See The Laws In Motion

The third auditory requirement of ‘KLRUMP’ is the ‘Doppler effect’. The apparent effect, in relation to sound (or light), between the source, and the receiver. This can be demonstrated by the effect of the sound of an approaching train at speed and the person standing on the platform as the train passes and fades into the distance. It appears the speed of the frequency changes in relation to proximity and builds slowly before becoming solid and passes. In this case, the sound of the incident doesn’t pass and fade as it should. ‘KLRUMP’ is the approach and the solid contact with the vehicle. KLRUMP has the beginning of the Doppler effect before coming to a sudden stop. The rest of the effect is not so reliant of audio, but physical.

The solid contact, which produced the sound, was just the start. Then a sequence of events and a chain of physical reactions, all confirmation of Newtons laws of physics (he would have been so pleased). Firstly the collision was proof of the First Law:

An object will remain at rest or continue travelling at a uniform velocity, unless a force acts on it.

I was travelling at a uniform velocity as I had swung out around the parked car. And no doubt I would have continued to do so had not the force of the car (even in braking) acted on my motion. Then there was the Second Law:

Acceleration of the object is equal to the force acting on it, divided by the objects mass

My motion on the bicycle did not continue uniformly. I was definitely propelled at speed (Accelerated) from the car that hit myself, and my bike. Not a lot of mass there, particularly considering the mass of the car that hit me. So that would be (quick calculation) the Mass of the car, divided by the mass of my bike and myself….. and given that cars were much heavier back then and tended to be made of steel, not the light thing alloys of todays vehicles, it would look something like …. v = ut +10s (am) or something along those lines. But given the Third Law:

When one object applies force on another, the second object exerts an equal and opposite force on the first.

All I know is, I bounced at speed, from the vehicle that hit my bike and myself (oh yeah, equal and opposite force, until the difference in the two masses were involved), onto the front of the parked car I was passing. I must have maintained a grip on the bike’s brake and handle bar. I remember the speed wobble as I tried to regain control. Where one leg slammed my foot down onto the roadway as I slammed back into the braking, tyre squealing car, which managed to get a second shot at me with the side of the vehicle colliding and sending me even faster careering towards the side bitumen footpath. It was unfortunate, but there was a cement curbside in the way.

(Continued tomorrow)