The Physics in Cars
The Safety Features
Cars have come a long way in terms of safety features since the car was first invented from the seat belt and safety glass to some of the modern changes that I will be covering here. I want to talk about one of the biggest changes in car safety ever here, that is the crumple zone. You may have heard people talking about their old Cadillac and how safe they are compared to these tiny little modern cars because of how much more metal is in them. This is not the case with the invention of the crumple zones. The old vehicles used to rely on a body on frame design which meant the whole car was ridgedly attached and connected from front to back and in terms of a crash this is actually bad news. As you may know that energy does not change, all of the energy that was going with the car is suddenly stopped. In the Cadillac the energy is traveling through a solid metal frame and all of the energy goes through the whole car.
(Carcrashtest.com Safety Features)
Car Crash Test Video
The new modern cars now days are a unibody construction which means that the frame is built into the bodywork of the car. This makes them lighter and smaller and more efficient but does it make them less safe? With the invention of the crumple zones and high strength tensile steel this actually means that the cars today are much safer than those old cars could ever dream of being. The crumple zone in the car acts an airbag would for the passenger which means that in an impact the energy that impacted the car goes through a crumple zone which is a specially designed section of the cars frame that gives away as it is in an impact. This process called deformation disperses the energy as it gives in and reduces the forces on the car as it gives away. The second part in addition to the crumple zone is the strengthened steel cabin of the car which in an impact is designed to hold its shape and protect the passengers as the crumple zone absorbs the impact. These two pieces combined add up to a much greater safety for the passengers of a vehicle of today than that of a vehicle in the past.
(Wikipedia Safety Features)
In the picture above you can see that the car is in two different colors that are representing the different sections of metal in the car. Yellow indicates the crumple zones and orange indicates the reinforced chassis. As you can see from the picture the yellow areas are in places that take the impact and forces on the car that deform and absorb them while the orange sections are designed to stay ridged and protect the passengers.
Cars have come a long way in terms of safety features since the car was first invented from the seat belt and safety glass to some of the modern changes that I will be covering here. I want to talk about one of the biggest changes in car safety ever here, that is the crumple zone. You may have heard people talking about their old Cadillac and how safe they are compared to these tiny little modern cars because of how much more metal is in them. This is not the case with the invention of the crumple zones. The old vehicles used to rely on a body on frame design which meant the whole car was ridgedly attached and connected from front to back and in terms of a crash this is actually bad news. As you may know that energy does not change, all of the energy that was going with the car is suddenly stopped. In the Cadillac the energy is traveling through a solid metal frame and all of the energy goes through the whole car.
(Carcrashtest.com Safety Features)
Car Crash Test Video
The new modern cars now days are a unibody construction which means that the frame is built into the bodywork of the car. This makes them lighter and smaller and more efficient but does it make them less safe? With the invention of the crumple zones and high strength tensile steel this actually means that the cars today are much safer than those old cars could ever dream of being. The crumple zone in the car acts an airbag would for the passenger which means that in an impact the energy that impacted the car goes through a crumple zone which is a specially designed section of the cars frame that gives away as it is in an impact. This process called deformation disperses the energy as it gives in and reduces the forces on the car as it gives away. The second part in addition to the crumple zone is the strengthened steel cabin of the car which in an impact is designed to hold its shape and protect the passengers as the crumple zone absorbs the impact. These two pieces combined add up to a much greater safety for the passengers of a vehicle of today than that of a vehicle in the past.
(Wikipedia Safety Features)
In the picture above you can see that the car is in two different colors that are representing the different sections of metal in the car. Yellow indicates the crumple zones and orange indicates the reinforced chassis. As you can see from the picture the yellow areas are in places that take the impact and forces on the car that deform and absorb them while the orange sections are designed to stay ridged and protect the passengers.