TÜVtel 4.14 - Children's Magazine

The Children's Magazine by TÜV Rheinland

2014 | Edition 4

Posters Night Sky and buzzing Bees

In Polar : d r a b l a Sv ritor y Bear Ter

inlan d e h R V Ü How T i dges Tests Br

Inte r n et Go n e!

No w W hat ?

Contents

In this issue, you’ll find ...

14 W i nt

er

Pu

zz

Jo in in!

Internet?

Forget It!

Fast Facts 4 Internet 6 Svalbard 10 Big Cities 12 Winter Puzzles 14 Tess and Roby 16

le s

Behind the Scenes Try It Out Fan Page

one Can the Internet vanish from at second to the next? And wh would that mean for you?

20 22 23

Arctic 10 Ad venture Svalbard has a lot to offer: a well-secured seed vault, pitch-dark days and plenty of polar bears.

ls STEM Sp el

22

multiply you how to s w o h s l azing TÜVte sing an am u rs e b m u n ue. line techniq

atics

Mathem

TÜVtel

2

20

ou What Are Y re?

Testing The

lden Jürgen No with takes you rk – on him to wo the and under bridge.

6

Tess an d Roby

Hey, TÜV kids!

Tess ente rs a comp etition for inven tors. Of c o u rse she wants to win. But as she so realizes, on inventing s omething brilliant is no easy ta sk.

Did you know that you are a “digital native”? People say that because for you, computers, cell phones and many other digital devices have always been part of life. So has the Internet. You surely use it too, for example when looking for information on Google, watching funny videos on YouTube or sending WhatsApp messages with a smartphone.

16 12

The Internet is really practical. But what would happen if it suddenly stopped working? Would it bother you? Or wouldn’t you care? What is the Internet anyway? And what is the difference between a hacker and a cracker? TÜVtel gets to the bottom of these quesions in the cover story.

Megacities

What do you do when cities are bursting at the seams?

We hope you enjoy reading TÜVtel!

Tess and Roby

Po s te r

s

Bees an d Stars

disappear to Where do bees are carrying in winter? They on ... out a vital missi

Night Sky Lyra

Leier Draco

Drache

Canes Venatici

Jagdhunde

Bees

Ursa Minor

Polaris

Kleiner Bär

ter in Win

Eidechse

Cepheus

Ursa Major Polarstern

Eidechse

Cepheus

is

Leo

Großer Bär

Pegasus

Lynx Perseus Auriga

Cassiopeia

Löwe

Triangulum

Pegasus

Andro Hydra meda

Canis Minor

Taurus

Zwillinge

Orion

Dreieck

Fisch e Monce

Cetus

ros

Widder

Stargazers

WasserSchlange

Pisces

Aries

Perseus Fuhrmann

Krebs

Andromeda

Gemini Cancer

Giraffe

Luchs

Cassiopeia

Camelopardal

Sirius

Canis Major

Stars – they seem close enough to touch. But (which is also assuming you a star), the nearest don‘t count one is a staggerin the Earth! It the sun is called Proxima g 40,000 billion Centauri and kilometers away visible to the funnily enough, naked eye. Luckily from it is not bright there are about can observe enough to be without a telescope 2,400 other stars shining in the . sky that we On the TÜVtel map, you can see the night that there are sky over Germany lines connectin in December. g certain stars, constellation If you imagine they make fi Cassiopeia is gures: the constellat very easy to see. Its five main ions. The stars form a The constellat W. ions move across the sky at night. the polar star (Polaris). It is Only one star part of the Ursa doesn‘t change firmly in the Minor constellat its position: north while all the other ion and it seems stars rotate to be fixed around it.

Pay attention Harry Potter fans: When you belt stars to find Orion in the lower the sky and (“big dog“) constellat left, then you‘ll discover look along its Sirius, the brightest three ion. Sirius is name of Harry star in the Canis the Greek word Potter‘s godfather for “glowing Major “. And Sirius , who can change is also the himself into a big dog.

Lepus

Eridanus

Walfisch

r Warm Buzzing Each Othe into thin air in insects, bees vanish Like so many other it‘s much too cold surprising because But winter. That‘s hardly yellow striped creatures. little black and outside for the the cold months off to? Bees spend where do they buzz ibernating there.

Due to its many bright stars and its memorable shape, Orion is one of the best-known constellations.

If you take a long-exposure photograph of the sky, you can see that the stars are moving.

Proxima Centauri

Proxima Centauri

is the closest

star to the Earth.

