Momentum is conserved in a collision between a car and a brick wall, with the car transferring its momentum into the Earth through vibrations caused by the impact. When the car hits the wall, both the car and the wall come to rest, but the momentum is not lost; it is distributed into the larger system of the planet, wall, and car wreckage. The vibrations from the impact carry the momentum throughout the planet, resulting in no noticeable change due to the planet's massive size. Additionally, kinetic energy is dissipated through permanent deformation of the car and conversion into heat.
PREREQUISITESPhysics students, automotive engineers, and anyone interested in understanding the principles of momentum conservation and energy transfer in collisions.
zeromodz said:If a car moving with a constant velocity hits a large brick wall. The car just stops once it hits the wall? Both objects are now at rest after the collision, where does all the momentum go? Also, does making the wall vibrate count as anything, or does the wall have to move to give it momentum?
Since the total momentum is always zero, where does the kinetic energy go...? Some goes into permanently deforming the car, some is converted the heat.cjameshuff said:Also note that the car used traction against the planet to accelerate in the first place...by smashing into the wall, it's basically just returning some momentum it borrowed while accelerating.