Inside a Car Plant: teacher key

How Cars Are Made, grade 8 edition, written for 8th grade. A walk through the shops of a car plant, from steel rolls and giant presses to paint, robots and the moment called marriage.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. Which shop starts the process in a car plant?
   • The press shop (answer)
   • The paint shop
   • The assembly hall
2. What did Tesla's special aluminum alloy let it skip?
   • A heat-treating step after casting (answer)
   • The paint shop
   • The press shop
3. What job did the first Unimate robot do?
   • Painted car bodies
   • Unloaded hot castings from a die-casting press (answer)
   • Built engines
4. What is the clear coat for?
   • To give the car its color
   • To make the surface smooth
   • To protect the color (answer)
5. Why did carmakers stop work in 2021?
   • A shortage of computer chips (answer)
   • Too many robots
   • A lack of steel

Words

• stamping: pressing metal
• primer: first paint layer
• alloy: mixed metal
• marriage: body-engine joining