ABS essays

ABS essays The ABS, as it is commonly called is the abbreviation for Anti-Lock Braking System. This is a feature that many of the newer cars come fitted with. But it was not always the case, and still is not the case with several makes. What is the ABS? Before that question is answered, it is perhaps necessary to look at the "brakes". But simply, a brake is a system device that reduces speed or stops a moving object (in this case your car) by creating a force in the opposite direction. Insufficient pressure (brake torque) in the brake system causes "wheel lock" while the vehicle is moving above 80 km/h on a dry paved road surface. Premature "wheel lock" occurs from turbulent shock waves being generated by the uneven braking surfaces (rotors or drums contacting the pads/shoes), vibrating or slapping against the hydraulic pistons in either the clippers or the wheel cylinders. The force of these shock waves can be easily 100 times that of brake torque or the maximum pressure exerted on the rotating brake components. These shock waves have more than enough force to lock the wheels. Wheel lock occurs when brake torque forces exceed tyre grip forces. The impact would be much greater if the road surface is slippery due to rain, oil spills or other causes, or if the vehicle is driven at great speed. At speed, control of the car is difficult, especially at corners where there is a tendency to skid. Statistics show that approximately 40% of automobile accidents are due to skidding. These problems commonly occur on vehicles with the conventional brake system, without the added device called the ABS. The ABS absorbs the unwanted turbulent shock waves, and modulates the pulses thus permitting the wheel to continue turning under maximum braking pressure. The device "limits the degree of wheel slip of one or more of the wheels of the vehicle". This control permits the driver to steer away from any type of collision as long as there is friction bet...

Understanding the Nazi Idea of Volksgemeinschaft

Understanding the Nazi Idea of Volksgemeinschaft The Volksgemeinschaft was a central element in Nazi thinking, although it has proved difficult for historians to determine whether this was an ideology or just a nebulous concept built from propaganda displays. Essentially the Volksgemeinschaft was a new German society which rejected old religions, ideologies, and class divisions, instead forming a united German identity based around ideas of race, struggle, and state leadership. The Racist State The aim was the creation of the Volk, a nation or people made up of the most superior of the human races. This concept was derived from a simplistic corruption of Darwinian and relied on Social Darwinism, the idea that humanity was composed of different races, and these competed with one another for dominance: only the best race would lead after a survival of the fittest. Naturally the Nazis thought they were the Herrenvolk- Master Race- and they considered themselves to be pure Aryans; every other race was inferior, with some like Slavs, Romany, and Jews at the bottom of the ladder, and while the Aryans had to be kept pure, the bottom could be exploited, hated and eventually liquidated. The Volksgemeinschaft was thus inherently racist and contributed greatly to the Nazi’s attempts at mass extermination. The Nazi State The Volksgemeinschaft didn’t just exclude different races, as competing ideologies were also rejected. The Volk was to be a one party state where the leader- currently Hitler- was accorded unquestioning obedience from his citizens, who handed over their freedoms in exchange for- in theory- their part in a smoothly functioning machine. ‘Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Fuhrer’: one people, one empire, one leader. Rival ideas like democracy, liberalism or- especially repugnant to the Nazis- communism was rejected, and many of their leaders arrested and imprisoned. Christianity, despite being promised protection from Hitler, also had no place in the Volk, as it was a rival to the central state and a successful Nazi government would have brought it to an end. Blood and Soil Once the Volksgemeinschaft had pure members of its master race, it needed things for them to do, and the solution was to be found in an idealistic interpretation of German history. Everyone in the Volk was to work together for the common good but to do it in accordance with mythical German values which portrayed the classic noble German as a land working peasant giving the state their blood and their toil. Blut und Boden, Blood and Soil, was a classic summary of this view. Obviously, the Volk had a large urban population, with many industrial workers, but their tasks were compared to and portrayed as part of this grand tradition. Of course traditional German values went hand in hand with the subjugation of women’s interests, widely restricting them to being mothers. The Volksgemeinschaft was never written about or explained in the same way as rival ideas like communism, and may simply have been a highly successful propaganda tool rather than anything the Nazi leaders genuinely believed in. Equally, members of German society did, in places, show a commitment to the creation of the Volk. Consequently, we arent really sure to what extent the Volk was a practical reality rather than a theory, but Volksgemeinschaft does show quite clearly that Hitler wasnt a socialist or a communist, and instead pushed a race-based ideology. To what extent would it have been enacted if the Nazi state had been successful? The removal of races the Nazis considered lesser had begun, as had the march into living space to be turned into the pastoral ideal. Its possible it would have been put entirely in place, but would almost certainly have varied by region as the power games of the Nazi leaders reached a head.