Internet Research Topic Part A What is the current status of hybrid automobiles How much more efficient are they than gasoline automobiles What kinds of improvements are expected in the next few years Are all hybrids fuel efficient Do any standard cars have better mpg A hybrid automobile is a vehicle that is becoming more popular among consumers Common hybrid vehicles include the Toyota Camry Hybrid the Ford Fusion and the Toyota Prius One of the reasons hybrid automobiles have become common is because of their dynamic nature Hybrid automobiles use both gasoline and electricity The use of electricity in these vehicles encourages environmental responsibility Conversely the use of gasoline in these vehicles is more practical Combining both electricity and gasoline creates a synergistic effect that promotes efficiency One of the main perks of hybrid automobiles is their efficiency In fact hybrid vehicles are the most efficient of all cars Hybrid automobiles get roughly 48 to 60 miles to the gallon Whereas standard vehicles get around 36 miles to the gallon While fuel efficiency is important so is environmental efficiency Hybrid vehicles are far more environmentally efficient in other words their carbon footprint is much smaller compared to that of gasoline vehicles In addition to their environmental efficiency these hybrid vehicles are also cost efficient While the initial cost of a hybrid vehicle may be higher than a gasoline vehicle the cost in the long term is much lower due to the fuel efficiency of hybrid vehicles After careful research one could assume that hybrid vehicles are more fuel efficient cost efficient and environmentally efficient While hybrid vehicles are great most scientists see these vehicles as a transition vehicle In other words scientist believe electric cars are the vehicle of the future However over the next few years makers of hybrid vehicles will try and improve their hybrid models One of the main issues with hybrid vehicles is the short life of their batteries As time goes on scientists will try to create a battery pack that will last longer than it currently does Some scientists also say that these hybrid cars rely on gasoline too much In the future we can expect that scientists will continue to create hybrid vehicles that will rely less and less on gasoline and rely more on electricity to function This endeavor will ultimately lead us to fully electric cars However for the time being the progress being made with hybrid vehicles is essential to the development of the automobile industry Some hybrid vehicles are more fuel efficient than others However as a whole hybrid vehicles are far more efficient than a standard automobile In fact some hybrid vehicles almost double standard automobiles miles to the gallon For example the Toyota Camry Hybrid gets 51 miles to the gallon in the city and roughly 53 miles to the gallon on the highway Based on common knowledge we can see that the fuel efficiency of these hybrid vehicles is far better than its counterpart Some standard cars have relatively high miles to the gallon but none of them even come close to the fuel efficiency of the hybrid vehicles Some of the more efficient standard cars can get around 40 miles to the gallon However most of the hybrid vehicles get closer to 50 miles to the gallon which makes them far more efficient Part B Find and read an article on physics or technology from some serious website Give the link to the article and summarize the article drawing connections to class and or explaining what you do not understand about the article Over the past few decades technology has become a huge part of human life It began with the cellphone However over time tablets and wearable technology became popular as well One of the most popular technological devices in society today is a smart watch It is common for these watches to have to be charged overnight so that they can be used the next day However research coming out of Penn State reveals that these watches could soon be powered by low frequency vibrations A research team at Penn State University created a device that harnesses the power from vibrations and uses the power to generate energy One can assume that this technology will soon be used to power smart watches so that we would no longer have to charge them But the potential for this technology is limitless The Penn State research team believes that they could potentially double the power output in the future with more work and study of the materials Clearly this is a huge development in the scientific community that can drastically change how we use energy One aspect of this article that I do not understand is how exactly they harvest the energy from these vibrations While the science behind this is clearly complex it would be fascinating to know how exactly they capture the energy from these lowfrequency vibrations Part A Citations Dunn Philip Hybrid Cars Pros and Cons PHYS ORG https phys org news 2006 01hybrid cars pros cons html Accessed 1 September 2018 Best Hybrid and Electric Cars U S News Cars https cars usnews com carstrucks rankings hybrid cars Accessed 1 September 2018 Part B Citations Pennsylvania State University Device harvests energy from low frequency vibrations PHYS ORG https phys org news 2006 01 hybrid cars pros cons html Accessed 1 September 2018
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