Unfortunately, it doesn‘t shine brightly enough to be visible to the naked eye.

The long winter nights are perfect for watching the stars. TÜVtel shows you all the different things that are shining in the sky.

TÜVtel

3

Fast Facts

Hot Little Lamps

be pretty It wo uld t ter w itho u dull in w in lig hts. But g littering ly anyone what hard at the knows is th o be ns can als ail, the decoratio al bulbs f u id iv d in If extremely dangero us. n beco me a c s e n o , they remaining wors t case e th in t a ot th isk of hot - so h also the r is e r e h T . e nd plugs. s tart a fir p cables a a e h c m o r on f afe, TĂœV electro uti they are s r e th e h w t ts. The u gs of lig h To find o in tr s ts c e visible p ins ark that is m Rheinland S G a e fte s receiv for "geprĂź s d n g o o d o ne ta s S kag ing. G on the pac safety". r "tes te d o , " it e h r e Sich

ctor is The inspe ing g the ris measurin ure of temperat of lig hts a s tring borator y. in the la

Pen Po wer Resea rc

hers i n Swe devel den h ope d ave paper small t h at pro amo u n duces t yo u w s of e rite o l e c t r i n it. T city w he pa ingre d per's s hen ient i ecret s z It gen erates inc oxi de. an ele charg e whe ct yo u r n e t - in t it is p rical as f e e r h r h i o esse d s T case w the m Now t , i t e h t i a he sci is pen. wr entis t thinki ricity s are ng ab elect te d. o ut w they c ra hat an us g en e e thei minia r ture p aper power plant for. O ne i d e a to rec is harge a batter y w h il e writin g.

TĂœVtel

4

Knows no Fear Scientis ts in Arge ntina have discovered the sk eleton of the worl d's bigges t dinosaur.

It has been christ ened Dreadnoughtus sc hrani. That means "not af raid of anything ". After all, it wa s as big as a ho use and as heavy as a herd of elep hant s, so the primeval giant probably ha d no enemies.

The researchers es timate that it live d between 66 and 84 million years ago.

The co l ossal beas t w as 26 meters long and we ig he d abo ut 6 0 tons.

Look Around ok straig ht

lo ays to ld to Yo u are alw ike in d ing yo ur b ri n e h w d a er, it is ahe rrect. Howev o c is t a h T er . traffic ok back. Aft lo to t n a rt o eye on just as imp keep a close to d e e n u the all, yo ind yo u. As h e b p u s ll inland whatever ro o m TĂœV Rhe fr s rt e p x e traffic po int o ut: ulder er yo ur sho A g lance o v lly ves, especia li e v sa ld u co e re turning th when yo u a corner.

no Reverse Gear

Emus and kangaro o s are fas t runn ers. They c an easily rea ch spee d s of 50 kilo meters an ho ur - wh en they are go ing foward s, that is.

Amazing ly , neither animal ca n go backward s. That is why they appear on the Aus tralian coat of a r ms.

With them , the co un tr y wants to demons tr ate that things are always mo ving for ward s there, and that there are no backw ard s teps.

TĂœVtel

5

Internet

INTERNET? FORGET IT! gling, Playing games, go o – it is hard s d n ie fr to g in it r w ho ut the to imag ine life w it at Nick an d Internet. That's wh hen their t t u B o. to k in h t a Len rue: nightmare co mes t ly The web is su dden gone!

When everything stops working, panic quickly breaks out.

TĂœVtel

6

Bang!!! The door slams shut. Nick's big sister Sarah has disappeared into her room with her friends. The know-itall club is holding a meeting. Now Nick and his classmate Lena have the living room all to themselves. Yippee, a witch-free zone. "What should we do this afternoon?"

Lena thinks out loud. "First biology homework, then rollerblades?" suggests Nick. "Okay," says Lena. "And what's our homework?" "To find out how strong ants are.

That's how much they can carry. Great, we can quickly google that," adds Nick happily. At that moment, Sarah's door flies open again. "I can't believe it!" cries Sarah in a panic. "Facebook is gone! WhatsApp is gone!" Her voice grows shriller. "Google is gone! No YouTube! No emails!

The whole Internet is gone!"

Her know-it-all friends are standing behind her, typing furiously on their tablets. Perplexed, Nick glances at his cell phone. It's true: The browser on his smartphone isn't loading. Lena looks at her screen, too, and shakes her head. "Now we can't even google what's happening," shrieks Sarah. "What do we do now? This is the worst day of our liiives!"

