eli5 How does inertia and impact work? Does moving make a stronger or weaker impact for say punching something?
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Speed=energy.
The faster something moves compared to what it hits, the harder the impact. If two cars are going 100km/h side-by-side and accidentally tap each other, you’ll just get a scratch. If a car going 100km/h hits a parked car, that’s 100km/h of energy (very, very simplified version of the equation, mass also plays a huge role) so there will be a strong impact. If two cars go 100km/h in opposite directions and crash into each other, that’s 200km/h of energy in the collision.
The same principle works for punching.
To really calculate the force of impact, you’ll also need to factor in mass and a few more variables
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