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Is a head-on car crash into a massive concrete wall the same as a head-on crash into another car moving at equal speed?

Assuming ideal conditions, with the two cars meeting perfectly head-on and moving at identical (and opposite) velocities, is the damage to the occupant of the first car indifferent to whether the car hits the immovable concrete wall or whether it hits the on-coming car?

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  • Asked by becorson
  • on 2010-04-22 10:03:22
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Categories: Transport.

Tags: physics.

 

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Jon-Richfield says:

I have been having bad luck with duplicates lately. Pity me...

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posted on 2010-04-22 19:25:50 | Report abuse


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Jon-Richfield says:

No. The wall does not contribute a significant amount of energy. The oncoming car does. You would have to hit the wall at double the speed to get a comparable effect.

 

Don't try this at home!

 

The energy in a moving mass is half the mass times the square of the speed.  Look it up in an introductory physics textbook to find a full explanation.

 

Jon

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posted on 2010-04-22 19:26:26 | Report abuse

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Paul_Pedant says:

Sorry, Jon: I don't often disagree with you, but ....

I think the total energy is not the issue. It is the rate of change of momentum that causes the deceleration and the damage.

By symmetry, I think if you have a mirror-image head-on collision (same speed and mass for both vehicles) then the impact point becomes stationary for both vehicles. All your energy goes into your own crumple zones, and all his goes into his.

If you hold a sheet of cardboard at the point of impact, I can't see any difference between having a static block of concrete behind it, or a dynamic resistance that replicates exactly the forces from your own vehicle.

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posted on 2010-04-23 23:16:17 | Report abuse


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PeteFowler365 says:

A head-on crash into an identical car moving at the same speed in the opposite direction will stop your car dead (no pun intended), just like driving into a brick wall, and it will have the same effect.  But a head-on crash into a much heavier vehicle moving in the opposite direction will shunt what's left of your car backwards; the change in velocity, and hence acceleration of your car will be greater, and the damage will be greater.  If you have a head-on with a lighter car moving at the same speed, you'll continue to move in the same direction at a reduced speed, so the damage to you will be less. 

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posted on 2010-04-23 05:23:29 | Report abuse


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electrolaser says:

@jon if so then wouldn't you need to travel at x 2^1/2 the speed to have the same energy

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posted on 2010-04-23 12:50:01 | Report abuse


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truks says:

It would only be true that the result would be identical if the wall were such an ideal immoveable object that it absorbed no energy from the car.

In that case, the two car crash could be said to be equal, because each car would absorb the same amount of energy, and this would be the same as a single car absorbing all its own inertia.

If the wall is not ideal, then there is a difference, as the wall absorbs some of the car's inertia.

To help decide whether the energy matters or not, have someone gently lay the palm of their hand along the side of your face for a moment.

 Then have them put the same hand on the same part of your face, this time including a high amount of momentum.

 

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posted on 2010-04-24 22:32:19 | Report abuse


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