"My God," thinks Nick. "Surely you can manage one day without the Internet!" Sarah and her friends see things differently. "But we wanted to watch movies! And do some online shopping!" "Um, Nick?" Lena interrupts the older girls' moaning. "What about biology? Who apart from Google knows how strong ants are?" Nick is certain: "I'm sure we can find that out even without the Internet."

THE SEARCH BEGINS First, they skim through Nick's animal book. There's a section about ants but it doesn't have what they're looking for. In the basement, they comb through the old encyclopedia. It has an impressive 24 volumes. One of them includes a column about ants but there's no information about how strong they are. Darn!

Next idea: They ring the neighbor's doorbell.

Read more on page 8 →

NO INTERNET: WHAT WOULD YOU THINK? Jessi: It wouldn' t bother me.

I do my homew ork without googling. And I don't have a smartphone eith er.

be a would t a h T i: n to ha Minh-K I couldn't liste r! disaste s anymore or my ng o s g. And new anythin d a ork. lo n dow uldn't w o w s e m app ga

d because ould be sa Flo: That w my father kype with ai I couldn't s in Shangh 's working e n H o . p re u o h m any nd we catc . y a d for a year a ry e Skype ev

TERNET?

WHAT IS THE IN

ables network that en a is et rn te In e Th in the world to every computer ter. ery other compu connect with ev e spiderweb. Th Think of it as a tions are the Internet connec computers threads and the here the are the points w t. Information threads intersec forth via these is sent back and make sure all connections. To can understand the computers me all speak the sa each other, they lled the Internet language. It is ca Protocol.

TĂœVtel

7

Internet

KERS

GOOD AND BAD HAC

acks t malicious digital att People who carry ou ck ional circles as bla are known in profess the ate IT systems with hats. Black hats infiltr l na ge, often with crimi aim of causing dama intentions. ere are the white hats.

On the other side, th to ckers but their goal is They also work as ha y. of gaps in their securit make people aware at TĂœV Rheinland, There are white hats . lled Security Analysts too. There, they are ca anies safer from They help make comp Internet attacks.

Nick and Lena go looking for answers.

She's a teacher but as it turns out, she only teaches German and sport. She has no idea about ants. Nick calls his mother at work. Her suggestion: the public library.

Nick and Lena go on a speedy bike tour. There are seven books about insects in the library. "Try the book called 'Strange Facts from the Animal Kingdom'," suggests the librarian. Unfortunately, it has already been borrowed.

Another dead end. They head back home. Their final hope is a phone call to the zoo. "Ask me anything you like about elephants," says the zookeeper who answers the phone. "But I have no idea about ants. Why don't you look on the Internet?" Lena hangs up in a huff.

"Look on the Internet? Forget it!" she grumbles.

NUISANCE TO THE RESCUE "Darn it!" swears Nick. "That's really the last thing we need. We can't do anything without the Internet. And we can forget about rollerblading, too. It's getting dark."

He kicks the door angrily. Lena flops tiredly onto the sofa. "I'll be interested to see whether anyone has done their biology homework tomorrow. I bet Ms. Dankert doesn't know the answer either." Nick is already thinking about the next problem. "I can forget about my app games as well. That's just great."

"Hey, relax," calls Sarah from her room. "What was the question again?" Lena reads it out in a bored voice: "How many times their own body weight can ants carry?" Nick snorts. As if the biggest pain of all time would have a clue about that. "Wait a second, let me think," murmers Sarah.

"Um, that's right: "They can carry up to 39.7 times their own weight," she says smartly. Nick and Lena stare at each other in astonishment. "How do YOU know?" hisses Nick. "My friend Google told me," says Sarah, who is now standing in the doorway grinning.

"The Internet has been back for ages, you idiots. It was just a short outage. Where have you been all afternoon anyway?

The end

TĂœVtel

8

ASK AN EXPERT l Hamburg e is Dr. Danie H e answer: hats knows th e it of the wh the boss . heinland at TÜV R

Question: Is someone protecting us from outages like that?

: Question te In rnet Is a total ssible? outage po

Dr. Daniel Hamburg says: It is highly unlikely. You would have to pull the plug on many thousa nds of devices at the same time. The Internet is like the postal service. If a street is blocked, then it might be a bit chaotic there.

However, the parcel will still reach its destina tion via a different route.

Dr. Danie l Hambu says: Ye rg s, comp uter scie do that ntists by not r elying o devices. n in d ividual Instead, they hav devices e many that are respons ible for perform ing the s ame tas k.

