Question

Suppose you are defending a client who suffered an accident. Your client's car was crashed behind by another car. Someone tells you that if your car had been moving, the car would have suffered less damage than if it had been at rest. Is the person correct or not? To explain this problem you should consider 2 cases, one with your client's car at rest and the other moving. In both cases the initial speed of the car that hits your customer's car has the same speed. The masses are the same. You should consider this as a semi-inelastic collision. The energy is not conserved. In both cases the moment after the crash, the two cars will have different speeds because they are not together after the collision. The collision is not elastic. Determine in which case your client's vehicle would had suffered less damage.

Answer 1