Even roughly, what sort of force would be inflicted on the human body in a car crash?

Question

for sake of arguement in an average small car in a headon collision with a brick wall @ 60mph.

sorry i should have said, i do mean units of force be that G's or whatever.

Answer 1

It would be difficult to quantify the exact force of a car accident. I guess you could calculate the deccelaration from 60mph to 0mph in a short space of time (Like 0.01 secs)

All I can honestly say is the person in the car will suffer major injuries. Hows about 3 broken vertebrae, 6 broken ribs, a fractured skull, a ruptured spleen and temporary blindness. All at the age of 17. Buckle up kids because it took me nearly 3 years to recover from that

Answer 2

Well, I'm not sure the specifics of the MEASURE of the force.

But you're traveling at 60 MPH as well as the car. When the car violently stops, YOU don't.

And you won't stop until all the energy thecar's motion has imparted to you stops.

I was taught there are basically three crashes in a car crash:

1) Your car crashing into another object.
2) Your body crashing into something(s) inthe car (be it a seat belt, the steering wheel, the air bag, or in really bad cases, the windshield).
3) Your internal organs crash against your skelton/rib cage (and may bounce aroudn a bit interally as they turn into a wave, andenergies may reflect around interally).

As to the actual g-force, it's been too long since high school, and I don't recall the formulas involved, so I'll defer to someone else on that part.

Answer 3

The average force = 0.5*(mass)*(velocity)^2 / distance.

If a 50 kg (110 lb) person (you - nothing like making it personal :-) ) travelling at 60 mph (27 m/s) and stops in 3 feet, the average impact force is 20,000 N, 4400 lbs, or 2.2 tons. That's 40 G's (for a very short instant).

This assumes that you are belted to the car and that the car "squishes" 3 feet after it hits the wall. We'll conveniently ignore that fact that once a car squished beyond a magic point, things like the engine want to jump into your lap...

The more rigid the car (for all those that want vehicles "built like a tank") or if you don't like restraints (seat belt, airbag, etc.), the more force that is applied since the distance shrinks. For a more rigid car, it might drop to 1 foot, increasing your force to 6.6 tons.

If you forget the seat belt, you'll stop in only 0.1 ft (you're moving forward as the car is slowing and you smash into the steering wheel, windshield, dashboard, etc.), increasing the force to 66 tons.

Suddenly driving slow seems like a good idea (from the physics side)....

These are basic "average" (read: easy to do) calculations. If you want more exact answers, things get alot more complicated (and/or interesting ... this is what some engineers think about).

Answer 4

Are you wearing a seatbelt? If you are wearing a seatbelt then the amount of force would not be as much as if you were not wearing a seatbelt. When a car crashes into a wall the person (or people) in the car are still going at 60 mph. If you are seatbeltless and crashed into a wall at 60 mph. you would either (a) go flying through the windshield or (b) be stopped by the airbags. I would assume that the first would occur. This is where the seatbelt helps. If you are wearing the seatbelt when the car crashes then it stops your body from going 60 mph.

Answer 5

Since your question is in "Physics" and not "Health", I presume you're looking for an answer based on units of "Force".

Speed is the crucial factor, obviously. I would guess 60mph into a brick wall would produce roughly 2,600 G.

Answer 6

Blunt Force Trauma

Answer 7

Even at lower speeds the damage would be huge.

Bones will be broken in many places [arms;legs;spine;ribs etc.]

Internal organs would start to be ripped from thier mountings in the body and excessive damage caused to every part of the body

A lot of this depends on the angle of the crash and the deacceleration during the crash. Air bags would help

Answer 8

I dont know. All I know is I got a fractured spine sitting in a stationery car at a round about., dont even want to think about it!!!!

Answer 9

Ive seen several but i didn't feel a thing

Answer 10

what sort of force? Physical force, there's no other kind.