: stion I Que can how elf? d n A ys ect m prot

Computer programs are written in programming language. Hackers understand it perfectly.

Dr. Daniel st Hamburg says: The be lf is way to protect yourse to w ho ng by never forgetti manage without the Internet.

HACKERS AT TÜV RH

EINLAND!?

Companies and bank s are increasingly be ing targeted in digita means that criminals l attacks. That are hacking into their co mp ut er sy stems. Their goal is to spy out data an d steal information. To prevent these attacks are hackers working , there at TÜV Rheinland as specialists for IT secu IT stands for Informa rit y. tion Technology.

Their job is to check IT systems for any ga ps that somebody co hack into. To do that, uld the experts from TÜ V Rheinland put them in the shoes of the att selves ackers and try to hack into the systems themselves. If they fin d a hole, then it can be blocked. That wa digital crooks end up y, the having no access po ints left to attack.

TÜVtel

9

Svalbard

Arctic Adventure Svalbard is an Arctic archipelago at the northernmost tip of Norway. With temperatures averaging minus 4.5 degrees Celsius, it is inhospitable, lonely and barren there, both in summer and winter. Hardly anyone wants to live there.

Nevertheless, there is plenty to discover in the far north. ve all the of seeds arri New packets as enough antic vault h ig g e h T e. m ti n seeds. to four millio space for up

World's Biggest Open Air Laboratory

Scientists from more than ten different nations are working in the Ny-Ă…lesund international research village. Their focus is on Arctic and climate research. That involves analyzing everything from the depths of the ocean right up to the Earth's atmosphere. At onshore control stations, for example, they collect data that is important for monitoring climate change, observing alterations in the ozone layer, as well as measuring air pollution.

en F roz s Seed d vault, t guarde s from In a gian ring seed to s re a scientists rtant ost impo m 's d rl o include the w ps. They ro c l ra u at, agricult rice, whe rieties of a v y s, carrots e n a m , potato rn o c d n sa ous cliff soybean e enorm th g stored In . s e ato s are bein d e e s and tom 0 elsius.

0 d 800,0 egrees C n d u 8 ro 1 a s u r, in ted bunke ture of m n be plan tempera crops ca w e n at an icy re te e su me clima is to mak The aim like extre rs ures te s s n a e also jor dis after ma emics. It id p e being r p o u wars 't end n o d ts change, n pla cultural that agri ying out. d r o n forgotte TĂœVtel

10

With the big white pa rabolic reflector, researchers can receive radio waves from th e Earth's atmosphere.

N

Days W ithout Light The night from 21 to 22 Decem ber is the longest of the ye ar in 2014. It is kn own as the winter solstice.

In the northern he misphere, it is when the su n is at its lowes t point in the sky. In Svalbard , the sun doesn' t even rise durin this period. That g is due to the way the Earth is tilted towards the sun. After th e winter solstice, the days grow longer ag ai n and the nights become shorter. In the so uthern hemiphere, the whole process happens exactly the other way round.

Polar Night Arctic Circle: 24 hours of darkness

Equator: 12 hours of darkness

S

Polar Day Antarctic Circle: 0 hours of darkness

Polar Bear Country Around 3,000 polar bears live in Svalbard. That means they outnumber the people there. Polar bears might look cuddly but they are actually very dangerous. Although they mainly eat seals, the wild animals also attack humans. Nevertheless, they are a protected species and hunting them is forbidden.

Polar bears are wild animals so it's best to observe them from a distance.

TĂœVtel

11

Big Cities

Living in

Megacities

Moving from the country to the city is a big trend right now. More than half of all people already live in cities, and those cities are slowly bursting at the seams.

Tokyo, Mexico City, Beijing, São Paulo, Mumbai, Shanghai, Teheran – all hell is loose in the megacities around the globe: crowds, traffic chaos, noise, dirt, hardly anywhere to live and even less nature. Nevertheless, more and more people on every continent are streaming from the country into the cities. And those cities are getting bigger, growing from towns into major cities, then into metropolises and – from ten million inhabitants onwards – into megacities.

Life is tough in the overflowing major cities. In Addis Ababa, people suffer from a shortage of clean drinking water. Diseases are spreading via the contaminated water pipes. Waste disposal is a problem in Mexico City. And in the megacity of Teheran (shown in the background), thick smog obscures people's vision and makes it difficult to breathe.

