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
>Does it somehow get stored as potential energy in the crumple zone
Not “stored”, used to bend the metal. It’s not turned into *potential* energy, it’s turned into work aka “producing a piece of metal that’s a different shape than before”. It takes force to bend metal right? Force x distance (the amount that it gets bent by) = work. The kinetic energy of the cars is converted into work done on the metal to change its shape.
But yes a bunch is converted into heat as well, and a small amount into sound.
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