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
Most of it goes into permanently deforming the metal, which results in the metal getting hot. You can try it yourself. Take a paperclip and bend it back and forth quickly 10 times or so. The metal should be warm to the touch in the area where the bending occurred.
Some is also dissipated as the cars or their parts skid across the road after the collision. A small amount of the energy does get stored as potential energy as “elastic” deformations of the metal, and as you said a tiny bit goes out as noise.
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