Wrinkles and Shar-pei

Having met my mother in-law a few days ago, I got reminded of the article my editor wrote last week.  I noticed the wrinkles on her face and got reminded of crumple zones.  No, no, no, I’m not being mean.  Ever notice how they have that nostalgic effect when an elderly person smiles and the wrinkles on the face just make the expression dearer than anything?  It is some divine plan to age the person’s skin, losing the youthful glow, yet making them more charming.  Thus, a purpose to the lines and creases.

So how does that relate to crumple zones?  Nothing really.  Which is why I would rather discuss crumple zones than aging and wrinkles.

For those who are wondering if motor vehicles have been made of less sturdy materials since they always look like they’ve been into a high speed shunt after a small fender bender, blame that on one man’s better understanding of physics.

In the early 1950’s, a certain engineer named Béla Barényi noted that earlier models of vehicles were built very rigid to resist deformations in the event of a collision.  As a consequence, all the force generated in a collision is transferred directly to the passengers, often in a fatal way.

Following the teachings of Sir Isaac Newton, Barényi applied physics in designing the 1953 Mercedes Benz Ponton.  Physics?  Yes, physics.

We all know that the first law of physics stats that an object in motion will stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.  So, a car that is ‘normally’ travelling down the SRP at forty kilometres above the legal speed limit (60) means that the driver and passengers are travelling at the same velocity.  If something will cause the car to stop abruptly aka crashing into a solid barrier, the occupants will still travel the same velocity unless they are also stopped abruptly.  And if they are also stopped abruptly, their free-floating internal organs are yet to stop.  This is what causes internal injuries.

Keeping this in mind, Barényi used physics law number two: force equals mass multiplied by acceleration.  What this means is that the force experienced by the car and its occupants decreases if the time required by the vehicle to stop increases.  By placing creases and dimples in sections or zones in vehicles, most specifically in the front and back of the car, they absorb the energy of the crash by easily deforming the shape of the car and deflecting the force into directions away from the occupants.  This deformation also causes the impact to be less instantaneous as the crumpling effect helps slow down the car instead of the abrupt stop caused by the rigidly-structured cars.  The car begins decelerating as soon as the crumple zone starts crumpling, extending the deceleration over a few extra tenths of a second.

But how come that crash I saw at the SRP still resulted in injuries to the occupants of the vehicle?  Aren’t new model vehicles equipped with crumple zones?  Yes they are.  But you see, impact tests to determine the effectiveness of crumple zones are based on speeds within or slightly above legal limits, plus a crash test dummy that has not had a drop of alcohol in his system.

The bottom line, leave the creases and wrinkles on the face by driving safely.  Getting into a traffic collision will not only cause crumples and creases in your vehicle, it will deepen the existing ones you already have.  And crumples and creases only look good on a Shar-pei.