All Things CD-ROM/DVD and More

Not many people know that air bags are actually not a new idea, and some may be surprised to realise the concept has been in existence for over 6 decades. The very first patent on an airbag for airplanes was submitted during World War Two. In the 80s, the first commercial airbags were present in vehicles.

Up to the present day, statistics reveal that airbags reduce the risk of death in a direct frontal smash by about 30%. These days we also have door mounted side and seat-mounted air bags. In point of fact, some automobiles go far beyond simply having twin air bags, and instead have six to eight airbags.

The task of an air bag is to slow down the passenger’s forward motion as evenly as possible in only a split second. An airbag can achieve this task in three steps:

• The airbag is made of a slim, nylon, which is folded into the dashboard or steering wheel and, these days, the door or seat
• The sensor is the gadget that orders the airbag to inflate. Expansion takes place when there is a collision force equating to running into a wall at 10 to 15 miles per hour. A mechanical switch is thrown when there is a weight movement that closes an electrical contact, informing the detectors that a crash has happened. The detectors get information from an accelerometer built into a silicon chip
• The bag’s expansion facility combines sodium azide with potassium nitrate (KNO3) to make nitrogen gas. Hot blasts of the nitrogen gas expand the air bag

Because of the incredibly fast inflation of an airbag, it’s essential the driver and passenger sit in the seat with a straight back leaving a good distance between their face and the steering wheel / dashboard - this allows time for the airbag to expand while the passenger/driver are being thrust forwards by the affect of the crash.