Matthew Somerville January 18, 2012 Honors Physics Lab: Momentum, Energy, and Collisions Period 5 Mr.

Szabla 1. A collision between two cars with magnetic bumpers would be an elastic collision, because the cars would bounce off each other. 2. A collision between two cars with velcro bumpers would be a completly inelastic collision, because the two cars would stick together after the crash. 3. A collision between a car with a magnetic bumper and a car with a velcro would be an inelastic collision, because kinetic energy would be lost, but the cars would not stick together. 3a. The change in momentum for the cars without the crumple zone was about double the change in momentum of the cars with the crumple zone. This is because the cars with the crumple zones moved towards each other at constant velocity before the impact. But, after the impact, they were both stopped and attached together. The cars without the crumple zones also moved towards each other at constant velocity before the impact. However, after the collision, they were both moving away from each other at constant velocity. This means that there was a greater change in momentum on the cars without the crumple zones. 3b. The change in velocity for the cars without the crumple zone was about double the change in velocity of the cars with the crumple zone. This is because the cars with the crumple zones moved towards each other at constant velocity before the impact. But, after the impact, they were both stopped and attached together. The cars without the crumple zones also moved towards each other at constant velocity before the impact. However, after the collision, they were both moving away from each other at constant velocity. This means that there was a greater change in velocity on the cars without the crumple zones.

3c. A person in a car without a crumple zone would experience greater acceleration, and therefore more trauma, in a crash than a person in a car with a crumple zone would experience. This is because the crumple zone causes a great amount of kinetic energy to be lost in order to warp and bend the steel of the car. A car without a crumple zone allows the car to survive the impact of a small crash, but all of the kinetic energy and momentum changes associated with the crash will all be channeled right through the driver as various changes in acceleration. The more changes in acceleration there are over a period, the more likely it is that the driver will experience severe trauma. 5a. The cars change in momentum was greater than the trucks change in momentum because the car had less mass, and they were both moving towards each other at the same constant speed. 5b. The driver of the cars change in velocity was also greater than the driver of the trucks change in velocity because the car had less mass, and they were both moving towards each other at the same constant speed. 5c. Because the person in the car would experience a greater change in momentum, and in velocity, that the person in the truck, he would also experience a greater change in acceleration than the person in the truck. This is because the truck is more massive that the truck. As a result, the driver of the car would experience more trauma than the person in the truck. 5d. If one were ever involved in a head on collision in a car, he should hope that the other vehicle is another car, because, if it is a truck, he will have much more trauma that if the other vehicle is a car. This is because there is a substantial mass difference between a car and a truck. So, the driver in the car will experience an elastic collision with the truck which will mean a large change in momentum, velocity, and acceleration. The larger change in acceleration will mean a larger amount of trauma for the person in a car hit head on by a truck.

7a. The car had a larger change in momentum than the truck because the truck accelerated the car to its velocity, while the truck remained close to its original constant velocity. This occurs because the car has substantially less mass than the truck. 7b. The car had a larger change in velocity than the truck because the truck accelerated the car to its velocity, while the truck remained close to its original constant velocity. This occurs because the car has substantially less mass than the truck. 7c. The driver of the car feels a large amount of acceleration towards his windshield. This will result in large amounts of trauma for that poor driver. The driver of the truck will experience, if anything at all, a small amount of acceleration backwards as his large truck slams into the back of the small car. 1. Newton's first law states that an object in motion will stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. If a vehicle is traveling at 50 mph, so are the people inside and if the vehicle stops abruptly into another car head on at the same 50 mph, the people will tend to keep going in the same direction at 50 mph, unless of course something stops them. What's more, even if the people themselves stop, their internal organs will continue to move, thus causing severe trauma. Also, Newtons second law says that force equals mass multiplied by acceleration. Translated to our situation, that of an accident, it means that the force experienced by the automobile and its occupants decreases if the time required by the vehicle to stop increases. Based on Newtons laws, Crumple zones are an effective way to protect the driver of a car because they absorb the kinetic energy over a longer period of time as the steel nose of the car begins to deform, while the passenger compartment remains ridged and strong, protecting its occupants from the forces and energy being channeled around it.

2. Newtons second law again says that force equals mass multiplied by acceleration. So, a vehicle that is larger will apply a greater force on another vehicle during an accident than a less massive vehicle would be able to. That is why drivers of less massive vehicles sustain more serious and numerous injuries during an accident than drivers of more massive vehicles. Because, when two bodies collide, the larger force wins. Therefore, a less massive car will be accelerated at a faster rate by the larger force coming from a larger car. This will result in the occupants of smaller cars experiencing more traumas in accidents, due to the faster acceleration, than occupants of larger cars. Analysis/ Questions: 1. I was able to predict that momentum would be conserved in each collision that was created for two reasons. The first was because the wheels of the cars were frictionless. Therefore, the frictional force was not interfering with the constant velocities of the cars. The second reason was because all collisions were elastic collisions. There was not one where the cars stuck perfectly together and stopped moving like they eventually do in real life. 2. The sum forces being exerted between the vehicles involved in a crash must be absorbed fully by the other car for energy to be conserved. So, if one car puts a force of 115 J onto another, that car needs to absorb that force of 115 J and convert it into either kinetic energy or potential energy. 3. If the mechanical energy was not conserved, it was because those collisions were not elastic collisions, and the crumple zone was used to absorb energy and prevent it from accelerating the car any further. 4. What determines whether or not energy is conserved during the collision is whether or not the vehicles involved have advanced crumple zones to absorb the energy being excerpted on them. If

both of the cars have crumple zones, then the cars will stick together and no energy will be conserved because it all would have been absorbed by the two crumple zones. This is an elastic collision. If both of the cars did not have crumple zones, then the cars will bounce off of each other and all of the energy will be conserved because there would have been no crumple zone to absorb it. This is a completely inelastic collision. If onlty one car had a crumple zone, and the other car did not, then the cars will still bounce off of each other slightly. However, some of the energy will be absorbed, and as a result not all of it will be conserved, because there is a crumple zone to absorb some of the energy released by the imapct. This is an inelastic collision. 5. It would not be better to crash into a solid wall than another car because of Newtons 2nd law, which states that a force is the product of mass and acceleration. A solid wall is going to have a much larger mass than a car. So, the wall will exert a larger force on the car than another car will exert on the car. Therefore, the car and its occupants will suffer more damage and trauma when the car hits a wall than when it hits another car. 6. The observations make me understand how dangerous it is for me, in my little two door coupe, to be hit by a large truck on the highway. That is the reason I do not like trucks, and try to stay away from them. But, in terms of head on collisions with other cars, they stink too. Anyways, I should try to get a larger car when I get older and have the means to purchase one because they are defiantly safer because they are more massive. Finally, if I were ever in an accident, I should bake sure that I had a car with a crumple zone, so I could protect myself in a crash. Bonus I. As specific as I could get is a very large truck moving very slowly is rear ended by a very small car moving very fast.

II. As specific as I could get is a very large truck moving very slowly is hit head on by a very small car moving very quickly.