Final answer:
Both the truck and car will be damaged in a head-on collision, with the truck likely sustaining less damage due to its larger mass. The velocity of the wreckage can be determined using the law of conservation of momentum.
Step-by-step explanation:
When a large truck collides head-on with a small compact car, the effect on each vehicle is dictated by the laws of physics, particularly by the principles of momentum and energy conservation. According to Newton's Third Law of Motion, both the truck and car will experience forces of equal magnitude but in opposite directions during the collision. As a result, both vehicles will indeed get damaged, which corresponds to option 3 from the provided choices. However, because of the larger mass of the truck, it will typically sustain less damage compared to the small car, especially if both vehicles come to rest after the collision. In a perfectly inelastic collision, where the vehicles lock together, we can determine the velocity of the combined wreckage using conservation of momentum equations.
In the example provided, the small car has a mass of 1200 kg and is traveling at 60 km/hr (which needs to be converted to meters per second), while the truck has a mass of 3000 kg and travels at 40 km/hr. To find the velocity of the combined wreckage, you would convert the speeds from km/hr to m/s, calculate the initial momentum of each vehicle, and finally use the conservation of momentum principle to find the velocity of the combined mass after the collision.