http://fox17online.com/2013/02/26/bus-crashes-near-grand-valley-state-university/
The above is a link to one of the stories that was written on the local news website. Unfortunately I could not find a picture of the car. Lets just say my friends could not believe I survived when they saw the pictures of the car.
What I have always wanted to do is calculate the amount of momentum that was applied to the car and onto myself. This can be done using math and physics. We know that we can find the momentum of both the bus and the car I was in. Momentum is defined as:
p = mv
where p: momentum
m: mass
v: velocity
We can look up the mass of the grand rapids bus and the car I was in. The car I was in was a Pontiac Sunfire.
Mass of Grand Rapids Bus: 40000 lbs or 18143 kg
Mass of Pontiac Sunfire: 2606 lbs or 1182 kg
I can take a pretty good guess that we were both moving at around 25 mph at the point of the accident. That is about 11 m/s.
Momentum of the Pontiac Sunfire = mv = (18143)(11) = 199573 kg*m
Momentum of the Grand Rapids Bus = mv = (1182)(11) = 13002 kg*m
As you can see, the bus won this battle. It had way more momentum than the car and that's why I was injured so badly. The car was knocked back and smashed in badly. This was something I have always wanted to do. I just wanted to see how much more momentum the bus had than the car. I can't believe my injuries weren't worse.
This is a perfect example for using a real life scenario in math. I know this is more of a physics problem, but physics always uses math. I think that I can use this example in other ways that will be more applicable to the math classes that I will be teaching in the future.
Interesting real life scenario! I think what's missing is something only you can tell. After calculating the momenta, tell what that looks/feels like from the inside. Did the bus divert at all? Was it like the bus picked up the car? How much did the car crumple? Where did that energy go? Physics-wise, why compare momentum instead of energy or mass? Sometimes with these kind of calculations you see a comparison on the other side. The bus hitting your car would be like the car hitting a... (complete)
ReplyDeleteBut thanks for sharing such a personal and scary context!
clear, coherent, content, consolidated +
Units at the end, kg m/s.
I think that this is a great way to get students involved in a math class. Having them figure out the potential dangers of car crashes. Or you could even make this into a future game and have them battle cars to see who would win in the crash when they are traveling at different speeds and have different masses. Could be very interesting! Overall I think that this is a great example!!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post. I think it is important to share real life events in your classroom. This helps the students understand WHY we need math and how the world operates around it. The students can also relate to this example and picture it, as they probably all have seen a car accident on the news or in person unfortunately. Keeping the students engage will help the learning process. Glad to hear you are safe and recovered!
ReplyDelete