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On Track Learning

Lesson 3: Safety Harness (Science)

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Teacher Lesson Plan

Teaser: Develop a list of 10 different situations where you have seen some sort of safety harness

Lab: Develop a safety harness, which will securely hold an egg in the car design of Lesson 4.

Student Expectation:
Students in teams of 4 will work together to develop a safety harness for their egg. Students can use any or all of the materials but may not use any additional materials.
Just before your design is tested teams will be given an egg and they will have 30 seconds to check the egg for any cracks and to secure the egg inside the design. After the safety test, students will have 30 seconds to remove the egg from the design. The egg will be examined for any breaks or cracks after each run. Once the egg has a break or ANY CRACK, the design will no longer participate in testing. Designs will continue to be tested until each egg has broken or cracked. Each new round of testing will start with an increase in the height of the ramp.

Hints for the Teacher:

It is most important in this lesson to adhere to rules as the students may become competitive. Make sure the rules are very clear and not open to interpretation.

Student Worksheets

Safety Harness

Name

Name of team members

Activity:
Your team will cooperatively build a safety harness that will house an egg in the car built in Lesson 4. Just before your design is tested, you will be given an egg. You will have 30 seconds to check the egg for any cracks and to secure an egg inside the design. After the safety test, you will have 30 seconds to remove the egg from the design. The egg will be examined for any breaks or cracks after each run. Once the egg has a break or ANY CRACK, the design will no longer participate in testing. Designs will continue to be tested until each egg has broken or cracked. Each new round of testing will start with an increase in the height of the ramp.

Rules
There will be no practice runs
You will be allowed to make repairs between runs to the harness but may not use any additional supplies
You may use all of the materials, however you are not required to use all the materials
There can be no substitution of supplies

Draw your safety harness and label the materials used

Materials List

  • Pinewood derby track
  • Books
  • Bubble wrap
  • Rubber bands
  • Yarn – 30 cm
  • Egg cartons
  • 6 eggs
  • Fabric
  • Stapler
  • 5 washers
  • Protractor
  • Pipe cleaners
  • Tongue depressors
  • 1-meter string
  • Plastic wrap 15 cm X 15 cm
  • Felt square (how big)
  • Trash bags to protect floor
  • Watch with second hand
  • What are at least three design features that your group incorporated to keep the egg safe?
  • How many rides down the ramp did your egg have before it cracked?
  • Describe thoroughly the injuries to your egg? {A combination of a written description and drawn pictures would be a good way to accomplish this task.)
  • In comparing different designs in your class, what did you notice about the safety designs of vehicles where the egg was the safest?
  • What did you notice about the safety designs of vehicles where the egg was the least safe?
  • If you were to make two changes in your design, what would they be?
  • How did your team work? Describe how your team approached the design challenge.
  • How did your team arrive at decisions? How did your team handle conflict?
  • Describe the seat and restraint system on a car seat for infants, toddlers, race drivers.

Assessment

Name ______Teacher Key_______ Quiz Safety Harness Lab

1) There are safety harnesses in race cars and regular family cars. What are some differences you would expect in the safety harnesses in these two types of vehicles?

(Possible answers: since the speeds are supposed to be slower in passenger vehicles, the race car needs harnesses that will protect the driver at much higher speeds which means differences in the materials to make the harness and its buckle as well as the construction of the harness system itself and how it is attached to the car.

2) Following a race where an accident has occurred, the seat belt system is totally replaced, why do you believe there is a need to do that? (Seatbelts stretch during an accident; its attachment points to the car may be weakened or broken; the buckle may have been compromised so it won’t work as effectively in another accident.)

Name _________________________________ Quiz Safety Harness Lab

1) There are safety harnesses in race cars and regular family cars. What are some differences you would expect in the safety harnesses in these two types of vehicles?

2) Following a race where an accident has occurred, the seat belt system is totally replaced, why do you believe there is a need to do that?

 

 

Standards: 

Standard Course of Study Objectives
Goal 1 The learner will design and conduct investigations to demonstrate an understanding of scientific inquiry.