Making life better Together with the respective city councils, as well as the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, scientists are developing ideas to improve the living conditions in nine selected metropolises.

You can see them on the map. With around 13.4 million inhabitants, Teheran is already a megacity. The other eight are well on their way there. But how do you make a major city clean, environmentally friendly and worth living in?

Thilo Petri from TÜV Rheinland knows the answers. He and his team are accompanying, supporting and advising on the projects for the megacities of the future.

TÜVtel

12

Clever urban planning When it comes to shaping the cities of the future, the list of possibilities is long. "Traffic is an important aspect" explains Petri. "The city must be planned in a way that enables everyone to reach their destination as easily as possible on foot, by bicycle, with the bus or by train." After all, the fewer cars there are on the road, the less exhaust gases are pumped out into the air. And people aren't as stressed when they're traveling somewhere.

The type of housing also plays a role in protecting the environment. "Planted roofs and facades don't just look good; they also help cool the building and improve the air quality," explains the expert from TÜV Rheinland. As well as saving energy, buildings should be able to produce electricity in the future, for example via rooftop solar panels that convert sunlight into power and heat. Another idea is to generate energy as a byproduct of sewage treatment or waste recycling. Special facilities make this possible.

There is no shortage of ideas. However it takes time to make them all happen. And time is scarce. The cities are growing relentlessly.

Day after day after day...

Lima

Country: Peru Population: ca. 8 million Main problems: drinking water and sewage

Of the 30 biggest megacities in the world, 20 are located in Asia and Latin America alone. They include Shanghai (left) and Mexico City (right).

Casablanca Country: Morocco Population: ca. 4 million Main problem: dwindling space for food cultivation

Ürümqi Country: China Population: ca. 4.5 million Main problems: water and power supplies

Teheran Country: Iran Population: 13.4 million Main problems: air pollution and housing shortage

Hefei Country: China Population: ca. 5.3 million Main problem: heavy traffic

Ho-chiminh-Stadt Addis Abeba Country: Ethiopia Population: ca. 4 million Main problems: waste management and water supply

Hyderabad Johannesburg Country: South Africa Population: ca. 4.5 million Main problem: lack of clean energy sources

Country: Vietnam Population: ca. 7.1 million Main problems: flooding and living space

Country: India Population: ca. 4 million Main problems: food and power supplies

TÜVtel

13

Winter Puzzles

Christmas os a h C e i k o Co

rder to the right o in s b m ru c ere Put the redients w t tasty ing a h w t u o kies. find ke the coo used to ba

O N N

C C

O

H

L E

C

O A

T

Twin Packs

are two ! And there ts if g se e th Look at all o, some are there? N r O . d in k many of each nique. How u y ll a u ct a parcels are a twin? don't have

TĂœVtel

14

N

O D

I

A

A M

M N

S

L

Challenge Find the Bells

Tricky Tree

How many little go lden bells are hidden in the text of the "Tess and Roby" story on pa ges 16 to 19?

Each number is the sum of the two numbers below it. Fill in the empty boxes with the correct figures. What number belongs in the green box?

86 42

10 8

2

s Solution

TĂœVtel

15

ate.

Cookie Chaos: The cookies contain almonds, cinnamon and chocol Twin Packs: There are two gifts that don't have a twin.

Find the Bells: There are eight little bells hidden in the story.

Tricky Tree: The number 8 belongs in the green box.

Tess and Roby

Roby Sees the Light

Tess is tinkering feverishly. An inventors’ competition has been announced and she really wants to win.

But that’s proving extremely difficult.

Annoyed, Tess screws up a sheet of scribbled paper and hurls it towards the bin. “It’s a complete load of rubbish!” she grumbles. Roby looks at his friend in surprise. He hasn’t seen her in such a bad mood for ages. She is sitting on the living room floor, cursing and staring at an angular wire frame. Roby fishes the crumpled page out of the wastepaper basket and smooths it out. He examines the drawing with interest: a bubble machine. “Is that for the inventors’ competition tomorrow?” he asks. Tess nods.

Then she pulls a furious face. What is so terrible about that, the robot wants to know. It’s a very nice idea really. “Nice idea?” says Tess angrily.

“You don‘t win with just a nice idea.”

“Now, why don’t you take a deep breath and tell me what the problem is,” suggests Roby.

Tess breathes in deeply. And out again. And once more: in and out. And a third time just to be on the safe side: in and out again. That’s already better. She tells Roby that she has been working really hard to invent something brilliant: a machine that makes square bubbles, to be precise. Now the machine is waiting in the

Square Bubbles?

