Pontoon bridge using a single 'o'. The U.S. military differentiated between the bridge itself ("ponton") and the floats used to provide buoyancy ("pontoon"). The original word was derived from Old French "ponton", from Latin "ponto" ("ferryboat"), from "pons" ("bridge"). When designing a pontoon bridge, the civil engineer must take into consideration the Archimedes' principle: Each pontoon can support a load equal to the mass of the water that it displaces. This load includes the mass of the bridge and the pontoon itself. If the maximum load of a bridge section is exceeded, one or more pontoons become submerged. Flexible connections have to
Suspension (vehicle) Mini. A number of different types of each have been used: Traditional springs and dampers are referred to as passive suspensions — most vehicles are suspended in this manner. The majority of land vehicles are suspended by steel springs, of these types: Automakers are aware of the inherent limitations of steel springs, that they tend to produce undesirable oscillations, and have developed other types of suspension materials and mechanisms in attempts to improve performance: The shock absorbers damp out the (otherwise simple harmonic) motions of a vehicle up and down on its springs. They also must damp out much of