(World) Paul recently passed his driver’s license at the third attempt and borrowed a car that is over 25 years old from a buddy.
Fastening your seat belt was important in driving school, but not in the real world of a 19-year-old. And the two beers earlier are probably fine, aren’t they?
Second 0
Paul drives 90 km/h. His car weighs 1,200 kg.
At this speed, the car has 38,226 kg of translational energy (force striving forward in the direction of travel).
This corresponds to the force of a 250 kg bomb dropped from a height of 2,000 meters, which would hit hard pavement with a force (weight) of 100 to 300 megaponds (1 megapond = 1,000 kg). Paul adds 2,230 kg of energy on his own initiative because he weighs 70 kg and also drives 90 km/h.
Just as he was about to upload a post to Facebook, he crashes into a tree.
Second 0.1
The tenth of a second is over. The bumper and radiator grille are dented, the bonnet begins to curl. The car has lost about 5 km/h of speed. Paul feels clearly pushed forward. In addition to its weight, which sits in the upholstery at 70 kg, it now also has a weight forward of 170 kg. Paul stiffens his legs to counter this news in the literal sense. And he presses against the steering wheel so that it doesn’t lift him out of the seat. He lifts around 156 kg with his legs, and 30 to 35 kg with his arms. He would never have believed that he was so strong, but he managed to stay seated. Then comes the second hard blow. Before he can even think about it, it is over, the second 0.1.
Second 0.2
The somewhat harder parts of the vehicle, suspension and radiator, have just arrived at the tree; the connections with the car are broken, because the rest of the car is still driving very fast, especially with the trunk at the back. Paul now feels a mighty blow on his legs, because the part of the car against which he is bracing himself with his feet has been
just slowed down to about 60 km/h. With his legs, he lifts 350 to 420 kg. If he wanted to stay seated now, he would have to lift 220 kg on the steering wheel with his arms, but he can’t do that. His knee joints give way, they simply break with a crunch or jump out of the joint. And with its weight of around 140 kg, clearly noticeable force pulls it up into the corner of the sun visor on a circular path. All in all, Paul currently distributes a total of 413 kg of dead weight on his limbs.
Second 0.3
Paul now has a somewhat easier fate: he is busy flying, he is still on his way to the obstacles. His broken knees stick to the dashboard, with his hands he holds the steering wheel, which bends elastically under his grip, slowing him down by another 5 km/h.
Second 0.4
Paul is still on the road, his pelvis hits the steering wheel rim. Paul is only about 100 kg at this moment. The steering column bends imperceptibly upwards. Then comes the terrible moment when the heaviest and most stable part of the car, the engine, crashes into the tree.
Second 0.5
is just over. Motor and Paul stand still. Only the trunk still drives at 50 or 60 km/h.
The side walls of the car overhaul themselves. The rear wheels rise high, two or three meters high. But we are not interested in the car now: What about Paul
happens during this time? Paul came to a standstill in the course of a tenth of a second. His weight grew to 973 kg. With this merciless force, he was thrown onto the steering column. The steering wheel, which he was still holding onto, collapsed like a rotten pretzel under this shock. With a force of around 870 to 920 kg (depending on the strength of the valance), the steering column penetrates his chest as a blunt lance. At the same time, the head rams the windshield with a deafening blow. If Paul hadn’t held on to the steering wheel with such superhuman strength, he might have weighed 1,300 kg, at that moment. And in the process, the tightly laced shoes would have flown off his feet.
One or two tenths of a second, then Paul is dead.
After seven tenths of a second, the
Carriage still.
The disaster is over.
Say “twenty-one,” that’s one second.
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