It is impossible to blo w a square bubble. That is beca use the air-filled bubble always contrac ts until it has the smallest poss ible surface area. And that is a sp here. Of all the geometric shapes wi th an identical volume, it has the smallest surface area.

That is a law of nature.

TÜVtel

16

16

Bubbles always have a spherical shape.

basement workshop, all ready to go, and it even blows bubbles – but none of them are square.

The darn things are always round.

to enter with this boring bubble machine,” she says with a shrug before going off to bed. Being an inventor sure is tiring.

“But Tess, blowing square bubbles – that just isn’t possible,” o says Roby, shaking his head.

Tess really knows that too. But it would have been awesome if she’d invented a machine that spat out different shaped bubbles – against every law of nature. Oh well.

Now it’s too late anyway.

The competition is tomorrow at noon already. “Then I’ll just have

Roby thinks hard. Square bubbles. Now that really is crazy. But could there be another way to turn the machine into something amazing?

Deep in thought, he rolls into the workshop.

There is the machine. The robot considers it thoughtfully. An idea flashes through his circuits and a smile crosses his face as he gets to work.

Read more on page 18 →

Getting t rolling hings Since th e beginn ing of tim always e, people tinkered have around and inve things. O nted ne ne of m w any gro inventio undbrea ns was k in g t h e wheel, first dev which w eloped r as o ughly 5,5 ago. It w 00 years as a hug e hit. Aft wheel m er all, th ade it so e much ea transpo sier to rt goods over lon Howeve g distan r, nobod ces. y knows bright id w ho had t ea in the he first pla started ce. The rolling in w h e s and Asia everal p el laces in at the sa Europe me time .

The wheel has constantly developed and even now, it is impossible to imagine our day-to-day lives without it.

TÜVtel

17

Tess and Roby

The next day, it’s time for the competition.

It is already in full swing when Tess checks her watch impatiently at half past twelve.

Three judges are walking through the long rows of inventions. They examine everything thoroughly, ask questions and take notes. Tess steps nervously from one foot to the other.

“Stop fidgeting, here they come,” whispers Roby.

The judges stop in front of Roby and look down at him critically. “What is it and what can it do?” asks one of them, peering sceptically over his metal-rimmed glasses. “That’s not my invention!” laughs Tess. She points at the device that she has assembled on the table beside her.

“There it is: my bubble machine.”

TÜVtel

18

All three judges crane their necks so they can examine the machine from every angle. “Please activate it,” commands a judge. Tess is about to push the start button when Roby says “Turn the lights off first.” Tess gives him a questioning look. “Trust me,“ whispers the robot. “Lights off,” calls the judge, and the lights go out.

Tess pushes the start button and gasps in amazement: countless bubbles are flying out of the machine. But that’s not all. They are glowing in the most dazzling hues and bathing the dark room in colorful light. “They’re colored. Who would have expected that?” marvels the first judge. “Nobody,” agrees the second. “Truly magical,” raves the third. The other

entrants are equally enchanted by the gently floating, wondrous bubbles of light. “It was you Roby, wasn’t it,” whispers Tess with a grin.

Roby just giggles softly.

Back at home, Tess proudly puts a sparkling golden trophy on the shelf. “First Place in the 2014 Bright Spark Inventors’ Competition” is engraved on it. She looks at it thoughtfully.

“Now tell me, what did you actually do to make the bubbles glow? Was it a secret bubble additive?” Roby is rolling along beside her. Both their faces are reflected in the polished golden surface. “Oh, that doesn’t matter. The main thing is that we did it together, isn‘t it?”

Tess has to agree with him completely.

Nothing beats teamwork.

The end

Protecting Inventions

cause against time. That‘s be thing, you enter a race me so t en inv u To make yo nt. en me Wh y mo a similar invention at an th wi up me co uld co e at the patent office someone els tors apply for a patent en inv as, ide ir the al sure nobody can ste s that only the inventor act with the state. It say ntr co a is t ten pa A . try in their coun ir invention. real product out of the a ke ma to ht rig the s ha s already been invention is new or ha an er eth wh t ou d fin tents TÜV Rheinland can s around 50 million pa t tester Bruno Götz ha ten Pa t. ten pa a e by protected the perfect overview. Th database. That gives him r ute mp e co his in d ve sa t like the Christmas tre

by TÜV Rheinland, jus d cte pe ins be o als the n at patents ca isher has been installed in the photo. An extingu m ste sy s ing wa ish It gu e. tin ov ex s from ab on the burning branche ter wa ray sp to e tre top of the invented by a student.

