Here are three videos that have great potential in the classroom.
Understanding Car Crashes: It's Basic Physics Duration 22 minutes
"What happens to vehicles and their occupants in crashes is determined by science. "You can't argue with the laws of physics," says Griff Jones, award-winning high school physics teacher who goes behind the scenes at the Institute's Vehicle Research Center to explore the basic science behind car crashes. Using a series of vehicle maneuvers on a test track plus filmed results of vehicle crash tests, Jones explains in anything but lecture style the concept of inertia, the relationship between crash forces and inertia, momentum and impulse, and a lot more.Quote from Paul G. Hewitt, the developer of the "Conceptual Physics" curriculum and author of the best selling text book by the same name: "The video "Understanding Car Crashes: It's Basic Physics" and accompanying teacher's guide are wonderful. The pacing is excellent, the coverage fascinating, and most importantly, the physics is correct. It's a first rate teaching package. I give it five stars!"
Download the
Teachers Guide... it has non-SI units)
Surviving a Car Crash" Duration 44 minutes (also in parts on youtube, with different subtitles)
"Horizon meets the scientists working to make fatal car crashes a thing of the past. A remarkable fusion of mechanical engineering and biology promises to save countless lives across the world. The programme has exclusive access to the secretive world of the most advanced car crash tests. Horizon reveals how the latest advances in trauma medicine, psychology and even extreme sport are transforming your chances of surviving on the roads.The programme shows how researchers are creating a new virtual crash test dummy that could change how our cars are designed forever."
Modern Marvels: The Secret Life of the Crash Test Dummy Duration: 44 minutes
"From a case of mistaken identity in the ‘Roswell Incident’ UFO sightings in the New Mexico desert, to the US military’s top secret research and development programmes of the 50s, to a series of highly sensitive experiments – on humans, on animals and finally on human corpses, The Secret Life Of The Crash Test Dummy charts the bizarre and sometimes gruesome secret life of this mechanical humanoid."
It probably should be viewed first before deciding if it is suitable for your class, some of the footage is difficult to watch. The use of cadavers to "calibrate" the modern crash test dummy would make a good issues investigation, as would the construction of safety standards that centre around the Hybrid III which models the 50th percentile male .
But if you want something quick, 47 seconds ..
Crumple zones, you can have too much of a good thing!
