F. Scott and the Norwegian supporters felt misled. Scott was planning his own expedition to the South Pole that year. Using the ship Fram , earlier used by Fridtjof Nansen , Amundsen left Oslo for
3977-711: The Amundsen flight. Amundsen was a lifelong bachelor, but he had a long-time relationship with the Norwegian-born Kristine Elisabeth ('Kiss') Bennett, the wife of an Englishman, Charles Peto Bennett . He met her in London in 1907 and they remained close for many years; Amundsen kept the relationship a secret from everyone outside his intimate circle. Later, he became engaged to Bess Magids, an American divorcée whom he had met in Alaska. Though there
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4074-616: The Moon was named after him; the rim of the crater is being considered by NASA as a potential landing location for their Artemis III lunar lander. Built in 1929 and opened in 1930, Amundsen High School opened its doors in Chicago's Ravenswood neighborhood. The 1969 film The Red Tent tells the story of the Nobile expedition and Amundsen's disappearance. Sean Connery plays Amundsen. A book Scott and Amundsen , by Roland Huntford ,
4171-649: The North Pole, when they floated over it in the Norge in 1926. If the Norge expedition was the first to the North Pole, Amundsen and Oscar Wisting were the first men to have reached both geographical poles, by ground or by air. Amundsen disappeared on 18 June 1928 while flying on a rescue mission in the Arctic. His team included Norwegian pilot Leif Dietrichson , French pilot René Guilbaud , and three more Frenchmen. They were seeking missing members of Nobile's crew, whose new airship Italia had crashed while returning from
4268-514: The North Pole. Amundsen's French Latham 47 flying boat never returned . Later, a wing-float and bottom gasoline tank from the plane, which had been adapted as a replacement wing-float, were found near the Tromsø coast. It is assumed that the plane crashed in the Barents Sea , and that Amundsen and his crew were killed in the wreck, or died shortly afterward. The search for Amundsen and team
4365-410: The North Pole. It was finally seized by Amundsen's creditors as collateral for his mounting debt. Although they were unable to reach the North Pole, the scientific results of the expedition, mainly the work of Sverdrup, have proven to be of considerable value. Much of the carefully collected scientific data was lost during the ill-fated journey of Peter Tessem and Paul Knutsen , two crew members sent on
4462-863: The advantages of being responsive, useful in a wide range of power levels, environmentally friendly, efficient, simple to install, and easy to maintain. Batteries also facilitate the use of electric motors, which have their own advantages. On the other hand, batteries have low energy densities, short service life, poor performance at extreme temperatures, long charging times, and difficulties with disposal (although they can usually be recycled). Like fuel, batteries store chemical energy and can cause burns and poisoning in event of an accident. Batteries also lose effectiveness with time. The issue of charge time can be resolved by swapping discharged batteries with charged ones; however, this incurs additional hardware costs and may be impractical for larger batteries. Moreover, there must be standard batteries for battery swapping to work at
4559-458: The air, causing harmful acid rain . While intermittent internal combustion engines were once the primary means of aircraft propulsion, they have been largely superseded by continuous internal combustion engines, such as gas turbines . Turbine engines are light and, particularly when used on aircraft, efficient. On the other hand, they cost more and require careful maintenance. They can also be damaged by ingesting foreign objects, and they produce
4656-417: The aircraft when retracted. Reverse thrust is also used in many aeroplane engines. Propeller aircraft achieve reverse thrust by reversing the pitch of the propellers, while jet aircraft do so by redirecting their engine exhausts forward. On aircraft carriers , arresting gears are used to stop an aircraft. Pilots may even apply full forward throttle on touchdown, in case the arresting gear does not catch and
4753-527: The airship Norge became the first explorers verified to have reached the North Pole. Amundsen disappeared in June 1928 while flying on a rescue mission for the airship Italia in the Arctic. The search for his remains, which have not been found, was called off that September. Amundsen was born into a family of Norwegian shipowners and captains in Borge , between the towns Fredrikstad and Sarpsborg . His parents were Jens Amundsen and Hanna Sahlqvist. Roald
4850-508: The construction of their public works, in particular for the transportation of heavy obelisks over sand. Sleds and sledges were found in the Oseberg "Viking" ship excavation. The sledge was also highly prized, because – unlike wheeled vehicles – it was exempt from tolls. Until the late 19th century, a closed winter sled, or vozok , provided a high-speed means of transport through the snow-covered plains of European Russia and Siberia. It
