0 to 60 in how long?

One of the great bragging rights of some drivers is how fast they can accelerate, or how quickly they can get to 60 mph from a dead stop. This is accomplished by many factors: weight and transmission gear ratios.

Look up your dream car by going to a new browser window at http://www.caranddriver.com and look up a car you would like to own. Write the name of the car, the model, its front curb weight and the gear ratio for 1st and 2nd gears and record in the comment section.

Happy Friday!

How Fast can you stop?

Estimate how fast, in seconds, you can stop when you..

1. are driving 30 mph
2. are driving 55 mph
3. are traveling on an icy road
4. drive in the dark with your low beams on
5. travel on gravel
6. have a new car
7. have a heavy, loaded truck with a trailer full of cattle

What are the different variables you need to be concerned with? Why?

Be Honest

What things do you DO while driving that you know are distractions....or what do the drivers of the vehicles you ride in do? (Eating, putting on make up....etc.) Does this worry you? If the lab shows you a definite problem, will you change your behavior? Why or why not? I expect at least 4 sentences for this blog post.

What is an accurate measurement?

Think about all the things you measure each day--your weight, the volume of a soda in a glass, how far it is to school... How perfect must those measurements be to make you happy? For example, if your bottle of energy drink is only half-full when you buy it, is that good enough?


Now, think about driving. How close does the measurement from town to town have to be? What about the measurement of your speed, or of your stopping distance? Do those need to be perfect, or just within a range? Explain your ideas to me in 3-4 sentences in today's blog post.

Driving Factors

List three Critical Situations that occur during driving when someone needs to have knowledge of their own personal reaction time. How must you adjust your driving to account for that?

What type of learner are you?

Tell me about yourself. I want to know HOW you learn, based on the learning style inventory you took. I want to know what type of learning is AWFUL for you. I want to know WHAT hobbies or issues matter to you, so I can connect it to your learning in science. You have until Tuesday, 8/26/2008, to reply to this post. (Yup, that is why you needed a gmail account.)

::mapowell::