- #1
Darquis
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Homework Statement
You're in a car, and you see a car coming at you in the opposite direction. Assume that both cars are identical in all matters including velocity and mass (neither given). To your left and right are a brick wall, you will hit this head on if you swerve. Is it better to swerve, do nothing, accelerate or hit the brakes?
Homework Equations
J=Ft (Impulse)
Conservation of momentum
Kinetic energy (maybe/)
The Attempt at a Solution
I know that the longer I am in contact with what I hit while still in motion, the longer it takes to transmit the resulting force back to me/my vehicle.
If I hit the wall, best case scenario is I stop right there, because the force is going to act quickly, and whatever momentum I have is going to be balanced by the impulse. If I go backwards, that impulse increases (as I now have a negative momentum, assuming my direction of travel to be the positive), which increases the force and possibly decreases the time.
Conservation of momentum leads me to believe if I crash head on into that other car, which will have the same momentum as me, it will be very similar to hitting that brick wall, assuming our cars don't rebound.
I've been using 20 m/s as velocity and 1000 kg for the car's mass, as both seemed reasonable as far as the problem went, but really they can be anything. Any ideas?