December 20, 201114 yr Car Crash Webquest Challenge Nate, Ryan and Miani Period 8 12/20/11 In a 35 km/hr speed zone, an SUV rear ended a parked station wagon at a stop sign. The SUV traveled 2 meters, and the wagon traveled 24 meters. Using this information and given the brakes decelerated the SUV at -2 m/s and the wagon at -3 m/s, we calculated that the SUV was moving at 2.83 m/s after the collision, and the wagon at 12 m/s. The momentum for the SUV was 8,490 kgm/s, and the wagon was 24,000 kgm/s. Due to the law of the conservation of momentum, the momentum before the collision was equal to the momentum after, so the momenta of the vehicles after the collision added together is equal to the mass of the SUV, 3000 kg, multiplied by its velocity. From this, we got a velocity before the collision to be 10.83 m/s, which converts to about 38.9 km/hr. Since the speed limit was 35 km/hr, the SUV was speeding when it hit the wagon, and is guilty of violating the law.
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