Concept explainers
Seat belts and air bags save lives by reducing the forces exerted on the driver and passengers in an automobile collision. Cars are designed with a “crumple zone” in the front of the car. In the event of an impact, the passenger compartment decelerates over a distance of about 1 m as the front of the car crumples. An occupant restrained by seat belts and air bags decelerates with the car. By contrast, an unrestrained occupant keeps moving forward with no loss of speed (Newton’s first law!) until hitting the dashboard or windshield, as we saw in Figure 4.2. These are unyielding surfaces, and the unfortunate occupant then decelerates over a distance of only about 5 mm.
a. A 60 kg person is in a head-on collision. The car’s speed at impact is 15 m/s. Estimate the net force on the person if he or she is wearing a seat belt and if the air bag deploys.
b. Estimate the net force that ultimately stops the person if he or she is not restrained by a seat belt or air bag.
c. How do these two forces compare to the person’s weight?
Want to see the full answer?
Check out a sample textbook solutionChapter 5 Solutions
College Physics: A Strategic Approach (3rd Edition)
Additional Science Textbook Solutions
Physics: Principles with Applications
Introduction to Electrodynamics
Life in the Universe (4th Edition)
University Physics Volume 2
Sears And Zemansky's University Physics With Modern Physics
Conceptual Integrated Science
- 4. Please answer in regular notation.arrow_forwardYou are driving through the Ouachita Mountains at 12m/s. You see a maple-leaf oak (Quercus acerifolia) crossing the road and hit the brakes, 20m away. The coefficient of kinetic friction between your tires and the road is μ_k = 0.7. Will you strike this endangered broadleaf? Justify your answer with a calculation.Your final answer should be the distance you will travel before coming to a stop.arrow_forwardAn empty box is travelling on the conveyor with 0.2 m/s, then 12 kg package is dropped into this box with 1 m/s speed. When dropped, package and box are immediately sticked together. Friction coefficeient between the box and the conveyor is μk = 0.2 . After the package dropped, package and box start sliding on the conveyor for some distance, d for t(sliding) amount of time. Determine the distance, d.arrow_forward
- A 3 kg and a 5 kg box rest side-by-side on a smooth, level floor. A horizontal force of 32 N is applied to the 3 kg box pushing it against the 5 kg box, and, as a result, both boxes slide along the floor. What is the magnitude of the contact force between the two boxes? Assume no friction.arrow_forwardThe lubrication of bone joints is a subject of ongoing medical research. Two bones connected at a joint do not touch. The bones are covered in articular cartilage, and are surrounded by lubricating synovial fluid. Rheumatoid arthritis results in overproduction of synovial fluid, swollen joints, and difficult and painful movement. Other joint disorders degrade the synovial fluid, directly increasing the friction between the bones, resulting in painful motion. The horizontal force F⃗h would rotate the femur head clockwise in the hip socket, but the frictional force f⃗f acts to prevent this clockwise rotation. The apparatus is designed such that when |F⃗h| > |f⃗f|, the femur head rotates clockwise. A sample of data collected at impending slippage of the femur is shown in the figure.(Figure 1). Based on these data, what is the approximate coefficient of static friction μs between the femur head and the hip socket? Enter your answer numerically to one significant figure.arrow_forwardA hockey puck (mass = 4 kg) leaves the players stick with a speed of 12 m/s and slides on the ice before coming to rest. The coefficient of friction between the puck and the ice is 0.3. How far will the puck slide after leaving the players stick?arrow_forward
- A 4000 lb automobile is traveling at 68 mph along a highway. The pavement is dry and level. The driver sees an obstruction in the road ahead and hits the brakes very hard. The vehicle is not equipped with anti-lock brakes, and the car begins to skid. The coefficient of kinetic friction between the pavement and the tires is 0.8. How far will the car skid before it comes to a complete stop? V² = V₁² + 2as B D 50 ft 100 ft 200 ft 400 ftarrow_forwardAnswer 1 and 2 please 1. Suppose you are in an enclosed boxcar, initially at rest on a track with no friction. You throw heavy darts at the front wall of the car which stick right into it. You MAY IGNORE DRAG FRICTION of the darts while they are in the air. Describe the motion of the cart. Select one: i) The cart does not move. ii) The cart moves backwards while the darts are in the air and stops completely when the dart impacts the front wall. iii) The cart moves backwards while the dart is in the air and slows down a bit but is still going backward slowly after the dart’s impact. iv) The cart moves forward slowly. v) The cart moves backwards while the dart is in the air and moves forwards slowly after impact. 2. Suppose you are in an enclosed boxcar, initially at rest on a track with no friction. You throw heavy darts at the front wall of the car which stick right into it. You MAY NOT IGNORE DRAG FRICTION of the darts while they are in the air. Describe the motion of the cart.…arrow_forwardA waitress shoves a ketchup bottle with mass 0.45 kg to her right along a smooth, level lunch counter. The bottle leaves her hand moving at 2.8 m/s, then slows down as it slides because of a constant horizontal friction force exerted on it by the countertop. It slides for 1.0 m before coming to rest. What is the magnitude of the friction force acting on the bottle?arrow_forward
- A block of mass 13 kg is given an initial speed of 12 m/s, after which it slides across a horizontal floor for a distance of 18 meters before kinetic friction alone brings it to rest. The coefficient of kinetic friction between the block and the floor is 0.52 O 0.41 O 0.12 0.24 0.36 OOOOarrow_forwardInternal injuries in vehicular accidents may be due to what is called the “third collision.” The first collision is the vehicle hitting the external object. The second collision is the person hitting something on the inside of the car, such as the dashboard or windshield. This may cause external lacerations. The third collision, possibly the most damaging to the body, is when organs, such as the heart or brain, hit the ribcage, skull, or other confines of the body, bruising the tissues on the leading edge and tearing the organ from its supporting structures on the trailing edge. a. Why is there a third collision? In other words, why are the organs still moving after the second collision?b. If the vehicle was traveling at 60 mph before the first collision, would the organs be traveling faster than, equal to, or slower than 60 mph just before the third collision?arrow_forwardA large box of mass M is moving on a horizontal floor at speed v0. A small box of mass m is sitting on top of the large box. The coefficient of static friction between the two boxes is μs and coefficient of kinetic friction between the large box and floor is μk. Find an expression for the shortest distance dmin in which the large box can stop without the small box slipping.arrow_forward
- Principles of Physics: A Calculus-Based TextPhysicsISBN:9781133104261Author:Raymond A. Serway, John W. JewettPublisher:Cengage LearningPhysics for Scientists and Engineers: Foundations...PhysicsISBN:9781133939146Author:Katz, Debora M.Publisher:Cengage Learning