ShmoopTube

00:00

Shmoop! Buckle up gang today we're talking about cars. [Family by car]Car transportation

00:07

might be the technology that single-handedly defined Americanist [Family car driving across America]

00:11

and remade the nation. Trains and steamships had connected the world in a

00:15

big global system for sure but cars connected individuals with the rest of

00:20

their country in a totally new way. [Family arrive at ocean with car] So in last unit we talked about the

00:26

development of the first automobiles powered by the internal combustion

00:30

engine. [man holding wrench, hamster on wheel] Remember Lenoir and his hippomobile

00:33

yep that guy. But we might have skipped over a few steps in the development of

00:38

our dearly beloved cars. Give us a break we're telling the history of technology

00:42

here. You try keeping all these notes in order. Anyway around the same time the I.C.E.

00:46

was being perfected people were trying to invent automobiles that ran on

00:50

different sources of energy. [cars running on fire and hamster power] And now to spice this video up and keep our three

00:55

viewers awake it's time for a thrilling trivia break. In the 1880s what were the[trivia stage with baby, giraffe and old lady]

01:00

two newest most exciting kinds of energy that we had? Looks like we'll be answering our

01:06

own trivia time here. Well the correct answers steam and electricity. What we

01:11

don't get a prize? Well moving on from that segment these early car designs were

01:15

creative. But not that creative could any of them fly? No, steam powered cars were

01:22

never that great because, A. they couldn't fly and B the steam engines were huge

01:27

and they took too long to warm up. [ old car in olden times] They also like to explode every now and then

01:32

which isn't the best quality in a family-friendly vehicle. Electric cars on

01:36

the other hand had a lot going for them back in the day and we mean way back in

01:40

the day. The first electric car wasn't built in the 1990s it was built in the

01:44

1890s. Fun fact New York city actually had a small fleet of electric taxis in 1897,

01:49

[old taxi with man walking in front of it] we wonder if anyone ever smacked them. And did their best um you know "I'm walking here."

01:57

Anyway the early electric cars were great because they didn't spew a lot of

02:02

toxic fumes and they were super quiet. We'd imagine that they were the

02:06

preferred vehicles for ninja sneak-attacks everywhere. [ninjas in mansion] There were of

02:11

course drawbacks one they couldn't fly. But it is a real disappointment that cars cant fly.

02:15

[electric car racing power bunny] Two their batteries charge didn't last that long so they were no good

02:20

for long distances. And three they work best on smooth flat roads. Which were

02:26

hard to come by back in the 1890s. Still eventually the internal combustion

02:30

engine came along popped up on fossil fuels and blew the

02:34

competition out of the water or off the road I guess. [off road ruff cars in desert] Once folks figured out the energy

02:39

density of liquid fossil fuel there was no going back. The first car that was

02:43

seriously mass-produced was the 1901 Oldsmobile and ahh was she something. No

02:50

roof or sides two gears and she cost $18,000 in today's money. [car in showroom] With a top

02:56

speed of 20 miles an hour who could say no. Well cars like the Oldsmobile were

03:01

just basically toys for wealthy people, there wasn't a national road network so

03:06

long-distance driving was a joke and there wasn't a system of gas stations yet so a

03:11

where were these silly toys going to get fuel.[old car in desert broken down] We don't know about you but

03:15

stopping a to drill for oil would put a serious damper on our road trips.[end credits]

Full Transcript