Stopping Distances
This web site allows the user to input a speed and select from three driving conditions (mobile phone, drunk driving, wet weather). A button at the bottom allows the user to begin the simulation of a car driving down a road. A boy follows a kicked soccer ball into the street and the driver attempts to stop. A bar graph of the thinking and braking distances (in meters) appears as well as a button that takes you to more a more detailed description of the outcome of your driving.
This web site simulator is a critical lesson in applied physics, with special relevance for secondary students who are novice drivers. The simulation displaces thinking distance (constant velocity) and braking distance (changing velocity). Use of a mobile phone or driving drunk change the thinking distance because the driver's reaction time is increased. Wet weather changes the braking acceleration, increasing the braking distance. Increased speed changes both thinking and braking distances. Unfortunately this simulator does not reveal how these are calculated, but as an enrichment extension, students can use equations of motion to reverse engineer how the simulator calculates these distances.
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eduToolbox® is a resource-sharing portal developed by the Ayers Institute for Learning & Innovation with collaborative support and funding from the Tennessee Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Education's Math & Science Partnership program.
