Timeline for Head-on Collision Survival Chances in Furious 7
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
10 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 3, 2016 at 3:13 | vote | accept | eYe | ||
| Jan 22, 2016 at 14:13 | comment | added | Darrick Herwehe |
So both of them are experiencing a 90 MPH crash. Based on what I can understand from questions regarding this premise on the physics stack exchange, that isn't true.
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| Jan 22, 2016 at 14:10 | comment | added | Carl Kevinson | While Mythbusters isn't rigorous science, they have a good episode on the head-on vs into-wall crash. I believe this is a portion of the episode. | |
| Jan 21, 2016 at 22:46 | comment | added | user2357112 | If two cars collide at 45 mph each, the relative speed may be 90 mph, but that doesn't mean that the energy of a 90 mph car is dissipated in the crash. In a reference frame where one of the cars starts out at 90 mph, the two cars finish the crash going 45 mph in the same direction; in this reference frame, there's still plenty of energy undissipated! Regardless of reference frame, the amount of energy dissipated in the crash is equal to twice that of a car moving 45 mph, not quadruple. | |
| Jan 21, 2016 at 22:45 | comment | added | cde | @DavidYaw A crumple zone would only really matter if they were strapped in. No Seat Belt. | |
| Jan 21, 2016 at 22:37 | comment | added | David Yaw | Both cars decelerate from 45 mph to 0, and their front bumpers are at the end are the same location as when they first made contact. This is the same as hitting a wall at 45 mph, provided that the wall is sturdy enough to not move/deform in the impact. Yes, there is twice the total kinetic energy, but there's two cars' worth of crumple zones to absorb the energy. | |
| Jan 21, 2016 at 22:16 | comment | added | user9311 | @CarlKevinson the relative speed is 90 mph, which affects the amount of energy released in the collision. Of course there are two cars to share the impact, but the fact is the energy scaled with the square of the velocity (E = MV^2). Doubling the speed quadruples the energy, divided between two cars, means they hit with twice the force of hitting a stationary wall. | |
| Jan 21, 2016 at 22:14 | comment | added | DefenestrationDay | @CarlKevinson The wall is also moving at 45mph towards you. If you were motionless, that would still hurt very much. Now add the fact that you are also moving towards the wall at 45 mph. Twice the fun. | |
| Jan 21, 2016 at 21:52 | comment | added | Carl Kevinson | They're not experiencing a 90 mph crash. They decelerate from 45 to 0, much like hitting a wall at 45 mph. | |
| Jan 21, 2016 at 21:15 | history | answered | cde | CC BY-SA 3.0 |