TÜVtel

19

Behind the Scenes

?

u o y e r What a e? r e h t testing

Bridges

A Safe Crossing There is a big warning sign on the highway bridge. Yellow lights are flashing and a white arrow in a blue circle signals to drivers: Please change lanes! A glance under the bridge reveals why: Jürgen Nolden is at work. He inspects tunnels, the retaining walls of roads, and approximately 200 bridges a year.

During bridge inspections, the TÜV Rheinland employee looks for faults and then evaluates them. "They can be crooked or loose sections, cracks, chips, hollow and damp areas, or damage caused by an accident," explains the specialist.

With his expert eye, he doesn't miss a thing – neither on nor under the bridge. To examine the bottom, Nolden uses a bridgeunderside inspection apparatus. That is a truck parked on top of the bridge with an arm that extends over the side to reach underneath. This arm holds a basket from which the inspector can do his work. Sometimes he also has to abseil off bridges or even go diving to examine the pylons under water.

Jürgen nolden knows when a damaged bridge is dangerous.

TÜVtel

20

After he has checked everything, Nolden gives the bridge a score based on its condition. It is a bit like being at school. The worst mark for bridges is a four. After the inspection, all the damage is repaired and the traffic can roll safely over the bridge once more.

The World's Tallest Bridge When drivers want to cross the valley of the River Tarn in France, they travel across the Millau Viaduct at a height of 217 meters. The bridge is supported by seven slender pylons, the highest of which soars 343 meters above the valley. That makes the Millau Viaduct the tallest bridge construction in the world.

tor at Work The Bridge Inspec

The bridge bearings must be in good condition because they ensure that the superstructure and the substructure have adequate clearance, even when they expand slightly in the summer heat or contract in winter.

JĂźrgen Nolden taps the concrete areas with a hammer. If he discovers damaged sections, he marks them with chalk so that he doesn't lose sight of them.

With a crack width gauge (that's a special type of ruler), the expert determines how big the cracks in the bridge are.

The tester climbs under the bridge via the bridge-underside inspection apparatus.

TĂœVtel

21

Try It Out Scienc

e

stem Spells

Techno

STEM is the abbreviation for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics – all fields that involve exciting experiments.

logy

Today: M for Mathematics

nee

Engi

ri n g

Mathem

Chinese Multiplication

atics

digits, This trick makes it easy to multiply one and two-digit numbers. And of the h c a g e n i d n For o p all it takes is drawing lines and counting! The technique apparently corres na o draw a s e originated in China. n er of li s i h numb T er. of pap piece sed on e is ba l p m a ex Now you . need to 12 ×13 You then draw the lines for the count the interfaces where the second number, 13, from the top lines cros s each oth e r – from le left to the bottom right. This time, it's to right, th ft a t is .

T digit h first the of e answer: 1 important that the lines 56. go below the second digit: one line (for The lines of the firs the 1), a gap, and t number, go from th 1 2 , e bottom then three lines left to the top right.

So you dra above that w one line for the firs t digit (the (for the 3).

1), leave a gap, and then draw two lines undernea th it (for th e 2).

3

2

1

1

5

6

Careful: Sometimes an interface number is two digits long. Then you should simply add the first digit to the number on the left of it.

For example, 34 × 21 gives you 6, 11 and 4 interfaces.

The answer is then: (6 + 1) 1 4 = 714 Tip: This trick works best with small digits. If you use large ones, you have to count a huge number of interfaces.

Mathematics at TÜV Rheinland Ulrich Fietz from the Executive Board of TÜV Rheinland uses mathematics every day. And he does it gladly. After all, the figures reveal how the company is going.

For example, Fietz checks that there is enough money to pay the employees their wages. Or he calculates how much TÜV Rheinland can earn in the future TÜVtel with a particular service. And sometimes he also has to save money.

22

Fan Page

Q+A

e answer.

Yo u ask, w d ie when do whales

W hy they are Thea asks: en tho ug h v e , d n la they‘re on mam mals?

ou’ve surely Dear Thea! Y it too: When experienced el water, you fe you’re in the That is due to much lighter. hale e massive w buoyancy. Th g e same feelin also enjoys th ing through while it is glid owever, if the oceans. H , the whale it is beached irly quickly. suffocates fa ht when it ormous weig en s it s el fe on se it n so heavily That is becau presses dow t h g ei w no e n h ca T hale is on shore. s, that the w g n lu s it g in clud ds to be its organs, in dition, it nee ad In s. ie d kly he and it dy very quic longer breat water, its bo t u o h it W y. antl cooled const dries out.

