Question

Most modern vehicles have padded dashboards. This reduces collision injuries by

1:reducing the driver's change in momentum
2:increasing the driver's change in momentum
3:increasing the force of impact
4:increasing the time of impact

Answer 1

Most modern vehicles have padded dashboards. This reduces collision injuries by:

• Reducing the driver's change in momentum

But how and why ??

• First of all , let's define force !

• Force is defined as the rate of change of momentum with respect to time. Mathematical form is given below.

• $F = \dfrac{\Delta P}{\Delta T}$

• Now, advanced cars (i.e. modern cars) have padded dashboard. During accidents when the passenger or driver hits the dashboard, the pads reduce the rate of change of momentum.

• The rate of change decreases mainly due to increase in the time for which the change in P occurs.

• Hence the value of ∆P/∆T decreases, this means that the force experienced by the passenger (or driver) upon collision decreases.

• This reduces injuries to the vehicle occupants.