At what speed was the sport utility vehicle traveling?

by admin on August 5, 2009

A car (mass=1080 kg) is traveling at 32.2 m/s when it collides head-on with a sport utility vehicle (mass=2840 kg) traveling in the opposite direction. In the collision, the two vehicles come to a halt.

Initial momentum
= mcar vcar + mSUV vSUV
=
Final momentum = 0

vSUV = -vcar mcar / mSUV

The minus sign reflects the fact that of course the SUV was going the opposite direction as the car.

{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }

thephoneguy1234 August 5, 2009 at 12:30 pm

do they stop instantaneous that matters
References :

Abhinesh August 5, 2009 at 1:03 pm

It was traveling at 12.25 m/s
References :

TadaceAce August 5, 2009 at 1:51 pm

whats with all the momentum problems. momentum of car = 1080 * 32.2 = 34776. If they come to a halt the momentum has to equal. Thus 34776 / 2840 = 12.245 m/s
References :

Bekki B August 5, 2009 at 1:59 pm

Initial momentum
= mcar vcar + mSUV vSUV
=
Final momentum = 0

vSUV = -vcar mcar / mSUV

The minus sign reflects the fact that of course the SUV was going the opposite direction as the car.
References :

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