Consider 2 automobile accidents in which identical cars are driven into solid wall at 30 mph and 60 mph, respectively. compared to the car traveling 30 mph, the car 60 mph transfers what?
To understand what the car traveling at 60 mph transfers compared to the car traveling at 30 mph, we need to consider the concept of kinetic energy.
Kinetic energy is the energy possessed by an object due to its motion. It is directly proportional to the mass of the object and the square of its velocity. The formula for kinetic energy (KE) is:
KE = 0.5 x mass x velocity^2
Now, let's compare the two cars. We are told that the cars are identical, which means they have the same mass. However, their velocities are different, 30 mph and 60 mph.
To find out the kinetic energy transferred, we need to calculate the difference in kinetic energy between the two scenarios. Let's calculate the kinetic energy for each car separately.
For the car traveling at 30 mph:
KE1 = 0.5 x mass x (30 mph)^2
For the car traveling at 60 mph:
KE2 = 0.5 x mass x (60 mph)^2
To find the kinetic energy transferred from the 60 mph car compared to the 30 mph car, we subtract the initial kinetic energy from the final kinetic energy.
Kinetic energy transferred = KE2 - KE1
Since we know that the cars have identical mass, we can factor it out of the equation:
Kinetic energy transferred = 0.5 x mass x (60 mph)^2 - 0.5 x mass x (30 mph)^2
Simplifying the equation further:
Kinetic energy transferred = 0.5 x mass x [60^2 - 30^2]
Now we can calculate the kinetic energy transferred by substituting the appropriate values for mass and velocities.
Remember to convert the velocities from mph (miles per hour) to a more appropriate unit like m/s (meters per second) using the conversion factor of 0.44704 m/s per mph.
I hope this helps you understand how to calculate the kinetic energy transferred between the two cars.