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Personal and Public Transport
Quick questions on Newton's laws applied to vehicles: HSC Engineering Studies Personal and Public Transport
7short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What is newton's first law in vehicles?Show answer
A vehicle continues in uniform motion unless acted on by an unbalanced force. The forces on a moving car are:
What is newton's second law?Show answer
The net force determines the acceleration. A 1500 kg sedan accelerating at requires net forward force N.
What is newton's third law?Show answer
Every action force has an equal and opposite reaction. The drive tyre pushes the road backward; the road pushes the tyre forward by the same force. This is the source of propulsion on land vehicles.
What is impulse and momentum in collisions?Show answer
$$
What is treating crumple zones as adding force?Show answer
They reduce force by lengthening the deceleration time. The work done on the car is the same energy regardless of whether it crumples or not; the rate at which that work is done (the force times displacement per unit time) is what changes.
What is using static friction for skidding?Show answer
Once tyres lock, the coefficient drops from static (about 0.8) to kinetic (about 0.6). ABS prevents wheel lockup to keep tyres in the higher static-friction regime.
What is ignoring drivetrain efficiency?Show answer
Engine torque does not fully reach the wheels; transmission and differential lose about 10 to 15 percent through friction and pumping losses. :::
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