There are some parts inside the car that work to save lives in the event of a major accident. The first thing that comes to our mind is the seat belt. But besides the seat belt, another life-saving device is called the airbag. The airbag is a small, soft, air cushion. If the car is involved in a major accident, the bag comes out in just one second and saves people’s lives.
Of all the cars sold in the United States since 1998, airbags were provided for both drivers and passengers. According to a statistic, these airbags save the lives of about 30% of the passengers in the front seat of the car during an accident. There are also airbags on the top of the seat and along with the door. Some cars have up to 6-8 airbags. In the beginning, people raised many questions about the use of seatbelts. And the use of airbags was the result of much research and experimentation by researchers.
Like all other laws of the world, car accidents are controlled according to the laws of physics, that is, according to the laws of motion. According to the law of motion, the position of an object changes through the application of force. If you don’t push an object, it doesn’t move by itself. Any object has a specific mass. To put it bluntly, how much mass an object can carry, or how much weight an object can carry. Also, another issue is speed. Any object that has motion and mass also has motion-related energy.
How heavy your car is and how fast you are going depends on the energy-related to the speed. You can stop suddenly or you can stop by hitting something else, it all depends on your will. Although the wheels of the car are capable of withstanding all kinds of road pressures and can withstand all kinds of impacts, the matter is quite harmful to the driver and passenger of the car.
Now the problem is, when the car moves, the passengers inside the car also move, that is, people also move. And when the car stops, people still stay at that speed. According to Newton’s first law of motion, when an object starts moving, it will continue to move until it stops. Seatbelts have been working on safety for decades. But the seatbelt only holds part of your body, not the head. So according to Newton’s formula, when you fasten a seatbelt in a car, your head will continue to move forward because of the speed. And when there is an accident, first of all, your head will fall on the steering wheel or the glass next to it.
And the device called an airbag will protect you from this danger. Airbags are commonly known as supplementary restraint systems (SRS). Supplementary here means that the airbag acts as a supplement to the seatbelt and helps the seatbelt. Again, it is foolish to rely only on airbags without fastening the seatbelts. Initially, an airbag swells when the speed of the vehicle also decreases during an accident.
How do airbags work?
1. When a car collides with something, the speed of the car decreases very fast.
2. The accelerometer specifies the matter of speed change and transmits the information. An accelerometer is a type of electronic chip that measures the speed of motion.
3. If the speed of the vehicle can be reduced properly, then the trigger of the accelerometer reduces the circuit of the airbag quickly. Which is not possible to produce as much energy in ordinary brakes.
4. The circuit of the airbag conducts electricity through any heat generating material. Just like the wire inside the toaster, it is used for this electric current.
5. The heat-producing material causes a chemical explosion. Older airbags used sodium azide to explode. Other chemicals are used in the new airbags.
6. A lot of gas is produced when an explosion occurs. The gases are not harmful. Usually, nitrogen or argon gas is produced. And those gases are stored in a nylon bag behind the steering wheel.
7. When the airbag starts to open, gas accumulates inside the plastic cover and covers where the steering wheel is right in front of the driver. And to open this bag, a kind of chalk powder is used to open the bag easily.
8. As it moves forward (according to the speed formula) the driver pushes the bag in the opposite direction. This push causes the gas inside the bag to swell. Then the whole bag comes out through the small holes around the bag. And when the car stops the bag opens completely.
Some precautions-
1. Sit back with the seat as much as possible. In the case of the driver, sit in such a way that there is no difficulty in reaching the pedals.
2. Although different car designs are different. However, the driver can move up to 10 inches in his seat. And if it is difficult to see the road due to sitting too far back, then you can sit with the car seat elevated. Maybe all car seat elevators don’t have the system, so you can sit on a separate mattress.
3. Try to sit close to the chest, without putting the head or neck along with the airbag. In that case, you have to sit with the steering wheel bent, and if the steering wheel can be moved then sit it conveniently.
4. Children 12 years of age or younger should always be seated in the back seat.
5. Never sit in the driver’s side seat with airbags for children under one year of age and weighing less than 10 kg.
6. Booster seats should be kept in the back for children over one year. And get everything in the booster seat properly attached to the car. Otherwise, a terrible accident can happen.
Finally, airbags are one of the most important tools in the development of car parts. Life-Saving has also increased its popularity many times over. This device still needs some development and is a little more reliable.
