WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: How Do Car Horns Work?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff, Lauren vocal Bam here with a classic episode

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<v Speaker 1>from former host Christian Sager, and this one we explore

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<v Speaker 1>how the traditional electro mechanical car horn works. And we

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<v Speaker 1>were doing a whole mad Max Fury road thing, which

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<v Speaker 1>I hope holds up. My name is Christian, My world

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<v Speaker 1>is fire and blood. Once I honked the horn of

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<v Speaker 1>my Interceptive Pursuit Special, it's hard to know who was

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<v Speaker 1>more crazy, me or everyone else. No, really, when people

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<v Speaker 1>haunk car horns, they're pretty freaking aggressive. Research shows were

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<v Speaker 1>more likely to do it when it's hot outside, when

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<v Speaker 1>it's a weekday, And if you're male, that's right, war boys.

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<v Speaker 1>Here in the US, your run of the mill car

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<v Speaker 1>horn is a hundred and ten decibels of sustained noise.

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<v Speaker 1>While the vehicle horns of yesteryear had different com nations

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<v Speaker 1>of notes, today they're mostly regulated to sound the same

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<v Speaker 1>and the law requires you to have a car horn.

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<v Speaker 1>If they're so important, Let's talk about how car horns work.

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<v Speaker 1>Typical car horns these days are electro mechanical. There are

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<v Speaker 1>two horns per vehicle, usually each sounding at a different

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<v Speaker 1>pitch to produce a cord. These horns generally consist of

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<v Speaker 1>a spring, steel diaphragm, a coiled wire, a switch, and

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<v Speaker 1>housing that amplifies sound like a megaphone. All of this

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<v Speaker 1>is mounted somewhere behind your vehicle's grill. So when you

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<v Speaker 1>slam your hand on that steering wheel button with a

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<v Speaker 1>little trumpet symbol on it, it sends an electrical current

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<v Speaker 1>through a relay and onto a copper coil that supplies

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<v Speaker 1>electricity to the horn. To create such a loud sound

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<v Speaker 1>takes a lot of energy. In fact, the only accessory

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<v Speaker 1>that uses more juice in your car is the starter.

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<v Speaker 1>The all trickle currents surging into the horn creates a

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<v Speaker 1>magnetic field. This field causes the flat circular diaphragm inside

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<v Speaker 1>to oscillate. The oscillation is set up by the diaphragm

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<v Speaker 1>flexing to its mechanical limit and then releasing back past

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<v Speaker 1>its neutral position, only to be pulled forward again. This

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<v Speaker 1>functions by using the basic law of elasticity, also known

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<v Speaker 1>as Hook's law because it was formulated in the seventeenth

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<v Speaker 1>century by an English scientist named Robert Hook. The law

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<v Speaker 1>states that the strain of a body is proportional to

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<v Speaker 1>the stress applied to the body. What this means for

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<v Speaker 1>the car horn is that it's diaphragm will oscillate continuously

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<v Speaker 1>as long as the current is applied. There are also

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<v Speaker 1>other types of horns used in vehicles, air horns, claxon's

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<v Speaker 1>whistles similar to organ pipes, and even sirens like we

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<v Speaker 1>see on emergency vehicles, but the electro magnetic car horn

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<v Speaker 1>is the most common one you're going to find out

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<v Speaker 1>there in the waste land. Now that you're armed with

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<v Speaker 1>this knowledge, you should be ready to grab the sun

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<v Speaker 1>and ride into Valhalla. Today's episode was written by Christian

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<v Speaker 1>and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is production of

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<v Speaker 1>i Heeart Radios has Stuff Works. For more in this

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<v Speaker 1>and lots of other topics that are shiny and chrome,

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<v Speaker 1>visit our home planet has to Works dot com and

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