Maglev Train Essay, Research Paper

The Maglev Train

Since before the United States came to be, during the Revolutionary war, trains were being used to transport soldiers and their artillery into battle. They were the original steam engines of the U. S. of A. and they were at full force traveling around 35 miles per hour. Over a span of a couple hundred years, they?ve come to be what they are now.

The trains became electric, and now are traveling at a smooth 120 miles per hour. But the rides aren?t all that smooth. The wheels wear down and the tracks have bad connections and so the ride is very rugged. Another innovation is the subway. The fastest type of transportation in New York City, but once again the rides still aren?t all that smooth. The subway system is in the running for 2nd or 3rd place for the largest construction project in the United States. Taking almost 30 years to complete, and several thousand workers to finish the NYC subway system.

Although now, the best new train innovation are magnets. Magnets are leading the way in fast and smooth rides. The rails are composed of the levitation rails, the power rails, and the guidance rails, and the train is composed approximately the same way, only backwards. The levitation rails have a series of several hundred magnets, that have the south pole facing upwards, and on the train the south pole of another magnet is facing down towards the track. According to the statement opposites poles attract, and the same poles repel, the train levitates just about 3 millimeters above the track. The power rails have stronger magnets angled so the train is pushed forwards, and gains motion and speed. The guidance rail is just a long rail that sticks very far up into the center of the Maglev train to keep it from flying off the track at 300 mph.

The maglev train doesn?t truly have an inventor, but a team of scientist from Japan with a very good idea. The train is not very popular as of right now but is starting to grow in amount of trains throughout the world.