Education Technology


Forensics with TI-Nspire™ - Case File: Life in the Fast Lane

Activity Overview

In this activity, students will investigate the coefficient of friction and use it to determine the speed of a vehicle from the distance of its skid.

Objectives

  • Determine the speed of a vehicle before its brakes were applied.
  • Determine the coefficient of friction between a vehicle and a road surface.
  • Convert between SI units and Imperial units.
  • Rearrange equations to solve for different variables.

About the Lesson

  • In this data-gathering activity, students will estimate the speed of a vehicle from the length of its skid marks.
  • Students will collect data using the Vernier EasyLink™ or TI-Nspire Lab Cradle with the Vernier Dual-Range Force Sensor
  • The student activity sheet and .tns file contain the complete instructions for data collection. All assessment questions are also included in both places giving you the flexibility to either collect the .tns files with student data/answers (using TI-Nspire Navigator) or the student activity sheet.