4947-493: The cracking ice. They returned triumphant when everyone thought they had been lost forever. In 1926, Amundsen and 15 other men (including Ellsworth, Riiser-Larsen, Oscar Wisting, and the Italian air crew led by aeronautical engineer Umberto Nobile ) made the first crossing of the Arctic in the airship Norge , designed by Nobile. They left Spitsbergen on 11 May 1926, flew over the North Pole on 12 May, and landed in Alaska
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#17327800072375044-504: The crew fresh meat. In cases where citrus fruits are lacking, raw meat – particularly offal – from animals often contains enough vitamin C to prevent scurvy. In 1903, Amundsen led the first expedition to traverse Canada's Northwest Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. He planned a small expedition of six men in a 45-ton fishing vessel, Gjøa , to have flexibility. His ship had relatively shallow draft. His technique
5141-412: The crew learned from the local Netsilik Inuit about Arctic survival skills, which he found invaluable in his later expedition to the South Pole. For example, he learned to use sled dogs for the transport of goods and to wear animal skins in lieu of heavy, woolen parkas, which could not keep out the cold when wet. Leaving Gjoa Haven, he sailed west and passed Cambridge Bay , which had been reached from
5238-413: The dogs and fed them to the remaining dogs, as well as eating some himself. A small group, including Hjalmar Johansen , Kristian Prestrud and Jørgen Stubberud , set out on 8 September, but had to abandon their trek due to extreme temperatures. The painful retreat caused a quarrel within the group, and Amundsen sent Johansen and the other two men to explore King Edward VII Land . A second attempt, with
5335-410: The environment. A related engine is the external combustion engine . An example of this is the steam engine. Aside from fuel, steam engines also need water, making them impractical for some purposes. Steam engines also need time to warm up, whereas IC engines can usually run right after being started, although this may not be recommended in cold conditions. Steam engines burning coal release sulfur into
5432-601: The expedition sailed south, reaching Seattle , in the American Pacific Northwest in 1921 for repairs. Amundsen returned to Norway, needing to put his finances in order. He took with him two young indigenous girls, a four-year-old he adopted, Kakonita, and her companion Camilla. When Amundsen went bankrupt two years later, however, he sent the girls to be cared for by Camilla's father, who lived in eastern Russia. In June 1922, Amundsen returned to Maud , which had been sailed to Nome. He decided to shift from
5529-469: The expedition told of their relations with Inuit women, and historians have speculated that Amundsen might also have taken a partner, although he wrote a warning against this. Specifically, half-brothers Bob Konona and Paul Ikuallaq say that their father Luke Ikuallaq told them on his deathbed that he was the son of Amundsen. Konona said that their father Ikuallaq was left out on the ice to die after his birth, as his European ancestry made him illegitimate to
5626-629: The first expedition to overwinter in Antarctica. The Belgica , whether by mistake or design, became locked in the sea ice at 70°30′S off Alexander Island , west of the Antarctic Peninsula . The crew endured a winter for which they were poorly prepared. By Amundsen's own estimation, the doctor for the expedition, the American Frederick Cook , probably saved the crew from scurvy by hunting for animals and feeding
5723-629: The first large-scale rocket program. The Opel RAK.1 became the first rocket car ; the following year, it also became the first rocket-powered aircraft . In 1961, the Soviet space program 's Vostok 1 carried Yuri Gagarin into space. In 1969, NASA 's Apollo 11 achieved the first Moon landing . In 2010, the number of motor vehicles in operation worldwide surpassed 1 billion, roughly one for every seven people. There are over 1 billion bicycles in use worldwide. In 2002 there were an estimated 590 million cars and 205 million motorcycles in service in
5820-675: The first sustained, controlled, reproducible flights. In 1903, the Wright brothers flew the Wright Flyer , the first controlled, powered aircraft, in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina . In 1907, Gyroplane No.I became the first tethered rotorcraft to fly. The same year, the Cornu helicopter became the first rotorcraft to achieve free flight. In 1928, Opel initiated the Opel-RAK program,
5917-489: The following day. The three previous claims to have arrived at the North Pole, by the Americans Frederick Cook in 1908; Robert Peary in 1909; and Richard E. Byrd in 1926 (just a few days before the Norge ) are disputed by some, as being either of dubious accuracy or outrightly fraudulent. If these other claims are false, the crew of the Norge would be the first explorers verified to have reached
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#17327800072376014-552: The following international classification: Roald Amundsen Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen ( UK : / ˈ ɑː m ʊ n d s ən / , US : /- m ə n s -/ ; Norwegian: [ˈrùːɑɫ ˈɑ̂mʉnsən] ; 16 July 1872 – c. 18 June 1928 ) was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions . He was a key figure of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration . Born in Borge, Østfold , Norway, Amundsen began his career as
