Schottenbauer Publishing

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Automobile Collisions in the Lab

Automobile collisions can be studied safely in the laboratory, demonstrating force and acceleration with model cars. The graph below is excerpted from The Science of Cars: Volume 2 from Schottenbauer Publishing.




Discussion Questions
  1. Is the accelerometer on the car or the Hummer? How can this be determined?
  2. What is the maximum acceleration?
  3. What is the maximum force?
  4. How many collisions are shown in the graph?
  5. For each collision, state the acceleration and force involved in the collision.
  6. Calculate the average acceleration and average force across all collisions.
  7. Estimate the average force and average acceleration prior to the collisions.
  8. Write a proportion which relates the average force of impact to the average force prior to the collision. 
  9. Write a proportion which relates the average acceleration at impact to the average acceleration prior to the collision.
  10. Does the angle of collision affect the impact? How?


Additional Information