Question

Refer to Ch. 6 of Conceptual Physics & Mastering Physics™ Interactive Figure 6.18: "Two Dimensional Inelastic Collisions." If you witnessed a broadside collision, would you expect that the velocities and weights of the cars determine where the cars will land after the collision? Why or why not? Provide an example of a safety measure that can be used to decrease the impact of these collisions?

Answer 1

A collision between two cars would be considered an inelastic collision : a collision where two objects (cars) hit, but do not stick together.

The position of the cars would be determined by the force of the collision. The momentum of the two cars that hit each other would determine the final velocities of the cars considering the masses stay the same.

The equation m1 v1 + m2 v2 = m1 v1f + m2 v2f denotes the change in velocity between the two cars as it is distributed.

A larger velocity would mean that the cars would go further. If the cars had similar masses, and one car was moving with a greater momentum, then the momentum would be distributed accordingly.

A safety precaution to decreasing the impact of cars would be to increase mass of cars which decreases the total effectiveness of velocity in the momentum calculation. As the magnitudes of mass increases in momentum, having more velocity would affect total momentum less than that of having low mass. Hence, the collision will occur but the cars will not go as far.