This algebra-based course covers the main topics in high school introductory and honors physics, including motion, force, work, energy, momentum, collisions, and more.
Students are presented with the phenomenon of car design features that increase driver safety during high-speed collisions.
Through video clips, students experience crashes (between cars and between cars and the track wall) that occurred during NASCAR races, which raises this question: How do speed and mass (weight) affect the amount of damage to a race car in a collision?
In this lesson, middle school students plan and conduct an investigation to help them figure out how roof flaps reduce the chances that a race car will become airborne following a collision.