Why do cars need fuel?
Cars need fuel because it gives the engine energy to make the wheels turn.
Pip’s answer
- Cars need fuel because it gives the engine energy to make the wheels turn.
- Inside the engine, fuel burns in tiny puffs that push parts up and down.
- Those pushes spin gears, and the gears turn the wheels. Vroom!
- Ooh, some cars use electricity from a big battery instead of fuel!
Try it together
Can you steer a pretend car and say vroom vroom?
For grown-ups
Petrol and diesel engines burn fuel inside cylinders. Each small explosion pushes a piston, and the pistons turn a crankshaft that drives the wheels through gears. Electric cars instead use energy stored in a battery to power electric motors.
Ask your child: What other machines need fuel or batteries to move?
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- 🧲Why do magnets stick?
- 🫧Why are bubbles round?
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