Celebrating our Machines

I want us to think outside computers for a while, and think of the incredible machines that are all around us, but that we don't always appreciate. Machines are awesome, and they should all be celebrated.

Let's ponder our motor vehicles for a while.

And specifically, my old car. The Golf IV that was around for 12+ years, and 310,000 km.

This post is sort of a tribute to that machine. A machine that was close to my heart, even though I couldn't chop and change it, or modify it, like I can with computers. I just drove it. And that's probably better - because I know almost nothing about the mechanical workings of a motor vehicle, and if I were to tinker it probably wouldn't have lasted :)

Lets look at a couple of stats:

• Drove for 12 years
• +- 310,000 km
• Was driven basically every day in its lifetime, except for 4 or 5 holidays here and there
• Comfortably reached 120km/h

Let's dig into those numbers:

310,000 km

• This is about 7.75 times around the equator.
• This is 80% of the distance to the moon (my biggest regret is that the car didn't make it to the moon. It probably could have.)
• This is about 15 times from Cape Town to Cairo, and back
• It's about 30 times around the moon at the moon's equator
• It's about 15 times around Mars' equator
• It's 3 times from one side of Jupiter's Red Spot, and back

12 years

• Assuming 6 two-way trips for every week in the 12 years, this means the driver door was opened and closed around 15,000 times. (12 * 52 * 6 * 2 * 2)
• Assuming a lifetime average speed of 40km/h, the engine was on and the car running for around 7,800 hours (325 days). An average of 30km/h is 10,300 hours (430 days) (310,000 / 40)
• Assuming an average RPM of around 2,500 for the 7,800 hours, the total revolutions of the engine come to 1,170,000,000 (2,500 * 60 * 7,800)
• How many sparks does it take to get a 4-stroke engine to do the above # of revs? I think it'll be really interesting to work this out
• Assuming a lifetime average fuel consumption of 8l/100km, this gives around 25,000l of fuel. You work out how much that would cost at current fuel prices.

120 km/h

• Ignoring walking, for the majority of mankind's existence, our main transportation were horses. Which walk at an average of 7km/h. Humans being able to travel at 120km/h in their own personal vehicle would seem like magic to people from those days

I sometimes feel as though I am too electronics-orientated. Which is understandable considering my career and life-long interest in computers - but I reckon it's important not to forget all the amazing machines around us that we sometimes take for granted in our electronics-focused lives. Like our cars.

What are some other incredible machines in our daily lives that we may not always recognise? What statistics can we think of for these machines to put what they do into perspective?