Question

On a snow covered road, you arrive to find a driver involved in a MVC, car vs electric pole with estimated speed of 30 mph. Driver was belted and airbags did deploy. The patient is ambulating at the scene and reports neck pain of 3/10 when questioned. No signs of alcohol intoxication are present. Due to road conditions, transport time to receiving hospital is 50 minutes. The most appropriate steps would be to:

Answer 1

To calculate the average force experienced by the driver during the collision, use the principle of impulse. Without the seatbelt and airbag, the force experienced by the driver would be different.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate the average force experienced by the driver during the collision, we can use the principle of impulse. Impulse is the product of force and time, and it is equal to the change in momentum. The change in momentum is given by the mass of the car multiplied by the change in velocity.

Given that the car's initial velocity is 30 mph and its final velocity is 0 mph, we can convert these values to meters per second. Then, we can calculate the change in velocity and determine the change in momentum. Dividing this change in momentum by the collision time will give us the average force experienced by the driver during the collision.

Without the seatbelt and airbag, the collision time would have been approximately 0.20 s. We can use a similar approach to calculate the force the driver would have experienced in this case.