It was a beautiful day in October, but also a day Mary E. Maxwell and Carl Young will never forget. Mary Maxwell was driving to the University in her 2002 Volkswagen Passat Sedan. Her mind was in other places while approaching the corner of N. Main St. and N River Rd. As she was driving she noticed that the traffic light has turned yellow and college students started walking across the intersection. When she saw this she slammed on her brakes, when she stopped she heard the sound of tires scraping against the road. Soon after she was rear ended by a 2012 Ford Transit Connect van which was being drove by Carl Young. Luckily both of the drivers escaped with no injuries but Mary Maxwell’s Volkswagen was totaled in the middle of the intersection.
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When the collision took place, Carl Young’s van collided with Mary’s Volkswagen in which she was pushed into the intersection and Young’s van followed close behind. This collision is classified as a perfectly inelastic collision. This is a perfectly inelastic because this collision is defined as when two objects “ stick together after the collision, meaning it follows in the same direction (Perfectly Inelastic Collisions). Other than the speeds and velocities and all of the calculations of this crash there are other aspects we need to take a look at. The question is brought up should you stop at yellow lights? According to the Highway Traffic Act, when approaching an amber light you need to stop, provided it’s safe to do so (Should I Stop). In the eyes of the Highway Traffic Act Mary actually did the right thing when she saw the yellow light …show more content…
Unfortunately we can not do any of the equations when the car's weight is in pounds so we need to convert the weights into kilograms. Originally the van weighed 4965 pounds, after converting that to kilograms it came out to be 2252 kilograms(2012 Ford). Originally the car weighed 2225 pounds in kilograms that is 1463(2002 Volkswagen). The weights of the vehicles are shown in the equations by using Fg. On the math sheet there is the givens which is some of the calculations that are already known, and there is also the unknowns which is what needs to be figured out. First up is the equation for the Mary’s car. By using the work kinetic energy theorem it will calculate out how fast she was going before slammed on her brakes. The equation consists of (mc) which is the mass of the car, the final velocity (Vf), the skid marks prior to the crash(xc,i) , and the kinetic friction of the car (Fk). After calculating the whole equation out you end up with 15.4 m/s but that's not the answer, the answer must be converted to miles per hour which equals out to be 34.4 miles per hour. This is the only equation that had to be done for Mary Maxwell’s Volkswagen and it shows that before the crash she was in fact not
When the collision took place, Carl Young’s van collided with Mary’s Volkswagen in which she was pushed into the intersection and Young’s van followed close behind. This collision is classified as a perfectly inelastic collision. This is a perfectly inelastic because this collision is defined as when two objects “ stick together after the collision, meaning it follows in the same direction (Perfectly Inelastic Collisions). Other than the speeds and velocities and all of the calculations of this crash there are other aspects we need to take a look at. The question is brought up should you stop at yellow lights? According to the Highway Traffic Act, when approaching an amber light you need to stop, provided it’s safe to do so (Should I Stop). In the eyes of the Highway Traffic Act Mary actually did the right thing when she saw the yellow light …show more content…
Unfortunately we can not do any of the equations when the car's weight is in pounds so we need to convert the weights into kilograms. Originally the van weighed 4965 pounds, after converting that to kilograms it came out to be 2252 kilograms(2012 Ford). Originally the car weighed 2225 pounds in kilograms that is 1463(2002 Volkswagen). The weights of the vehicles are shown in the equations by using Fg. On the math sheet there is the givens which is some of the calculations that are already known, and there is also the unknowns which is what needs to be figured out. First up is the equation for the Mary’s car. By using the work kinetic energy theorem it will calculate out how fast she was going before slammed on her brakes. The equation consists of (mc) which is the mass of the car, the final velocity (Vf), the skid marks prior to the crash(xc,i) , and the kinetic friction of the car (Fk). After calculating the whole equation out you end up with 15.4 m/s but that's not the answer, the answer must be converted to miles per hour which equals out to be 34.4 miles per hour. This is the only equation that had to be done for Mary Maxwell’s Volkswagen and it shows that before the crash she was in fact not