CAR HORNS – THE TRUTH AND THE HYPE

The device called “horn” has undergone many stages of evolution before it became what we see today. It didn’t always look like a party popper with a pump and a whistle. The use of horn surprisingly extended to trains and water vessels, not staying limited to just land vehicles. In order to debunk all the myths about horns that you have heard as heresy, read this blog to know how it works. Once you know that, you won’t be fooled by the statement that car horns sound hoarse in the rains.

Horns are based on the electromagnetic principle. Pretty straightforward. The fun part is that this principle is combined with Hooke’s law, which finally results into sound. There is a metal diaphragm, usually made from spring steel, an electromagnet, and a switch. Hooke’s law says that extension of a spring is directly proportional to the load applied to it. In the case of a car horn, the spring is the steel diaphragm, and the load is current flowing through the electromagnetic coil which is activated or deactivated by the switch. Passing current through this diaphragm makes it oscillate, which creates sound waves. This assembly is housed in a megaphone-shaped assembly, which works to spread the noise created.

There is no shortage of jaywalkers and traffic-rule breakers on the planet. Horns are the device that make it possible for the drivers to save lives on the road. Horns make it possible to make way on the road when there is a lazy vehicle ahead. Horns give traffic some character. Know your horn.