Can a cup filled with sand absorb enough impact to protect a barrier during a crash? Highway crash barrels work on this same idea.
You roll a model car down a ramp into a copper plate. In front of the plate you place cups. Some are empty. Others hold water or sand. After each crash you measure how much the copper plate bends.
The results show how much each filling reduces the damage compared to no barrier at all.
Hypothesis
The hypothesis is that paper cups filled with water and sand will be able to absorb a greater amount of impact during a collision.
Highway crash barrels work by soaking up the force of a collision instead of letting it damage whatever is behind them. This project tests whether cups filled with sand or water can do the same thing. You roll a model car down a ramp into a copper plate, placing the cups in front as a barrier. After each crash, you measure how much the copper plate bends. That bending tells you how much of the impact each filling absorbed compared to an empty cup with nothing inside.
Deformation happens when a force changes an object's shape. In this experiment, a model car crashes into a copper plate. You measure how much the plate bends after each collision.
Method & Materials
You will set up a ramp, place a model car on top, and place paper cups filled with water and sand in front of a copper barrier. You will then measure the deformation of the copper barrier after the collision.
You will need a ramp, 3 empty paper cups, 3 paper cups filled with water, 3 paper cups filled with sand, a model car, 12 plates of copper, 2 long nails, a ruler, and a roll of masking tape.
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The results show that the cups filled with water and sand are able to absorb more impact from the collision, than the empty cups. The deformation of the copper plate was at its greatest with the empty cups.
Why do this project?
This science project is interesting because it tests the effectiveness of crash barrels filled with water and sand. It also shows how crash barrels can help reduce the damage to vehicles and roadside structures in the event of a collision.
Also Consider
Consider testing which is a better impact absorber - water or sand? You could also try repeating the experiment by raising the ramp gradient in order to increase the speed of the car.
Full project details
Additional information and source material for this project are available below.
