http://www.howitworksdaily.com How It Works 085
Why can motorcyclists turn
just by leaning to one side?
Enric Porras
n You can’t actually turn a bike by leaning, only by turning the handlebars. But riders
must maintain a bike’s centre of grav it y to keep it stable during a turn, and they do this
by leaning. At low speeds you don’t notice the lean, but at faster speeds you do. MS
© GettyHow do banks profit
from storing your
money in an account?
Anya Petrov
n Banks take the money that you have deposited, offering
you interest to keep you sav ing at their establishment.
Meanwhile, they offer your money out as loans to other
clients at a much higher rate of interest, thereby making a
profit even after pay ing you your yearly interest. JE
© GettyHow do they
make the glass
in car windows
‘shatterproof’?
Heather Porter
n Most car w indows are a bit like a see-
through sandw ich. Bet ween t wo layers of
glass is a filling of plastic, made stick y by
heating it in a ver y hot oven under high
pressure. When one of the outer glass layers
breaks, it stays stuck to the filling. That
means people can still see through the
w indow. But you can make w indows even
tougher by changing what they are made of.
Glass is mostly a mixture of the elements
silicon and ox ygen, know n as silicate. But
sw itching silicon for carbon can produce
polycarbonate plastics, which make tough
and see-through w indows. AEGlass in car windows doesn’t shatter because it’s like
a sandwich with a sticky filling© Getty