On Fri, 17 Mar 2000 GLCurley@aol.com wrote:
> So in summary if one is driving a Bricklin 60 mph and has a choice between
> hitting a brick wall head on and a Yugo (loaded to Bricklin weight
> equivalent) coming in the opposite direction at 60 mph, one should aim for
> the Yugo. Correct?
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Sort of, but not for the reason you think. If it was another Bricklin,
then it wouldn't matter, unless of course you are altruistic and figure 1
less Bricklin in the world is better than 2 less. Both Bricks would
suffer equal damage.
Assuming the Yugo has zippo safety features, and you crashed into it, the
Brick would probably fare better. Total energy absorbed would be the
same, but the Yugo might absorb 70% and the Brick 30%.
But the "theoretical" answer to your question is "it makes no never
mind". The Brick gets trashed the same amount either way.
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> If the oncoming vehicle is an EV warrior the choice should be less
> complicated.
=======================================================
Assuming the EV warrior is built like a tank, the Brick now takes the
majority of the energy absorbtion.
Now of course if the Brick bumper was on some kind of super spring and
bounces back, while the "target" absorbs some energy and bounces back, we
have a much more complicated problem. Momentum conservation, energy
conservation, etc. all come in. Ghack, shades of Physics 101...
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