The rapid chemical decomposition of solid sodi- um azide, NaN3, allows the air bag to inflate fast at any time. The decompo- sition reaction is initiated in a car by a small ignition induced by a collision sensing mechanism. The nitrogen gas produced during the reaction inflates the air bag.
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What is the chemistry behind an airbag?
The answer would be found in a fascinating chemical called sodium azide, NaN3. When this substance is ignited by a spark it releases nitrogen gas which can instantly inflate an airbag.
How do you make an air bag experiment?
What is the purpose of stoichiometry experiment?
Stoichiometry is the mathematical examination of chemical reactions. It can be used before and after experiments to determine limiting reactants as well as the amount of product produced.
How is stoichiometry used in real life?
Stoichiometry is at the heart of the production of many things you use in your daily life. Soap, tires, fertilizer, gasoline, deodorant, and chocolate bars are just a few commodities you use that are chemically engineered, or produced through chemical reactions.
What chemicals are used in airbags?
Sodium azide is best known as the chemical found in automobile airbags. An electrical charge triggered by automobile impact causes sodium azide to explode and convert to nitrogen gas inside the airbag. Sodium azide is used as a chemical preservative in hospitals and laboratories.
How fast does the chemical reaction of the airbag take?
A rapid reaction occurs, generating nitrogen gas (N2). This gas fills a nylon or polyamide bag at a velocity of 150 to 250 miles per hour. This process, from the initial impact of the crash to full inflation of the airbags, takes only about 40 milliseconds (Movie 1).
How do airbags protect you physics?
Air bags are used in motor vehicles because they are able to reduce the effect of the force experienced by a person during an accident. Air bags extend the time required to stop the momentum of the driver and passenger. During a collision, the motion of the driver and passenger carries them towards the windshield.
How do airbag sensors work?
Airbag sensors are small pieces of electronics are designed to tell when the vehicle has been damaged in an accident. These sensors respond to several different sets of stimuli, including sudden stopping, increased pressure as pieces of the car are moved due to the force of the collision, and more.
Why is potassium nitrate also in airbags?
The first automotive airbags developed in the 1970s employed a solid propellant. These airbag inflation systems reacted sodium azide (NaN3) with potassium nitrate (KNO3) in order to produce nitrogen gas. Hot blasts of nitrogen gas inflated the airbag.
Why is nitrogen used in airbags?
Why is nitrogen gas used in airbags? Sensors in the front of a vehicle detect a collision sending an electrical signal to a canister that contains sodium azide detonating a small amount of an igniter compound. The heat from the ignition causes nitrogen gas to generate, fully inflating the airbag in .
How do you make an airbag with baking soda and vinegar?
Add 1/2 cup of vinegar to the water in the sandwich bag. Put 3 teaspoons of baking soda in the tissue, then fold it up. Zip the sandwich bag shut but leave a corner open, enough to fit the tissue full of baking soda in. Slip the tissue in, quickly seal the bag and step back.
How do you demonstrate stoichiometry?
How will the stoichiometric point be determined in this experiment?
By monitoring the temperature of the reaction, you will be able to determine the stoichiometric point–the point where the reaction no longer occurs and heat is no longer evolved. The technique of adding a solution of known concentration to another solution dropwise until an endpoint is reached is called a titration.
How does baking soda and vinegar relate to stoichiometry?
One underlying assumption is that the baking soda is the only limiting reactant. In other words, there is essentially an unlimited supply of acetic acid in the vinegar bottle, and the reaction output is only dictated by the amount of baking soda you add – every mole added results in a mole of carbon dioxide produced.
How important is stoichiometry in chemistry?
Why Stoichiometry Is Important. You can’t understand chemistry without grasping the basics of stoichiometry because it helps you predict how much of a reactant participates in a chemical reaction, how much product you’ll get, and how much reactant might be left over.
What are examples of stoichiometry?
Example – Using Stoichiometric Ratio (Moles) By looking at the coefficients, you can see that for every 1 mole of C6H12O6, 2 moles of CO2 are produced. Using this ratio, you can figure out how many moles of carbon dioxide are made from 2.5 moles of glucose.
How is stoichiometry used in chemistry?
Stoichiometry measures these quantitative relationships, and is used to determine the amount of products and reactants that are produced or needed in a given reaction. Describing the quantitative relationships among substances as they participate in chemical reactions is known as reaction stoichiometry.
What gas law is used in airbags?
Boyle’s Law- When the airbag expands, the pressure decreases as the volume increases at a constant temperature.
Do airbags release chemicals?
They contain chemicals that make the bag open and fill up with air at an incredible speed when triggered by an impact. The main chemicals contained in airbags are sodium hydroxide and sodium azide. When a crash happens and an airbag deploys, dust particles from the chemicals are released.
Do airbags cause chemical burns?
Chemical burns — highly alkaline gasses and chemicals emitted from airbags often cause burns. These substances can penetrate the skin and cause deep tissue injuries in some cases. Thermal burns — exposure to high temperature gas from the explosion of chemicals that affect the hands, arms and chest.
What is the maximum pressure in an airbag?
Most high pressure air bag systems have a maximum working pressure of 8 bar/116 psi or 10 bar/145 psi.
How much force is needed to activate an airbag?
Typically, a front airbag will deploy for unbelted occupants when the crash is the equivalent of an impact into a rigid wall at 10-12 mph. Most airbags will deploy at a higher threshold — about 16 mph — for belted occupants because the belts alone are likely to provide adequate protection up to these moderate speeds.
How much force is behind an airbag?
In fact, the maximum pressure in an airbag is less than 5 psi—even in the middle of a crash event. Advanced airbags are multistage devices capable of adjusting inflation speed and pressure according to the size of the occupant requiring protection.
Is airbag a chemical reaction?
Air bags are not inflated from some compressed gas source but rather from the products of a chemical reaction. The chemical at the heart of the air bag reaction is called sodium azide, or NaN3. CRASHES trip sensors in cars that send an electric signal to an ignitor.