Collision in Western Australia, Australia

AI Thread Summary
A recent tragic collision in Western Australia involved a drunk driver traveling the wrong way on a freeway, resulting in the death of a woman. The discussion centers on calculating the impact force of the collision, given both vehicles were traveling at speeds of 27.77 m/s and 41.66 m/s, with each vehicle weighing 1000 kg. Participants note that calculating the exact force requires more detailed information about vehicle deformation and dynamics, suggesting a hypothetical approach to estimate the force. The conversation also touches on the relevance of nationality in understanding local news and expresses a desire for assistance in physics calculations. Overall, the thread highlights the complexities of crash physics and the challenges faced by those unfamiliar with the subject.
Psalter
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
As i am new to these forums i do not have any idea of how many of the members might be from Australia. But here is the scenario, it happened 2 days ago i beleive.

A lady was killed when a drunk driver was heading down the free way... in the wrong direction . She was going (v)= 27.77m/s. he was going (v)= 41.66m/s

Assuming that each of their vehicle collided directly and their was no impact force dissapated or redirected by "riccochet" What would be the impact force be if both their vehicles weighed 1000kg each. (including driver)

If you have any queries or need clarification please don't hesitate. I don't have any idea how to calculate the following or i would
 
Physics news on Phys.org
You cannot calculate the "force" without much more detailed information about each vehicle. Are your four significant figures appropriate? Is this a hypothetical (homework) problem, or some morbid fascination with recent tragedy? Why is nationality relevant?
 
Last edited:
The force depends on the deformation of both cars and is pretty difficult to calculate. That's what crash tests are for. But you might try assuming the pair decelerates linearly from its 70m/s closing speed to zero in 2 meters (1 for each car), and plug that into the Newtonian motion equations.
 
Last edited:
What about pure amount of force at the moment of impact, not over a lineal time frame ?

As you can tell i am very much a physics noob --.--, didn't pay enough attention at school and then decided to drop out and become a chef... big mistake .

As for the deceleration, i think that would be a appropriate to say that they decelerated from 70m/s to zero in 2 meters

For this instance should we say that crumple points do not exist on the cars and compensate for that by taking off 25% of the resulting force in the calculations to take into account crumple points, as inaccurate as this may be.

In reply to Csfrogs post,

I only mentioned nationality because chances are if you were in australia you would of heard about the crash.
Its a morbid fascination
The figures specified are appropriate, from my my previous knowledge in physics i know the general velocity unit of measurement is m/s so i took the time to convert the speeds.

Off topic question, Why did you pick Caesium?
 
Last edited:
Still would like some help with this please guys
 

Thread '1:1 versus 2:1 Mechanical Advantage debate'

The rope is tied into the person (the load of 200 pounds) and the rope goes up from the person to a fixed pulley and back down to his hands. He hauls the rope to suspend himself in the air. What is the mechanical advantage of the system? The person will indeed only have to lift half of his body weight (roughly 100 pounds) because he now lessened the load by that same amount. This APPEARS to be a 2:1 because he can hold himself with half the force, but my question is: is that mechanical...
View full post »

Thread 'Newton's first law?'

Some physics textbook writer told me that Newton's first law applies only on bodies that feel no interactions at all. He said that if a body is on rest or moves in constant velocity, there is no external force acting on it. But I have heard another form of the law that says the net force acting on a body must be zero. This means there is interactions involved after all. So which one is correct?
View full post »

Thread 'Free fall of person in a sled to direct horizontal motion by atmospheric resistance'

Let there be a person in a not yet optimally designed sled at h meters in height. Let this sled free fall but user can steer by tilting their body weight in the sled or by optimal sled shape design point it in some horizontal direction where it is wanted to go - in any horizontal direction but once picked fixed. How to calculate horizontal distance d achievable as function of height h. Thus what is f(h) = d. Put another way, imagine a helicopter rises to a height h, but then shuts off all...
View full post »

Similar threads

I Adhesive Collision: Coding for Sticky Objects
Replies
9
Views
2K
Transfer of Momentum during a collision
Replies
19
Views
6K
Work, Energy, Force of Pile Driver and Pile
Replies
1
Views
9K
Stationary Forces in a Car Collision
Replies
2
Views
2K
Momentum of a System and External Forces
Replies
5
Views
1K
Initial velocity of a snowmobile collision
Replies
5
Views
4K
Can anyone estimate the speed of a vehicle in a car accident without skid marks?
Replies
4
Views
3K
Solving Car Collision: Velocity Impact of 40cm Rear End Impact
Replies
17
Views
2K
Why Can a Sound Wave Not Travel Faster than the Average Molecule Speed?
Replies
23
Views
4K
Estimating Pitch & Volume of Collision Sounds
Replies
14
Views
3K

Hot Threads

Recent Insights

Back
Top