Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hi,

I am a middle school student, and I am doing a science fair project. I have decided between two projects but I don’t know which one I should do. My first idea is : what material should car cushions be made out of to protect a human (I’m gonna use an egg) the most. My second idea is : what material should seat belts be made out of to protect a human (still an egg) the most. I would love it if you please gave me an opinion on factors like which one would be more measurable or maybe even what you like about a project, but some tips on how I could improve it.

Hi Harinidabawse,
You got some really great starting points there! I have a few suggestions for you to think about:

1. What are you trying to protect the human from? Since you mentioned a car cushion, I am guessing you are talking about car accidents? If so, we would want to define what "protection" means. (For example, are you worried about a rollover? side impact? head-on collision, etc...)

2. Once you have this defined, then we can figure out what to measure. Using your second idea of material for seat belt, and let's say we want to protect a person from hitting the dash board in a collision, you can measure how far the egg will travel when "wearing" seat belt made of different materials when travelling at different speed. (Another possible measurement point may be acceleration, i.e. if hitting the dash board can't be helped, which material would hurt less.)

Please post again if you have any questions.
Good Luck and Have Fun with your experiment!
Willey