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
As others have mentioned, deformation of metal makes heat. Another factor into what these crumple zones do is make it take longer for the car to go from moving to stopped. The time is still very short. But if it takes 100 milliseconds instead of 50 that takes half the force because it took twice the time.
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