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By how many times does a vehicle destructive power increase in a crash where the speed of the vehicle doubles?

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Final answer:

When the speed of a vehicle doubles, its destructive power increases by a factor of four.

Step-by-step explanation:

When the speed of a vehicle doubles, its destructive power increases by a factor of four.

To understand this, let's consider the kinetic energy of the vehicle before and after the crash. Kinetic energy is given by the formula:

E = 1/2mv^2

where E is the kinetic energy, m is the mass of the vehicle, and v is the velocity.

When the speed doubles, the velocity is multiplied by 2, which means the kinetic energy will be multiplied by 4.

Therefore, the vehicle's destructive power increases by four times when its speed doubles in a crash.

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