Chapter 1 Challenge -Driving the Roads

Introduction:
Physics is a subject taught in school, but how can knowledge regarding
physics be used outside of school? One real life example that requires
physics knowledge is driving. Concepts of physics are extremely important to
consider when driving. By knowing and understanding certain concepts of
physics, a person can become a better driver in terms of keeping themselves
and other drivers safe. An example of a scenario that showcases an
opportunity to use appropriate concepts of physics is: A person is driving on
the highway and sees an accident off in the distance. This causes the vehicle
in front of you to stop short causing another accident. This scenario
represents a situation in which various factors need to be accounted for in
order to ensure safety. Velocity, acceleration, distances, times, and the
relationships between each of these categories are concepts that need to be
thought about in order to avoid accidents. But how did the driver in this
scenario use physics to stay safe? What happened next?

It was an early morning at about 6:00 a.m. and the sky was blanketed
with a thick layer of grey clouds. Justin made his way to his car, fiddling with
his keys. It was his first day of his new job, so it was important that he wasnt
late and that his day passed smoothly with nothing too unexpected. As Justin
started the car, he pulled up the directions on his phone and made his way
out of the neighborhood. Off he drove until he approached the exit leading to
the highway. Traveling at a velocity of 60 km/h, he made his way onto the
highway. He passed a sign indicating that the speed limit was 1005 km/h, so
Justin accelerated from 60 km/h to 100 km/h. The highway carried very few
cars so Justin thought that he would make it just in time or maybe even a few
minutes early. Today, that wasnt going to be the case.
Justin continued to drive, keeping a constant velocity of 100 km/h. He
pulled out his phone, trying to turn it on, but realized that he had forgotten
to charge it the night before. Thankfully, his phone was dead, eliminating a
possible distraction. Suddenly in the distance, a vehicle crashed into another
causing a great accident. The car that was approximately 60 meters in front
of Justin did not break in time, causing a second collision. Justin squints his
eyes enough to make out the precedent event. There was an accident in
front of him and he had to brake before he made the accident even worse.
Would he be able to break in time?

As his reaction time is .5 seconds, his reaction distance was 13.85

meters. This means that Justin drove 13.85 meters until he decided that the
best option for him would be to brake to avoid a possible accident. Justin
grabs the wheel with both hands. He puts his foot on the break and applies
enough pressure to slow down at an acceleration of -27.77 m/s. If he applied
too much pressure, or had a high acceleration rate (still negative), he
couldve potentially flipped frontwards considering the velocity that he is
traveling. The fastest possible acceleration that Justin couldve traveled at is
-17.88 because the slowest possible reaction time (for Justin) is 1.5 seconds.
His velocity of 100 km/h decreases until he comes to a full stop. During that
time, he traveled 41 meters. Justin stops within 54.85 meters (total stopping
distance), leaving 5.15 meters between his vehicle and the accident in front
of him.
Why was Justin able to avoid a collision? Justin was able to avoid
having an accident because he executed actions that related to important
concepts of physics. He was considering velocity, acceleration, distance, and
time even if he didnt realize it.
Velocity and Acceleration: When Justin decided to brake, he realized
that in order to stop before colliding with the other vehicles, he would have
to slow down. This connects to velocity because Justins velocity decreased
by 27.77 per second until he came to a full stop. Along with velocity, Justin
knew that in order to stop he would have to slow down or negatively
accelerate. Using this, he accelerated at -27.77 m/s which enabled him to
slow down before colliding with the other vehicles.
Distance(s) and Time(s): Justin began to brake at the necessary
time and distance. Justin reacted fairly quickly by only traveling 13.85
meters before deciding to brake. This allowed him more than 41 meters (up
to 46 meters) to come to a full stop without colliding with another vehicle.
Additionally, Justin had a large following distance of 60 meters which also
gave him more distance/time to react and brake. Justin had an advantage
with a short reaction time of .5 second, but it couldve easily been affected
by distractions such as his phone. Luckily, distractions were limited, so he
was able to focus and brake before colliding with the other vehicles. If his
reaction time was 1.5 seconds, he would have most likely got in an accident
because the distance/time he would have decided to brake (reaction
distance) would have been increased as well as the distance/time it took him
to come to a full stop (braking distance). This would in turn have affected his
stopping distance resulting in an accident.
Friction (*side note): Although Justin did not have control over
friction, friction did allow him to break. Friction (also a centripetal force) is an
opposing force against initial motion, therefore allowing the forward moving
vehicle to come to a stop.
 Clearly, without considering all of these concepts of physics, Justin
could have gotten in an accident. As all these concepts are related, it is
important that they are all used and thought about while driving. If one
concept is affected, multiple of the other concepts will also be affected. For
example: Distractions such as phones, could greatly affect reaction time
which would in turn have affect braking distance, reaction distance, and total
stopping distance. Having knowledge of physics concepts can make you a
better driver because it makes you more aware of your actions and other
people's actions. Although Justin was able to brake in time, something that
Justin should deliberate is what things can affect these concepts, so he can
better prepare himself for the drive. If all drivers have knowledge of these
concepts and are aware of things that affect them, then the road will be a
much safer place.