6111-563: The general term but often implies a smaller device, often for recreational use. Sledge implies a heavier sled used for moving freight or massive objects. Sleigh refers more specifically than in Britain to a vehicle which is essentially a cold-season alternative to a carriage or wagon and has seating for passengers; what can be called a dog-sleigh in Britain is known only as a dog-sled in North America. In Australia , where there
6208-418: The ground. A Boeing 757 brake, for example, has 3 stators and 4 rotors. The Space Shuttle also uses frictional brakes on its wheels. As well as frictional brakes, hybrid and electric cars, trolleybuses and electric bicycles can also use regenerative brakes to recycle some of the vehicle's potential energy. High-speed trains sometimes use frictionless Eddy-current brakes ; however, widespread application of
6305-419: The heavy wool clothing worn on earlier Antarctic attempts in favour of adopting Inuit -style furred skins. Using skis and dog sleds for transportation, Amundsen and his men created supply depots at 80°, 81° and 82° South on the Barrier, along a line directly south to the Pole. Amundsen also planned to kill most of his dogs on the way and use them as a source for fresh meat. As he went he butchered some of
6402-426: The ice, without having achieved the goal of drifting over the North Pole, Amundsen decided to go to Nome to repair the ship and buy provisions. Several of the crew ashore there, including Hanssen, did not return on time to the ship. Amundsen considered Hanssen to be in breach of contract, and dismissed him from the crew. During the third winter, Maud was frozen in the western Bering Strait. She finally became free and
6499-542: The journey. To raise additional funds, Amundsen traveled around the United States in 1924 on a lecture tour. In 1925, accompanied by Lincoln Ellsworth , pilot Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen , flight mechanic Karl Feucht and two other team members, Amundsen took two Dornier Do J flying boats , the N-24 and N-25, to 87° 44′ north. It was the northernmost latitude reached by plane up to that time. The aircraft landed
6596-619: The more ubiquitous land vehicles, which can be broadly classified by the type of contact interface with the ground : wheels , tracks , rails or skis , as well as the non-contact technologies such as maglev . ISO 3833-1977 is the international standard for road vehicle types, terms and definitions. It is estimated by historians that boats have been used since prehistory ; rock paintings depicting boats, dated from around 50,000 to 15,000 BC, were found in Australia . The oldest boats found by archaeological excavation are logboats , with
6693-483: The motion, such as a brake and steering system. By far, most vehicles use wheels which employ the principle of rolling to enable displacement with very little rolling friction . It is essential that a vehicle have a source of energy to drive it. Energy can be extracted from external sources, as in the cases of a sailboat , a solar-powered car , or an electric streetcar that uses overhead lines. Energy can also be stored, provided it can be converted on demand and
6790-527: The north and east than Nansen had. In contrast to Amundsen's earlier expeditions, this was expected to yield more material for academic research, and he carried the geophysicist Harald Sverdrup on board. The voyage was to the northeasterly direction over the Kara Sea . Amundsen planned to freeze the Maud into the polar ice cap and drift towards the North Pole ;– as Nansen had done with
6887-707: The oldest logboat found, the Pesse canoe found in a bog in the Netherlands, being carbon dated to 8040–7510 BC, making it 9,500–10,000 years old, A 7,000 year-old seagoing boat made from reeds and tar has been found in Kuwait. Boats were used between 4000 -3000 BC in Sumer , ancient Egypt and in the Indian Ocean. There is evidence of camel pulled wheeled vehicles about 4000–3000 BC. The earliest evidence of
6984-509: The planned naval expedition to aerial ones, and arranged to charter a plane. He divided the expedition team in two: one part, led by him, was to winter over and prepare for an attempt to fly over the pole in 1923. The second team on Maud , under the command of Wisting, was to resume the original plan to drift over the North Pole in the ice. The ship drifted in the ice for three years east of the New Siberian Islands, never reaching
7081-474: The propeller has been tested on many terrestrial vehicles, including the Schienenzeppelin train and numerous cars. In modern times, propellers are most prevalent on watercraft and aircraft, as well as some amphibious vehicles such as hovercraft and ground-effect vehicles . Intuitively, propellers cannot work in space as there is no working fluid; however, some sources have suggested that since space
7178-463: The rate of deceleration or where the brakes have failed, several mechanisms can be used to stop a vehicle. Cars and rolling stock usually have hand brakes that, while designed to secure an already parked vehicle, can provide limited braking should the primary brakes fail. A secondary procedure called forward-slip is sometimes used to slow airplanes by flying at an angle, causing more drag. Motor vehicle and trailer categories are defined according to
