Name: Date:

Seatbelt Lab
PHYSICS

Purpose
To find out if the force of inertia is significant
enough to justify wearing a seatbelt in a
moving car.

Prediction
This is where you record what you think will happen. Try starting your hypothesis with
“I think …..will happen when…..” (/2)

1.
Materials: (What you will need to complete this activity)
• Small car (a hot wheels car, a kids toy, a duplo car… anything that freely rolls will work)
• Small ‘person’ (a playmobile person, lego figure, polly pocket… you get the idea)
• Elastic band
• Ruler
• Tape

Procedure
Step 1: Fill in the purpose and materials section by copying the information here. Also make
your prediction - do you think wearing a seatbelt will help your passenger or not?
Include a reason for your choice!

Step 2: Find a wall that you can drive your car into (if you aren’t allowed to use the wall, try a
book shelf, stair, etc).

Step 3: Use your ruler to measure 30 cm away from your wall and mark that ‘starting line’
with a piece of tape. Each time you drive your car into the wall, start at this line.

Before

Tape Line

START

2.
Step 4: A chart, like the one below, is located in the Data and Observations section of your
lab write-up. The first line has a sample entry for you to see what you need to record.

Trial Run # With a Seatbelt or Distance the Person was Thrown

Without a Seatbelt from the Car

1 NS (No Seatbelt) 23 cm.

Step 5: Sit your person on top of your car and put them at the starting line. Push your car so
it hits the wall.

Step 6: Use your ruler to measure how far your person was thrown from the car (the distance
between the person and the car when all movement has stopped). Enter this information
into your chart as trial run #1, without a seatbelt.

After
Ruler to measure the distance
between the car and the driver

Tape Line

START

3.
Step 7: Repeat this at least 4 more times, measuring the distance your person was thrown
from the car and recording each trial as a separate line in your chart. Try as hard as you can to
push the car with the same amount of force each time.

Step 8: Take your rubber band and wrap it around the car so it is snug. You should be able to
sit your person on the car, with their legs strapped in by this ‘seatbelt’.

Step 9: Now repeat steps 5 and 6 a total of 5 more times. Enter this information as trials # 6,
7, 8 etc, with a seatbelt.

Step 10: You should now have a total of 10 lines your chart. Clean up your materials and look
at the instructions in the next section.

Data and Observations

1. Put your completed chart here. (See step 4 in the procedure). (/5)

Trial Run # With a Seatbelt or Without Distance the Person was Thrown from the
a Seatbelt Car

4.
2. Feel free to record anything else you notice here. Keep in mind these are observations
(things you can detect with your senses) or data (things you can measure). (/3)
Note: this is not the spot for ‘interpretations - what you think is happening - just the facts here please.

5.
Results
Okay, deep breath… we are going to graph our results. For this type of investigation, we
have two sets of data. One without a seatbelt and one with a seatbelt. Our graph will need to
show both sets on one graph. Create a line graph that shows both lines on the same graph to
put in the results section of your lab report.

Your graph should include a title, labelled X and Y axis, and one point for each measurement
in your chart. (/3)

6.
Follow Up
Answer these questions

1. What did your graph show? (/1)

2. What happened to the people who did not wear their seatbelts? (/1)

3. What happened to the people who were wearing their seatbelts? (/1)

7.
4. Explain how the two groups were different using the term inertia. (/2)

Conclusion
What did you learn? Look back at the purpose for doing this lab, as well as your hypothesis.
Were you able to see the effect of inertia? What was it? What did your results show about
wearing a seatbelt? (/2)

Total: /20

8.