Physics of Airbags!
Airbags are used in automobiles because they are able to minimize the effect of the force on an object involved in a collision. Air bags accomplish this by extending the time required to stop the momentum of the driver and passenger. When encountering a car collision, the driver and passenger tend to keep moving in accord with Newton's first law. Their motion carries them towards a windshield that results in a large force exerted over a short time in order to stop their momentum. If instead of hitting the windshield, the driver and passenger hit an airbag, then the time duration of the impact is increased. When hitting an object with some give such as an airbag, the time duration might be increased by a factor of 100. Increasing the time by a factor of 100 will result in a decrease in force by a factor of 100. Linear momentum is the force created by an object when it moves at a certain velocity. The formula for calculating linear momentum is p = m x v, where the p is mom
