Question

You're driving in a car at 50 km/h and bump into a car ahead traveling at 48 km/h in the same direction. the speed of impact is

Answer 1

To solve this problem, we must remember about the law of conservation of momentum. The initial momentum mist be equal to the final momentum, that is:

m1 v1 + m2 v2 = (m1 + m2) v’

where v’ is the speed of impact

Since we are not given the masses of each car m1 and m2, so let us assume that they are equal, such that:

m1 = m2 = m

Which makes the equation:

m v1 + m v2 = (2 m) v’

Cancelling m and substituting the v values:

50 + 48 = 2 v’

2 v’ = 98

v ‘ = 49 km/h

 

The speed of impact is 49 km/h.