Working as a Scientist Asking Questions and Making Predictions
Buckle up! Investigating the Physics of Seat Belts You have most likely been a passenger in a car or bus before and have hopefully used a seat belt. The Irish Road Safety Authority (RSA) says that ‘seat belts are your best protection in accidents and it is especially important that any child in your vehicle be protected by the safety restraint appropriate to their size and weight’.
Step 1: Prior knowledge and experience
Before starting any investigation, it is useful to make a note of all the relevant information you already know. This will help you to make decisions and also predictions about what you will test.
1 Make notes about everything you know about car safety. What types of safety features do cars have? What do these safety features do? Now think about seat belts. Why are they needed? How are they designed? How do they work? Are there different types of seat belts? What factors would affect the way they work in a crash?
Step 2: Asking questions
To increase awareness amongst young people, your local youth group has asked you and your lab partner to write a blog on the importance of wearing seat belts. They want you to create an investigation to show what would happen in crash tests with and without wearing a seat belt.
2 What do you think you should test to show what would happen if you did or did not wear a seat belt in a crash? What would you expect to be the outcome from a crash where you did or did not wear a seat belt? Make a list of other questions you might ask.
Step 3: Developing a line of inquiry
The youth group want you to continue with the task as follows: z Make a crash test dummy out of modelling clay. z Design a vehicle and place the dummy in it.
z Slide the vehicle down a ramp to simulate a crash. You will have to think of a way to arrange the apparatus so it will cause a collision.
z Note the damage to the crash test dummy. z Use sticky tape to make a seat belt for the dummy.
z Repeat the investigation with the dummy strapped in the seat belt.
