--- title: Inside a car: engine, gears and the dashboard — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Inside a car: engine, gears and the dashboard», a lesson of the technology course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: A petrol or diesel car is moved by many tiny explosions: fuel burns inside small cylinders, pushes pistons down, and the --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/technology/17-inside-a-car/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Technology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/technology/) / Inside a car: engine, gears and the da… # Inside a car: engine, gears and the dashboard Lesson 17 of the technology course of Mova's primary school: 17 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/technology/17-inside-a-car/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/technology/17-inside-a-car/0/) — A petrol or diesel car is moved by many tiny explosions: fuel burns inside small cylinders, pushes pistons down, and the pistons turn a shaft that turns the wheels. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/technology/17-inside-a-car/1/) — Gears are like the gears on a bike: low gears give a strong push to start and climb hills, high gears let the wheels turn fast while the engine turns slowly. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/technology/17-inside-a-car/2/) — The dashboard is the car talking to the driver: sensors check the oil, brakes and tyres and light up a little picture if something is wrong. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/technology/17-inside-a-car/3/) — Think of a car journey with your family: the engine hums, the indicator ticks before a turn, the wipers swish, and the tyres grip the wet road through their grooves. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/technology/17-inside-a-car/4/) — Engines and exhausts get very hot and cars are heavy, so children stay away from under the bonnet, from behind a running car and from under a raised car. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/technology/17-inside-a-car/5/) — In a petrol or diesel engine, fuel burns in small cylinders and pushes pistons, which turn a crankshaft and then the wheels, with many small explosions every second. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/technology/17-inside-a-car/6/) — Low gears give more turning force to start and climb; high gears let the wheels turn fast while the engine turns slowly; electric cars often need only one gear, because their motors work well at all speeds. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/technology/17-inside-a-car/7/) — Burnt gases leave through the exhaust pipe, and a catalytic converter changes some poisonous gases into less harmful ones; exhaust fumes include invisible carbon monoxide; burning fuel also makes water vapour, which can cool to drips at the exhaust pipe on a cold morning. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/technology/17-inside-a-car/8/) — Never stand behind a car with its engine running, and never run an engine in a closed garage. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/technology/17-inside-a-car/9/) — A petrol station keeps its fuel in big tanks underground that can hold tens of thousands of litres, and pumps measure it into the car. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/technology/17-inside-a-car/11/) — Dashboard warning lights all come on briefly when the car starts, to show the bulbs work, and then go off unless something is wrong. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/technology/17-inside-a-car/12/) — Turning the steering wheel moves a rod and gears that turn the front wheels, and power steering helps with a motor or hydraulics (oil pushed through pipes). - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/technology/17-inside-a-car/13/) — Indicators flash to show which way a car will turn, and reversing lights are white so people behind know the car is about to move back. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/technology/17-inside-a-car/14/) — Mechanics lift cars on ramps, plug in computers to read faults and replace worn parts; nobody goes under a raised car except the mechanic doing the job safely. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/technology/17-inside-a-car/15/) — In the UK, cars older than three years need a yearly test called the MOT. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/technology/17-inside-a-car/16/) — Some cars have a rain sensor that shines invisible light at the windscreen and switches the wipers on when raindrops change the reflection. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/technology/17-inside-a-car/17/) — The grooves in a tyre's tread push water away so the rubber can grip; the UK minimum tread depth for cars is 1.6 millimetres, and on wet roads cars need much longer to stop. - ← previous: [Electricity dangers: sockets, water, chargers and batteries](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/technology/16-electricity-dangers/) - next →: [Car safety: brakes, seat belts and airbags](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/technology/18-car-safety/) - ↑ back to [Technology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/technology/)