Everybody talks about modern cars having crumple zones that “absorb” the impact in a collision so that the people inside don’t get injured, and that’s awesome! But I’m confused about the conservation of energy.. if two 2,000 lb cars crash into each other at 50mph, does ALL that energy get converted into heat and noise in the collision? Does it somehow get stored as potential energy in the crumple zone? Does it do something else?
In: Physics
in the military, modern troop carriers are designed to shear away from the passenger compartment in the event of an explosion. Ie. take the energy exerted by a mine, bomb, whatever and “throw” parts of the vehicle. If they were built to absorb the blast, that energy would be transferred through the vehicle and into the passengers.
cars are made to crumple (use energy to crumple) instead of withstand the impact which would transfer the energy into you (the passenger.)
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