Answer to Question #106372 in Mechanics | Relativity for Valentine Agun

Question

(a) If two automobiles collide, they usually do not stick together. Does this mean the collision is elastic? (b) Explain why a head-on collision is likely to be more dangerous than other types of collisions.

Answer 1

(a)

An elastic collision is one in which no energy is lost.

In our case two automobiles collide. This always leads to deformation of the car. Therefore, part of the kinetic energy is spent for deformation, and part is converted into thermal energy.

Answer. The collision is not elastic.

(b)

At a head-on collision the force of the impact is increased due to the traveling speed of each vehicle and a greater portion of the incident kinetic energy is transformed to other forms of energy in a head-on collision.