Module 5: Impulse and Momentum

Thanks to your after-school job and your excellent practice of saving money, you have put away enough for a down payment on a car. Before your family will co-sign your auto loan, however, they insist on agreeing on the type of car you will buy. Your family insists that you must buy a small economy car so that you will save gas, but you want to drive the latest, large SUV so that you feel safer and you can drive several of your friends home from school.

Using principles of impulse and momentum, prepare five to seven notecards addressing the issue. You will use these notecards as talking points with your parents to convince them that the SUV is the best choice for you. Your notecards must include information about the following items:

• Research on actual weight (curb weight) of several example vehicles, converted to metric units
• Calculations of momentum, impulse and acceleration in a variety of accidents
• A strong argument for your choice, supported by your data

Each note card should include the following parts:

• A short heading showing the overall topic of the note card
• One to two bullets pertaining to the topic of the note card
• citations or footnotes about the bullets

The details provided on your notecards should be well-organized and clearly-written.