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1. A car has a total mass of 1200 kg and is traveling at 100 km per hour when the driver experience is a brake failure and collides with the barrels. Calculate the change in momentum it will experience whilst coming to a standstill.2. According to GSU's HyperPhysics Project this crash would have been fatal for an average 80 kg person. The safety zone in terms of momentum, ranges from 0 to 1,000 kg per metre per second. Determine the minimum velocity the car can slow down to during a collision with the barrels without the crash being fatal.

User Williamli
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Answer:

1. To calculate the change in momentum of the car, we need to use the formula:

Δp = m * Δv

where Δp is the change in momentum, m is the mass of the car, and Δv is the change in velocity.

At the moment of collision, the car is traveling at 100 km/h, which is 27.78 m/s. When the car comes to a standstill, its velocity is 0 m/s. So the change in velocity is:

Δv = 0 - 27.78 = -27.78 m/s

The mass of the car is 1200 kg. So the change in momentum is:

Δp = m * Δv = 1200 kg * (-27.78 m/s) = -33,336 kg m/s

Therefore, the change in momentum of the car is -33,336 kg m/s.

2. To determine the minimum velocity the car can slow down to during a collision with the barrels without the crash being fatal, we need to use the formula:

p = mv

where p is momentum, m is mass, and v is velocity.

The safety zone in terms of momentum is from 0 to 1000 kg/m/s. We know that the mass of an average person is 80 kg. So we can calculate the maximum momentum that an 80 kg person can safely withstand:

p_max = 80 kg * 1000 kg/m/s = 80,000 kg m/s

Now we can rearrange the formula to solve for the minimum velocity:

v_min = p_max / m

v_min = 80,000 kg m/s / 1200 kg

v_min = 66.67 m/s

Therefore, the minimum velocity that the car can slow down to during a collision with the barrels without the crash being fatal is 66.67 m/s.

User Pankaj Singhal
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