Quote:
Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed
The science works when the two cars are roughly the same mass.
However, it much different when one vehicle is significantly less massive than the other.
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Technically, its a lot more complicated than that and has less to do with the masses of the cars, but rather their ability to absorb/dissipate the energy involved (aka take damage). In the end the total amount of kinetic energy involved has to be used up somehow by a combination of: a) slowing vehicles down, and, b) doing damage (hence crumple zones designed to use up that energy).
Take this scenario as an extreme:
-One large 10000lb truck travelling @ 50
-One tiny 1000lb car made out of concrete travelling @ 50
Smaller concrete car would absorb a lot less of the energy, thus, a large amount of energy has to be dealt with by the truck.
Same analogy would apply if the truck hit a smart car that was "crunch-resistant". All the energy involved would be used up doing damage to the truck, as well as slowing both down, and then, likely, pushing the smartcar away in the opposite direction.
In real life, sure, a smaller car is going to get f*'d up way more than a big truck just because of the sheer amount of energy involved and the fact it is less able to absorb the quantities involved, rather than just being based on mass.