Student Tools Glossary Home Page
In this module you will be investigating how the length of skids marks
left by a car when it has to stop suddenly is affected by several factors.
Police officers and others who work in the field of “accident
forensics” call the sudden stop a “Rapid Braking Event” or RBE.
Accident reconstructionists use physics and mathematical relationships to
tell what happened in automobile accidents in order to determine the amount of
forces involved, speeds involved, and in some cases, which driver is at fault in
the accident.
You will also be using your knowledge of physics and mathematics to solve
this problem. You will be using standard
concepts from mechanics. You
may want to review equations you need.
If you find you are interested in learning more about accident
reconstruction, you can visit the following pages:
http://www.e-z.net/~ts/physics.htm
V=d/t
A=dv/t
or Vf = vi –at
D=1/2
at2
F(f)
= m(F(N))
W(N) = mg
In this module you will need to understand the concepts of velocity, acceleration, forces (including coefficient of friction and the normal force), and Newton’s Laws of Motion. You really want to think about the relationships between all these concepts- how one concept can be found within another, or how one concept has been built off another. Two web sites that will help you review are:
The Physics Classroom http://www.glenbrook.k12.il.us/gbssci/phys/Class/BBoard.html
and The Physics Zone http://www.sciencejoywagon.com/physicszone/lesson/default.htm.
The
Physics Classroom provides tutorials and animations designed to help you
think about relationships in 1-D kinematics and in forces.
Particularly helpful are 1-D Kinematics- Lessons 1:a, b, c, and 2,3,4,6
and Newton’s Laws- Lessons 1 and 2. The
Physics Zone supplies text with animations or movies.
Some of these are clickable so you can relate mathematics and concepts.
Visit the "Motion", "Speed and Velocity", "Acceleration",
and "Force of Friction" pages.