High School

What is the force of a collision between a 3000 kg car and a wall if the car goes from 40 m/s to 0 m/s in 0.5 seconds?

Answer :

Final answer:

The force of a collision between a 3000kg car and a wall, with the car decelerating from 40 m/s to 0 m/s in 0.5 seconds, is calculated using Newton's second law of motion (F=ma) and is found to be 240,000 N.

Explanation:

To calculate the force of a collision between a 3000kg car and a wall where the car decelerates from 40 m/s to 0 m/s in 0.5 seconds, we can use Newton's second law of motion. According to this law, force equals mass times acceleration (F = ma). First, we need to find the acceleration (a) of the car during the collision. The acceleration can be determined by the change in velocity (Δv) over time (t), using the formula a = Δv / t. In this case, the change in velocity is 40 m/s - 0 m/s = 40 m/s, and the time is 0.5 seconds.

The acceleration is therefore 40 m/s / 0.5 s = 80 m/s². Now that we have the acceleration, we can use F = ma to find the force, with m = 3000 kg and a = 80 m/s². The resulting force of the collision is 3000 kg × 80 m/s² = 240,000 N (newtons).