Thread: Fifth Gear crashes a Ford Focus at 120mph

The wreckage is pretty bad.

That's absurd.

Holy Fvck that insane

They said it was equal to that of two cars at 120 going head on. Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't 120 into a stationary object equal to two cars both traveling 60?

Still cool none the less.

nope they tested that one on Mythbusters and two cars going 50 into each other still only equals a total speed of 50 so it going into a wall at 120 is the same as two cars going into each other at 120

Originally Posted by McFlurrey06

They said it was equal to that of two cars at 120 going head on. Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't 120 into a stationary object equal to two cars both traveling 60?

Still cool none the less.

Nope, Newton's 3rd Law of motion: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Essentially, the wall crashed into the car at 120mph as well. If two identical cars crashed into each other at 120 mph each, you would have seen the exact same result. It's all about the momentum!

Crazy video!

So what would happen if a civic that hits a viper at 150.....

Originally Posted by MSRT8:Nik

So what would happen if a civic that hits a viper at 150.....

but that's 120 into something that has no give, 120 into a car wouldn't be as bad, right?

Originally Posted by Joey B 18c

but that's 120 into something that has no give, 120 into a car wouldn't be as bad, right?

If the mass and velocity of both cars were equal the results would be equal... its a simple physics problem, you have a given amount of energy in the car moving 120 mph know as its momentum. In the case of the crash above the car acted with a given force based on its initial energy and the rate it decelerated Force = mass x acceleration. The wall it hit had the ability to push back with a force greater than what the car acted on the wall so almost all the energy went into the structure of the car and was used up in deforming the structure of the car.

In the case of a head on collision if a car traveling 120 mph hit a car of equal mass traveling 60 mph you wouldn't see the same effect as there would be leftover energy after the collision to place, because the 60 mph car didn't have enough momentum to cancel out the 120 mph cars momentum... so after the collision there cars would still be moving after the deformation of the structures occurred and you would lose you final energy through friction as the cars slowed to a stop.