The airbag, widely used in the 1980fs and now mandatory in cars has prevented many injuries and deaths. A number of aspects of this life-saving device will be examined in this essay.

An important feature of the airbag is that it should not be released when going over potholes or speed bumps, but instead, only if the car is in a collision. Air bags inflate using nitrogen gas (N2), produced by a combination of Sodium azide (NaN3), Potassium Nitrate (KNO3) and Silicon Dioxide (SiO2).

One method used by automotive manufacturers as a crash sensor is a steel ball that rolls forward onto an electrical circuit. It is held in place by a strong magnet or a spring so that the airbag is not deployed before it should be. When set off, the electrical circuit triggers a reaction that has three steps. In the first step, a pellet of...