In your scenario the egg still gets damaged (just internally this time),
as the force from the de-acceleration is all absorbed by the egg (there
is nothing else there to absorb the the force of the impact like the
cardboard/foam in my example). The body organs aren't wearing "internal
seatbelts", so if they have to take the full force of the crash (as no
part of the truck/car absorbed any of the impact), then there is damage
as they bang around inside the body.
To see this in action watch any of the "impact tests" shown on TV every
so often (Discovery Channel or TLC usually). Cars that show little
damage from an impact have high "head force" readings which mean
injuries. Cars with apparently lots of damage show low "head force"
readings. The explaination is that the car absorbs part of the impact as
it crumples, and the de-acceleration is reduced on the person (i.e. the
person "slows down" slower). So, what would you rather do, strap a piece
of steel plate directly to your head and charge into a wall, or strap 5"
of foam between you and the steel plate and charge into the same wall?
Craig
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bruce Aaron Hefner [SMTP:gt9742a@prism.gatech.edu]
> Sent: Sunday, March 01, 1998 5:21 PM
> To: dakota-truck@buffnet.net
> Subject: Re: DML: RE: RE:Safety BS
>
> >
> > Thats because big trucks typically use the "crumple zone" of
> something
> > else (i.e. whatever they hit), and have a lot more "stuff" in front
> to
> > absorb energy than a car (just check the overall length of a truck
> some
> > time). This is back to my prev. point about the thing with the most
> mass
> > typically wins in a crash. I've seen more than a few truck crashes
> where
> > the driver didn't "walk away" when he hit a fixed object (like a
> bridge
> > embankment). If you'd like to prove this to yourself, put an egg in
> a
> > steel box, and drop it onto a cement floor. The egg breaks. Now take
> a
> > egg, and pack it in a cardboard box surounded by foam and repeat.
> > Doesn't break. So, what protects better, hard "steel", or something
> with
> > crumble zones (cardboard box and foam)?
> >
> > Craig
> >
> Yeah but unlike the little experiment you mentioned, a trucker has a
> seatbelt to keep him from slamming into the steel wall, if you strap
> the
> egg in well on one end of the steel box then let it fall with the
> other
> end first the egg won't be damaged either.... Okay no one hardly ever
> survives hitting a concrete wall at 70 miles per hour, whether their
> in a
> "steel box" or in a crumple zone car so that one doesn't count, I've
> never
> seen a wreck where someone hit a concrete wall that anyone walked away
> from, those are the wrecks where they have covered bodies on the side
> of
> the road as you go past... I will take my chances with steel around me
> as
> opposed to plastic/composites anyday......
>
> Bruce
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 20 2003 - 12:08:20 EDT