by Kevin Olivier

Created on: February 26, 2009

(Before reading this article, let it be noted that physics is an extremely complex subject to teach and grasp. Because of the many complexities involved every day events, I will be writing this article with the impression that the reader knows absolutely nothing on the subject. I will assume that this is a mere introduction to the subject and will write the article on the basis of that assumption. If you are well versed in physics, you will notice that I leave out many details and factors, such as friction, angle of impact, heat energy release, sound energy, etc. I assure you that this was done of purpose in order to get the basic concepts of an automobile accident accross.)

Because of the nature of the subject of this article, there is no real way to start talking about the physics of automobile accidents. One could talk first about the momentum involved in accidents, the exchange of energy between system, or even the role of breaks in decreasing the transferred forces between systems. While all of those subjects pertain directly to the main idea of this article, I think that I would like to start out by saying that automobiles are more dangerous than most people think. Every year, around 40,000 people lose their lives in automobile accidents, due in part to the drivers decisions, but also due to the nature of the physics involved in each accident.

In order to show the physics involved in automobile accidents, let us create a hypothetical situation in which a small SUV crashes into a brick wall.There are two main equations used when discussing inpacts between an automobile and another object; these are the formulas for Force and Momentum.

Force = Mass x Accelleration

Momentum = Mass x Velocity

The reason these two equations are important is because they describe the nature of each "system" before and after the collision. In order to give a general explaination of the involved physics, I will keep the example very simple; this means I will be excluding wind resistance, friction, heat energy, sound energy, etc. To put it in simplest terms, we will be dealing with a closed system collision in which force and momentum are conserved.

Now, as the automobile is moving, we recognice there is no force being applied to it or by it. We can deduce this by noticing that the velocity is constant; this means that there is no accelleration, and therefore the force is zero. As for the momentum, we need to find the car's mass and plug it, along with it's velocity, into the equation.

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