2 identical cars are travelling in opposite directions and end up colliding in a head-on collision?

Question

Both were travelling at identical speed. in theory they would sustain identical damage.

If it were just the one car at the same speed in a head-on with a solid, stationery immovable object, say a block of concrete would the damage to the car be half that than in the first scenario as the closing speed is halved??

Answer 1

To get the collision speed of the objects moving towards each other you would add the two speeds together.

The collision speed of the car hitting the stationary object would be the speed of the car alone.

Theoretically, the damage would be half if you took into account the speed of collision.

However. The second car is not an immovable object, but because it is travelling at the same speed, it would have the effect of hitting an immovable object. Neither would give.

Answer 2

Your initial theory is flawed, as you have taken no account of all the variables that enter the equation.
Damage to each vehicle would occur, that is clear, but the variables affecting the degree of damage will include:
1. the mass of each vehicle (no two outwardly identical cars are actually identical in every respect, such items as condition of tyres and brakes, quantity ie. weight of fuel on board, weight of driver/passengers, etc.);
2. the reaction time of each driver and degree of driving experience;
3. the structural condition of each vehicle (even if both cars were new, there are likely to be variations in the strength of component body parts).

In your second example, the answer would be 'No'.
Firstly you do not say whether the block of concrete has an identical mass to that of the car.
Secondly, and more importantly, the block of concrete is stated as an immovable object. In the first scenario, two cars colliding head-on are not immovable and there would be a tendency to rebound (even slightly) following the collision, and both cars would absorb a proportion of the impact - also their structures were similar. The block of concrete will not move and its structure is totally unyielding.
Thus in scenario 2, the potential damage to the one car would be more extensive.

Answer 3

Right, they drive in opposite directions and yet collide? Then they must have been driving in a circle.
The damage should still be the same, as the concrete works as a constraining force on the one car, so does the other car in the first scenario.
Well, I might be wrong.

Answer 4

If both cars were "points" (that is, had no distributed mass, etc), then
I might buy that the damage would be identical.

However, if one car hits the other off center, then one can end up
spinning while the other bounces, etc.

In the world of physics, you end up making a ton of simplifying statements
(such as that your cars act like points) - because otherwise events like
collisions are controlled more by chaos theory then simple impluse and
momentum equations.

Answer 5

The block of concrete would absorb the energy of the collision differently than another vehicle. So, the damage would be more severe in vehicle vs concrete barrier than in a vehicle vs identical vehicle. Vehicles are designed to absorb and disperse impact energy in order to, hopefully, make them more survivable for the impacting vehicle' occupants. Concrete barriers are made to stop vehicles and not give at all.

Answer 6

You are over simplifying it. With two cars, both have an amount of 'bendability' and the fact that both can give somewhat will be a factor in reducing the effect of the impact. However a concrete block has no give at all as i found out to my cost when I backed into one!

Answer 7

the damage would be half (ingoning the effects of the physical shape of the wall versus the shape of a car). Why? Because its impulse that causes the damage, so since you have 1/2 the total momentum you have 1/2 the impulse, thus half the damage... right?

Answer 8

No the damage would be greater due to the concrete being immovable and therefore all the ompact is taken by the car which is crushable

Answer 9

No,it would be the same;when a car meets another traveling at equal speed but in the opposite direction,the resultant force would be nought.i.e. no overall force..this is also the case if the car hits a barrier which itself does not move after the impact.

Answer 10

It depends on who is driving. If they are an experienced stunt driver
then they would cause less damage to the car. They have some tricky moves at the last moment that they can use to minimize the damage.