'The Physics of Stopping,' is an answer to whether or not the statement "safety is not related to how fast you travel, but how quickly you stop," is true.

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The Physics of Stopping

In some ways the statement "safety is not related to how fast you travel, but how quickly you stop" is true, but in another it is untrue in regard to the physics of stopping. If safety is related to how quickly you stop, then it is also related to how fast you travel, because how quickly you stop is directly related to how fast you are travelling.

A moving object has momentum, any moving object with a mass has momentum. Momentum equals the mass of an object multiplied by it's velocity. It can be represented by the formula P = m x v where P stands for momentum, m stands for mass and v stands for velocity. An object at rest has no velocity, hence no momentum. When object goes from moving to at rest, or when it stops, this means it's momentum must go from whatever it was to 0.

There must be a change in momentum. This change in momentum is known as the impulse. Impulse is the force acting multiplied by the time it acts for. It can be represented by the formula ∆P = F x t, where ∆P stands for the change in momentum, F stands for the force, and t stands for the time. Looking at this formula you can see that when if the change in momentum is known, such as when stopping, you go from whatever your initial velocity and momentum is to 0 velocity and 0 momentum, if you increase either the force or time, then the other will decrease. When talking about safety and stopping, you want the least amount of force, which means you want the most amount of time. So that part of the statement "but how quickly you stop," is definitely true, as proved by...