Reference Terms
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Tire
A tire or tyre is a device covering the circumference of a wheel. It is an essential part of most ground vehicles and is used to dampen the oscillations caused by irregularities in the road surface, to protect the wheel from wear and tear as well as to provide a high-friction bond between the vehicle and the ground to improve acceleration and handling. Today most tires, especially those fitted to motor vehicles, are manufactured from synthetic rubber, but other materials such as steel may be used. The grooves or treads found in most tires are there to improve contact between the tire and the road in wet conditions. Without such grooves, the water on the surface of the road would be unable to escape out to the sides of the wheel as the tire presses down onto the road. This causes a thin layer of water to remain between the road and the tire's surface, which causes a severe loss of grip. At higher speeds, this can cause hydroplaning, substantially reducing traction during braking, cornering and hard acceleration. The grooves in the tread provide an escape path for the water - and it is even claimed by some tire manufacturers that their tread pattern is designed to actively pump water out from under the tire by the action of the tread flexing.
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Matter & Energy News
February 2, 2026
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Jan. 31, 2026 A strange, glowing form of matter called dusty plasma turns out to be incredibly sensitive to magnetic fields. Researchers found that even weak fields can change how tiny particles grow, simply by nudging electrons into new motions. In lab ...
Jan. 30, 2026 Researchers have found a way to make ordinary aluminum tubes float indefinitely, even when submerged for long periods or punched full of holes. By engineering the metal’s surface to repel water, the tubes trap air inside and refuse to sink, even ...
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Jan. 29, 2026 Scientists have created a device that captures carbon dioxide and transforms it into a useful chemical in a single step. The new electrode works with realistic exhaust gases rather than requiring purified CO2. It converts the captured gas into ...
Jan. 26, 2026 Physicists have discovered that hidden magnetic order plays a key role in the pseudogap, a puzzling state of matter that appears just before certain materials become superconductors. Using an ultra-cold quantum simulator, the team found that even ...
Jan. 26, 2026 Researchers have demonstrated that quantum entanglement can link atoms across space to improve measurement accuracy. By splitting an entangled group of atoms into separate clouds, they were able to measure electromagnetic fields more precisely than ...
Jan. 25, 2026 Researchers have developed a technique that allows them to carve complex three dimensional nanodevices directly from single crystals. To demonstrate its power, they sculpted microscopic helices from a magnetic material and found that the structures ...
Jan. 21, 2026 A new building material developed by engineers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute could change how the world builds. Made using an enzyme that turns carbon dioxide into solid minerals, the material cures in hours and locks away carbon instead of ...
Jan. 19, 2026 Physicists have unveiled a new way to simulate a mysterious form of dark matter that can collide with itself but not with normal matter. This self-interacting dark matter may trigger a dramatic collapse inside dark matter halos, heating and ...
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