7275-441: The relevant sections in the articles on ice and ice skating . The traditional explanation of the pressure of sleds on the snow or ice producing a thin film of water and this enabling sleds to move on ice with little friction is insufficient. Various types of sleds are pulled by animals such as reindeer , horses, mules , oxen , or dogs. The people of Ancient Egypt are thought to have used sledges (aka "skids") extensively in
7372-565: The shape of a cone or bell , some unorthodox designs have been created such as the aerospike . Some nozzles are intangible, such as the electromagnetic field nozzle of a vectored ion thruster. Continuous track is sometimes used instead of wheels to power land vehicles. Continuous track has the advantages of a larger contact area, easy repairs on small damage, and high maneuverability. Examples of vehicles using continuous tracks are tanks, snowmobiles and excavators. Two continuous tracks used together allow for steering. The largest land vehicle in
7469-552: The south on 3 June 1910. At Madeira , Amundsen alerted his men that they would be heading to Antarctica, and sent a telegram to Scott: "Beg to inform you Fram proceeding Antarctic – Amundsen." Nearly six months later, the expedition arrived at the eastern edge of the Ross Ice Shelf (then known as "the Great Ice Barrier"), at a large inlet called the Bay of Whales , on 14 January 1911. Amundsen established his base camp there, calling it Framheim . Amundsen eschewed
7566-462: The storing medium's energy density and power density are sufficient to meet the vehicle's needs. Human power is a simple source of energy that requires nothing more than humans. Despite the fact that humans cannot exceed 500 W (0.67 hp) for meaningful amounts of time, the land speed record for human-powered vehicles (unpaced) is 133 km/h (83 mph), as of 2009 on a recumbent bicycle . The energy source used to power vehicles
7663-465: The team to reach the South Pole. In addition, Henrik Lindstrøm was included as a cook. He suffered a stroke and was so physically reduced that he could not participate. The goal of the expedition was to explore the unknown areas of the Arctic Ocean, strongly inspired by Fridtjof Nansen's earlier expedition with Fram . The plan was to sail along the coast of Siberia and go into the ice farther to
7760-440: The technology has been limited by overheating and interference issues. Aside from landing gear brakes, most large aircraft have other ways of decelerating. In aircraft, air brakes are aerodynamic surfaces that provide braking force by increasing the frontal cross section, thus increasing the increasing the aerodynamic drag of the aircraft. These are usually implemented as flaps that oppose air flow when extended and are flush with
7857-508: The three terms often reflect regional variations depending on historical uses and prevailing climate. In British English , sledge is the general term, and more common than sled . Toboggan is sometimes used synonymously with sledge but more often to refer to a particular type of sledge without runners. Sleigh refers to a moderate to large-sized, usually open-topped vehicle to carry passengers or goods, and typically drawn by horses, dogs, or reindeer. In American usage sled remains
7954-544: The use of a pulse jet was the V-1 flying bomb . Pulse jets are still occasionally used in amateur experiments. With the advent of modern technology, the pulse detonation engine has become practical and was successfully tested on a Rutan VariEze . While the pulse detonation engine is much more efficient than the pulse jet and even turbine engines, it still suffers from extreme noise and vibration levels. Ramjets also have few moving parts, but they only work at high speed, so their use
8051-573: The west by Richard Collinson in 1852. Continuing to the south of Victoria Island , the ship cleared the Canadian Arctic Archipelago on 17 August 1905 . It had to stop for the winter before going on to Nome on Alaska's Pacific coast. The nearest telegraph station was 500 mi (800 km) away in Eagle . Amundsen traveled there overland to wire a success message on 5 December, then returned to Nome in 1906. Later that year he
8148-468: The world, the Bagger 293 , is propelled by continuous tracks. Propellers (as well as screws, fans and rotors) are used to move through a fluid. Propellers have been used as toys since ancient times; however, it was Leonardo da Vinci who devised what was one of the earliest propeller driven vehicles, the "aerial-screw". In 1661, Toogood & Hays adopted the screw for use as a ship propeller. Since then,
8245-660: The world. At least 500 million Chinese Flying Pigeon bicycles have been made, more than any other single model of vehicle. The most-produced model of motor vehicle is the Honda Super Cub motorcycle, having sold 60 million units in 2008. The most-produced car model is the Toyota Corolla , with at least 35 million made by 2010. The most common fixed-wing airplane is the Cessna 172 , with about 44,000 having been made as of 2017. The Soviet Mil Mi-8 , at 17,000,
8342-635: Was a Soviet-designed screw-propelled vehicle designed to retrieve cosmonauts from the Siberian wilderness. All or almost all of the useful energy produced by the engine is usually dissipated as friction; so minimizing frictional losses is very important in many vehicles. The main sources of friction are rolling friction and fluid drag (air drag or water drag). Wheels have low bearing friction, and pneumatic tires give low rolling friction. Steel wheels on steel tracks are lower still. Aerodynamic drag can be reduced by streamlined design features. Friction
