CAR-CRASH EXPERIMENT FOR THE UNDERGRADUATE LABORATORY

An interesting, inexpensive, and highly motivating experiment for the undergraduate laboratory has been developed. This experiment has its origin in research conducted by the Texas Transportation Institute on the feasibility of vehicle crash cushions. Uniform and accelerated motion is studied by measuring the position of a car as a function of time as it crashes into a rigid wall. The data are obtained from a sequence of pictures made by high speed cameras which recorded the actual crash. This experiment effectively shows the student the relationship between velocity and acceleration without elaborate equipment for the experimental set-up.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/00029505
• Corporate Authors:

  American Institute of Physics

  One Physics Ellipse
  College Park, MD  United States  20740-3843
• Authors:
  • Ball, P L
• Publication Date: 1974-8

Media Info

• Pagination: p. 645-648
• Serial:
  • American Journal of Physics
  • Volume: 42
  • Issue Number: 8
  • Publisher: American Association of Physics Teachers
  • ISSN: 0002-9505

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash cushions; Crash tests; Crashes; Experiments; High speed photography; Laboratory studies; Mechanical acceleration; Students; Testing; Velocity
• Subject Areas: Education and Training; Highways; Research; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00080750
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Mar 26 1975 12:00AM