Name Date
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Momentum Portfolio Worksheet
Directions: Use this worksheet to record your answers to the two activities that
make up the Momentum Portfolio: the Seatbelt Design Portfolio activity and the
Impact of Force Portfolio activity. When you are finished, save this worksheet with
your answers and submit it for a portfolio grade.
Seatbelt Design Portfolio
Use what you have learned about motion, force, inertia, and efficiency to analyze
how seatbelts and ai
ags function in a car crash and to consider how seatbelt and
ai
ag design might be improved. Record your answers below.
Question 1
a. Research the history of seatbelt design. Consider the milestones in the
development of seatbelts shown in the table below and any others you might find.
Add 2–3 milestones to the list.
Year Seatbelt Design Improvements
mid-1800s First seatbelt is invented by Sir George Cayley in England for use in
the first manned glider, which he designed. His first test flight
crashed, but the pilot survived.
1885 First seatbelt is patented in the U.S. by Edward J. Claghorn for use in
NYC taxis. The belt was a strap with hooks that secured the rider.
1903 French inventor Gustave-Désiré Leveau of France designs a seatbelt
system with both diagonal chest and lap belts that can be adjusted
for drivers of different sizes.
1922 Restraining harness designed for use in Indy 500 races by Barney
Oldfield, the first person to travel more than 60 mph. He had
witnessed several drivers being ejected from vehicles on the
acetrack.
1930s Medical professionals begin to campaign for seatbelts to become a
standard feature.
1950 The first factory-installed lap belts are standard in cars made by
Nash.
2
1951 Roger W. Griswold and Hugh DeHaven patent a design for a three-
point seatbelt.
1955 Lap belts are offered as options by Ford and Chrysler.
1956 Findings by Consumer Reports show that many lap seatbelts fail to
meet basic safety standards.
1959 First three-point lap-and-shoulder seatbelt is invented by Swedish
engineer Nils Bohlin, Volvo’s first safety engineer. The diagonal design
helps restrain the upper and lower body.
1961 Wisconsin becomes the first state to require cars to have seatbelts.
1968 The U.S. requires lap and shoulder belts to be installed in all cars.
1989 Cars are required to have three-point lap-and-shoulder seatbelts for
the outside back seats.
. Compare the lap-only seatbelt design to the lap-plus-shoulder seatbelt design.
What are the advantages of shoulder belts in terms of forces?
3
Question 2
Besides the addition of shoulder belts, what other seatbelt characteristics have
changed over time? How did these changes improve seatbelt efficiency and safety?
Question 3
Choose one experiment option:
● Experiment Option 1: Can you think of another way that seatbelts and
ai
ags could be improved? Use what you have learned about crash tests
involving dummies to design an experiment to test your idea.
● Experiment Option 2: Think of a question to investigate regarding the forces
on a driver in a head-on collision with a
ick wall. Design an experiment to
test your idea using what you have learned about crash tests involving
dummies.
State the question you would like to answer. Express the outcome you would
expect to see in the form of a hypothesis. Describe your experimental setup in
detail. Which motion variable will you be testing? Which variables will you hold
constant? What data will you collect and how will you analyze the results?
4
Research Question:
Hypothesis:
Detailed Description of Experimental Setup:
Motion Variable to Be Tested:
5
Variables to Be Held Constant:
Data to Be Collected:
How Results Will Be Analyzed:
6
Force of Impact Portfolio
Use what you have learned about calculating the force on drivers and passengers
who are wearing and not wearing seatbelts during a collision to analyze how
seatbelts and ai
ags save lives in a car crash.
Question 1
In a crash test, experimenters found that the force of the impact caused the
dummy to hit the windshield. What kinds of adjustments could be made to the car
to slow down the collision and thus reduce the force on the driver and passengers?
Question 2
A 75-kg crash test dummy in a car traveling at 30 m/s slams into a
ick wall. If
the time elapsed during the crash was 0.03 seconds without a seatbelt and 0.3
seconds with a seatbelt, calculate the difference in force. Show all steps in your
calculations.
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Question 3
a. Suppose the following data was collected during a 35 mph crash test using a
50% male crash test dummy, which has a mass of about 78 kg. Complete the
table:
● Calculate the average change in velocity ( v∆ ) and time ( t∆ ) for tests with
and without seatbelts.
● Calculate the force of each impact on the driver.
● Calculate the average force on the driver with seatbelts and without.
Vehicle
Number
Driver
Seatbelt
Buckled
(Y/N)
Crash Test
Delta-V v∆
(m/s)
Crash
Pulse Time
t∆ (s)
Force of Impact (N)
m vF
t
∆
=
∆
1 N XXXXXXXXXX
2 N XXXXXXXXXX
3 N XXXXXXXXXX
4 N XXXXXXXXXX
5 N XXXXXXXXXX
AVERAGE:
1 Y XXXXXXXXXX
2 Y XXXXXXXXXX
3 Y XXXXXXXXXX
4 Y XXXXXXXXXX
5 Y XXXXXXXXXX
AVERAGE:
8
. Describe any patterns you notice in the data you calculated. What would you
expect to see during the slow-motion replay of each crash? How would the videos
with and without seatbelts be different?
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Question 4
Imagine that you want to compare the force of an impact on a child passenger
compared to the force on an adult. Describe how you would change the experiment
in Question 3.
How could you predict the results based on the data collected in the previous
example?
What information would you collect during the crash test?
Which variables would you hold constant? Which variables would you change?
How would you evaluate your results?
Which measurements would you expect to change for a child passenger? Which
measurements might stay the same?
Seatbelt Design Portfolio
Name:
Date:
Additional Milestone #3 Date:
Additional Milestone #2 Date:
Additional Milestone #1 Date:
Additional Milestone #1 Description:
Additional Milestone #2 Description:
Additional Milestone #3 Description:
Question 3 Overview:
Question 3 Hypothesis:
Question 3 Detailed Description of Experimental Setup:
Question 3 Motion Variable to Be Tested:
Question 3 Variables to Be Held Constant:
Question 3 Data to Be Collected:
Question 3 How Results Will Be Analyzed:
Question 1:
Question 2:
Question 3 Research Question:
Vehicle 2, Seatbelt Not Buckled:
Vehicle 3, Seatbelt Not Buckled:
Vehicle 4, Seatbelt Not Buckled:
Vehicle 5, Seatbelt Not Buckled:
Vehicle 1, Seatbelt Not Buckled:
Vehicle 1, Seatbelt Buckled:
Vehicle 2, Seatbelt Buckled:
Vehicle 3, Seatbelt Buckled:
Vehicle 4, Seatbelt Buckled:
Vehicle 5, Seatbelt Buckled:
Average Force of Impact, Seatbelt Not Buckled:
Average Force of Impact, Seatbelt Buckled:
Average Crash Test Delta-V, Seatbelt Not Buckled:
Average Crash Pulse Time, Seatbelt Not Buckled:
Average Crash Test Delta-V, Seatbelt Buckled:
Average Crash Pulse Time, Seatbelt Buckled:
Question 1b:
Question 4, Part 1:
Question 4, Part 2:
Question 4, Part 3:
Question 4, Part 4:
Question 4, Part 5:
Question 4, Part 6: