Physics in a car

Physics plays an important role in car design and can be applied to almost every aspect in regard to acceleration, stopping, aerodynamics, speed, velocity and so on. Understanding and exploring each concept could take months since it is such a complex matter. I will be focusing on the physics of what makes a car move and some of the forces that exist when the car is moving. Kinetic energy and friction play an important role in the movement of a vehicle and drag is a force that is exerted against the vehicles movement. The mass and velocity of an object will determine the momentum of the vehicle. These are all important factors in understanding the physics of car movement.

When a car begins to accelerate, it is easy to understand that the engine plays an important role in movement. Additionally, the force of the tires on the road will also cause the car to move. The car supplies its own energy by converting electrical stored energy to kinetic energy via the engine. In fact, “Kinetic energy is similar to potential energy. The more the object weighs, and the faster it is moving, the more kinetic energy it has” (Nice). Kinetic energy increases with the velocity squared which means that if a car is going twice as fast, it has four times the energy. In regard to the force of the tire on the road, a tire will start rolling when a force is applied and there is a resistive force or friction at the point of contact with the ground. “A rolling wheel requires a certain amount of friction so that the point of contact of the wheel with the surface will not slip. The amount of traction which can be obtained for an auto tire is determined by the coefficient of static friction between the tire and the road. If the wheel is locked and slidi...

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... to determine that if both the mass and velocity of the vehicle are large, then the momentum of the vehicle will also be large.

In order to gain a complete understanding of the physics that affect a car, it is necessary to conduct a study that examines all the aspects of physics in regard to acceleration, stopping, aerodynamics, speed, velocity and the list goes on. This paper has addressed the physics of what makes a car move and some of the forces that exist when a car is moving. Kinetic energy and friction play an important role in the movement of a vehicle. Similarly, drag will affect the movement of a vehicle through the surrounding air and is measured as the coefficient of drag. Lastly, the mass of an object times the velocity of the object will equal the momentum of the object. These are all important factors in understanding the physics of car movement.