Send it s tion to o? e u q a e v a We‘ll Do yo u h de.tuv.co m l@ te V E U T : by email to d ition. the next e in it r e sw n a

TÜVtel in Troisdorf Jo in in!

Flying High

e e won th illed. Sh r h t is la lu e st Ka one of th in d a u Q she’s Nano tel. Now V Ü T f o editions g it over ing, flyin ic t c a r p busily ooks or piles of b d n a s ir a ch ottles. around b

Learning is so much fun on TÜVtel day: At the Ronca lli School in Tr o isdorf, Germany, th e children in grade 3c loo forward to ev k ery new edit ion.

Is TÜVtel dis tributed at yo ur school?

Then send a photo of you r class to TUEVtel@de. tuv.com and tell us which sections of T ÜVtel you fin d really cool.

With a bit of luck, you can admire your photo in the next issue.

TÜVtel

23

BARN ROBOTS HELP OUT TÜVtel had a look inside a modern cowshed.

removal The manure all the into robot gets d pushes n a rs e rn co waste off the liquid ays. the walkw

The bristles of the scratching ro bot do the cow go od an d make its hi de gleam.

ilos of s 80 k r u o v e w d ay.

One co dder per d nsport fo r t ots a . b o r g Fee din to the bars hay

cell phone to steer The far mer uses his . an d control the robots

enter The cow can ilking m e th e av an d le r it ve robot whene . to wants

T E S S a n d R OB Y Look what I‘ve baked.

What is that meant to be?

Pat-A-Cake, Pat-A-Cake, Robot Man Au Ja, total gerne!

Wait a minute.

RoboterEissorten!

A gingerbread Roby!

TÜVtel – Who Made It? Publisher: TÜV Rheinland Aktiengesellschaft, Communikation, Am Grauen Stein, D-51105 Cologne Responsible: Aud Feller, v. i. S. d. P. (responsible according to the German press law) Editing: S+L Partners GmbH, Cologne Printing: Druckhaus Ley + Wiegandt, Wuppertal Photos: All Roby and Tess illustrations by Franz Gerg/Comic-Agentur Roberto Freire; TÜV Rheinland AG: (cover, pp. 2, 4, 9, 19, 20-21, 22); Mari Tefre: Svalbard Global Seed Vault (p. 10); PLAYMOBIL (p. 14); Universal (p. 14); Universum Kids (p.

15); Carrera RC (p. 15); private source (p. 23); Lely Deutschland GmbH (p. 24); iStockphoto.com: archibald1221 (cover), davorr (pp. 2, 15), enjoynz (p. 3), CoreyFord (p. 4), goldenKB (pp. 6, 8), Glam-Y (p. 7), alenkadr (p. 9), mmac72 (pp. 10-11), jennifermecca2013 (pp.12-13), ntzolov (p. 13), Natural_Warp, Nemida, istmylisa, (p. 14), malija (pp. 14-15), Baks (p. 15), MR1805 (p. 23); 123RF.com: Sergei Uriadnikov (cover), Eric Isselee (p. 2), Stoyan Haytov (pp. 2, 22), ladyann (p. 4), Nadiya Vlashchenko, forsterforest (p. 5), mamanamsai (p. 8), ifong (p. 10), James Steidl (p. 17), Mikhail Mandrygin (p. 21); Fotolia.com: grafikplusfoto (cover), Dmytro Smaglov (p. 3), tovovan, arturaliev, Aleksandr Bryliaev, Dirk Schumann, eyewave (pp.

4-5), valdis torms (pp. 4-5, 22), lubashka (p. 5), bluedesign (pp. 6-7), Photo Tuller, leungchopan, mrslevite, paulrommer (p. 7), maxbaer (p. 10), kebay, Peter Hermes Furian (p. 11), yuliufu (p. 13), farbkombinat (p. 16), J BOY (pp. 16-17), Photocreo Bednarek (p. 24); shutterstock.com: gpointstudio, Borna_Mirahmadian, Alexandra Giese, Megan R. Hoover, JSseng (p. 3), Borna_Mirahmadian (pp. 12-13), James Steidl (p. 17), Alexey Fyodorov (pp. 18-19)