  • 2.01 Explore evidence that technology has many definitions
  • 2.02 Use information systems to identify scientific needs, human needs or problems that are subject to technological solution.
  • 2.03 Evaluate technological designs for application of scientific principles, risk and benefits, constraints of design and consistent testing protocols.
Pre-assessment: 

Science Background information
Expert information in this section has been provided by:

Rolin E. Barrett, Jr., Ph.D., P.E.
Consulting Engineer and Accident Reconstruction Specialist
Barrett Engineering

Eric Klang, Ph.D.
Director, Undergraduate Program
Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
Faculty Advisory, Wolfpack Motorsports

Interviewer: What is the history of safety for cars?

Expert: Basics such as brakes, tires and suspensions have continuously been improved in both racing and passenger cars.

In passenger cars the beginning of occupant protection was to basically make the passenger compartment safer beginning with the windows, windshield, and that kind of thing. That kept out road debris and kept birds from flying into your face while you were driving - laminated glass has saved thousands of lives. Later, cars had padded dashboards and low profile knobs and handles to protect passengers when they were thrown around the inside of the car during an accident. At about the same time seatbelts became available. Designs that allowed the chassis to deform during an impact began to appear. As vehicles became safer new problems were uncovered. Not everyone used seatbelts and often those who did sustained injuries that the seatbelt could not avoid. Airbags were introduced to address these problems.

Finally, the roads themselves have been improved. Dangerous intersections have been eliminated, curves straightened, signs improved and roadside hazards removed – all in an effort to improve safety.

Interviewer: Of course these safety devices must be in good working order to be effective. What sort of problems might occur regarding the integrity of the safety equipment?

Expert: The safety equipment is often designed for one severe accident. But sometimes that safety equipment can be damaged or consumed in a small accident. If an accident is severe it may cause a high-rate load to be applied to the seatbelt system. And so the seatbelt system may be weakened. They may have damaged the fibers of the seatbelt in a severe enough accident. But consider that a large heavy driver is going to load that seatbelt more than a small lightweight driver. So a small accident involving a heavy driver or heavy passenger could actually compromise that system at a much earlier value than for a small light driver or passenger in the same situation.

Now as far as the integrity of the safety equipment goes… for example if you take damage to your brakes, your brakes may not be operable when you need them. An impact from debris on the road such as a piece of metal or a brick or a concrete block, rock, something of that nature, could compromise the ability of the brakes to work.

Also, what happens when the guardrail does its job and ends up crushed? It’s a lot cheaper to have that barrier deformed and have to be replaced than to repair the person who could be injured badly. The barrier deforming, absorbing the blow is a small price to pay to save a human life or protect from serious bodily harm. But of course the barrier needs to be replaced or repaired to ensure continued safety.

Interviewer: You mentioned designs that allowed the chassis to deform during an impact. What does this mean and what is a chassis?

Expert: First the chassis is the backbone of the car – its frame and body. In many modern passenger cars the frame and body have been combined into a “unibody”. During a crash the chassis gets bent and/or crushed depending on the severity of the accident. This is significant because energy is absorbed by the car when it is crushed. Energy that the car absorbs means there is less energy for the occupants to absorb during a crash.

Assessment: 
  • All students should develop abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry and understandings about scientific inquiry.
  • All students should develop an understanding of properties and changes of properties in matter, motions and forces and transfer of energy.
  • All students should develop abilities of technological design and understandings about science and technology.
  • All students should develop understanding of science and technology in society.
Classroom Time Required: 

45 minutes

Materials Need: 
  • Pinewood derby track
  • Books
  • Bubble wrap
  • Rubber bands
  • Yarn – 1 foot
  • Egg cartons
  • 18 eggs
  • Fabric
  • Stapler
  • 5 washers
  • Protractor
  • Pipe cleaners
  • Tongue depressors
  • 1-meter string
  • Plastic wrap 15 cm X 15 cm
  • Felt square (how big)
  • Trash bags to protect floor
  • Watch with second hand
Supplemental Files: