Physics News

For my physics news I will be describing the physics behind a car crash. Over this last thanksgiving break, my dad and I were driving to go pick up supplies for our thanksgiving feast and it was raining outside. While driving on a two lane road, a car from turning into the oncoming lane sped through its turn and slipped into our lane. This was due to the decreased amount of friction between the tires of the car and the road. After slipping, my dad pressed on the brake and once again the decreased level of friction caused the car to slip. Our car and the oncoming car collided. My dad drives a Chevorlet Silverado truck and the oncoming car was a ford mustang. The collision was mostly elastic as the two cars stayed together. We continued in the same direction as we were going originally and the mustang was forced to follow the same path. This is due to the difference in momentum of the two vehicles. An average truck has a weight of about 10,000 pounds and an average car has a weight of about 5000 pounds. We can use the following equation to analyze the collision:

m1v1 + m2v2 =  (m1 + m2)v

Initial                   Final

Upon impact, the truck was moving at approximately 35 miles per hour and the car was moving at about 5 miles per hour. We can see that because the truck had a higher velocity and greater mass than the car, the truck would continue in its original path and the path of the car would change to also follow the original path of the truck.