Altacts
ewton's first law of motion
and collisions
different objects behave differently during
collisions. many objects actually deform, or change
shape, during a collision. cars are designed to
deform in specific ways during a collision. this is an
important safety feature because it reduces the force
acting on the passengers in the car. some of the
energy from the moving car goes into deforming the
vehicle rather than affecting the passengers.
recall that newton's first law of motion
describes the inertia of an object, or an object's
resistance to a change in motion. how does inertia autom
affect collisions? look at the car crash shown. you
know that when the car stops, the passengers will
cue to move due to inertia. this is why we have seat belts to stop passengers dummy
a collision. how does inertia explain the crumpling of the car during the com
automotive engineers study collisions to protect passengers
from harm in collisions such as this one.
5. collaborate with a partner, analyze the collision shown in the photo. use you
knowledge of newton's laws of motion and collisions to describe the motion of the
car throughout the collision.