8439-628: Was a means of transport preferred by royals, bishops, and boyars of Muscovy . Several royal vozoks of historical importance have been preserved in the Kremlin Armoury . Man-hauled sledges were the traditional means of transport on British exploring expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic regions in the 19th and early 20th centuries, championed for example by Captain Scott . Dog sleds were used by most others, such as Roald Amundsen . In
8536-563: Was adapted into the TV serial The Last Place on Earth . It aired in 1985 and features Sverre Anker Ousdal as Amundsen. On 15 February 2019, a biographic Norwegian film titled Amundsen , directed by Espen Sandberg , was released. At least two Inuit in Gjøa Haven with European ancestry have claimed to be descendants of Amundsen, from the period of their extended winter stay on King William Island from 1903 to 1905. Accounts by members of
8633-531: Was attacked by a polar bear. As a result, he participated little in the work outdoors, such as sleigh rides and hunting. He, Hanssen, and Wisting, along with two other men, embarked on an expedition by dog sled to Nome, Alaska, more than 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) away. But they found that the ice was not frozen solid in the Bering Strait , and it could not be crossed. They sent a telegram from Anadyr to signal their location. After two winters frozen in
8730-527: Was called off in September 1928 by the Norwegian government, and the bodies were never found. In 2004 and in late August 2009, the Royal Norwegian Navy used the unmanned submarine Hugin 1000 to search for the wreckage of Amundsen's plane. The searches focused on a 40-square-mile (100 km ) area of the sea floor, and were documented by the German production company ContextTV. They found nothing from
8827-645: Was elected to the American Antiquarian Society . Amundsen learned of the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden , and that he had a new king. The explorer sent the new king, Haakon VII , news that his traversing the Northwest Passage "was a great achievement for Norway". He said he hoped to do more and signed it "Your loyal subject, Roald Amundsen". The crew returned to Oslo in November 1906, after almost three and
8924-548: Was fifteen years old, Amundsen was enthralled by reading Sir John Franklin 's narratives of his overland Arctic expeditions. Amundsen wrote "I read them with a fervid fascination which has shaped the whole course of my life". Amundsen joined the Belgian Antarctic Expedition as first mate at the age of 25 in 1897. This expedition, led by Adrien de Gerlache using the ship the RV Belgica , became
9021-549: Was introduced to the English language by Dutch immigrants to North America. Sleds are especially useful in winter but can also be drawn over wet fields, muddy roads, and even hard ground if one helps them along by greasing the blades ("grease the skids") with oil or alternatively wetting them with water. For an explanation of why sleds and other objects glide with various degrees of friction ranging from very little to fairly little friction on ice, icy snow, wet snow, and dry snow, see
9118-662: Was of little practical use. In 1817, The Laufmaschine ("running machine"), invented by the German Baron Karl von Drais , became the first human means of transport to make use of the two-wheeler principle . It is regarded as the forerunner of the modern bicycle (and motorcycle). In 1885, Karl Benz built (and subsequently patented) the Benz Patent-Motorwagen , the first automobile, powered by his own four-stroke cycle gasoline engine . In 1885, Otto Lilienthal began experimental gliding and achieved
9215-595: Was said to have ignored romantic relationships in pursuit of his goals. He "found little use in activities that didn't help him fulfill his polar ambitions". Owing to Amundsen's numerous significant accomplishments in polar exploration, many places in both the Arctic and Antarctic are named after him. The Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station , operated by the United States Antarctic Program , was jointly named in honour of Amundsen and his British rival Robert Falcon Scott . The Amundsen crater on
9312-465: Was the fourth son in the family. His mother wanted him to avoid the family maritime trade and encouraged him to become a doctor, a promise that Amundsen kept until his mother died when he was aged 21. He promptly quit university for a life at sea. Amundsen was in the Uranienborg neighbourhood an occasional childhood playmate of the pioneering Antarctica explorer Carsten Borchgrevink . When he
9409-531: Was to use a small ship and hug the coast. Amundsen had the ship outfitted with a small 13 horsepower single-screw paraffin (diesel) engine. They traveled via Baffin Bay , the Parry Channel and then south through Peel Sound , James Ross Strait , Simpson Strait and Rae Strait . They spent two winters at King William Island , in the harbor of what is today Gjoa Haven . During this time, Amundsen and
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