Most people use cars on a daily basis, in one way or another, as drivers, passengers or in some other way. As children are also familiar with cars, and often enthusiastic about them, it seems reasonable to try to link some basic physics to the functioning of cars. Some of the basic physics laws can be illustrated and further developed at the example of cars.
In the diploma thesis it is demonstrated how some basic features of functioning of a car can be explained in a simple manner which can be understood even by primary students. In particular, we were interested in energy balance (internal energy of fuel, car engine as a heat engine, transformation in kinetic energy and potential energies of cars) and the power related to various forces acting on the car. In important lesson about forces and the use of Newton’s laws can be drawn from properly understanding the forces acting in and on the car. The forces acting on a car and passengers during various types of car motion are explained (acceleration, uniform rectilinear motion, curvilinear motion and motion on an incline) and used as an illustration of the Newton’s laws of motion and of the Energy law.
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