How long does a car crash take?

Linda B

seconds - half the time you dont realise whats happend until its over.

loonatic72

Feels like forever but happens in a blink of an eye

alienx

Well It all depends...
Since you are teaching momentum-impulse just keep in mind that any colllision dependes on 2 simple factor, that is "mass" of the object and "velocity" at which the object is moving. This is the basis of collision theory as momentum=m*v. But you should get confused between momentum and impulse. They differ in the sense that impulse is the force that is created after or during the collision. This is what your question is all about "Time or the duration it took for a car crash". In order to find out the time it took for a crash. you need to know the "initial velocity and the final velocaity of the object along with the force of impact which can be found by using Newton's famous F=ma. To be prcise, you also need to add the resistance force of the tires and the road in the force equation. By boiling all these situation down you'll get something like this which will help you determine the time it takes for the car crash to occur.

F=mv-mu/t -------> F1+F2+.....=mv-mu/t

this also means t=mv-mu/F -----> t=1/F

as force increases time of collision decreses and vice versa.

Hope you get the point.

Christos

For the crash? As in... from impact to Velocity = 0?
It depends on the velocity and acceleration before the collision.

Latex

I was able to avoid someone coming at me oncoming and i had about 1.5 seconds to react. but it was damn close. if there was a weather issue that affected traction, there would probably have been an accident. It was also evident that the other driver reacted as well, which helped. and all may be of no use to you at all.

Nympheas

Depends on when you think the crash has started and ended. Does it begin at impact? Or when the person pulls out in front of you and breaks start squealing?

1 second.

Vince M

Depends on speed, condition of the road surface, the number of vehicles and obstacles involved.

A simple head on collision could be over in a fraction of a second. A high impact, NEARLY head on collision would cause a lot of spinning and may last several seconds. I have seen video of a rollover, at VERY high speed that lasted nearly ten seconds, from first contact until the vehicle came to rest. Multiple car crashes can go on for several minutes, as new vehicles come upon the scene, driven by drivers who are caught unaware.

stewie g

what an odd question. most happen very fast. I've slid on ice towards another car so slowly i could have been walking past the car and still crashed into it.

reddjoker1

MILLLIIILLLIIILLL SECONDS

chrismarÃ¨ c

according to my sister, it takes mere seconds, but all of it feels slow-motion. and technically, she didn't crash - she rolled and flipped it and wrote it off...

Renee

Yea, Linda has it right, my mom was in a car crash a few years ago and you don't even know what's going on until it's done.

Be~ing

well you should know that it takes a whole lot of things into account,

the weather
the speed cars are travelling at
the force of point of impact
there are so many things
if its a guy or a girl driving

i dunno,

remowlms

The crush time can be 80 to 300 milliseconds long (low speed, rear end impacts have a long crush time while high speed impacts have shorter crush times). The post-impact roll out can take a few seconds depending on the speed and distance traveled.

â™«bRiDiEâ™«

to be honest it depends on what type of car it is and the conditions. if you mean while it's crashing its bout 2 mins but clearning up can take up to an hour.

Kenny G

It takes just 1 second for a car to crash.

i just took driving lessons. according to our instructor it takes less than half a second

bungee

to many variables come into play to answere this question

Kadin N

i dont know...

David E

The crash impulse typically takes only a few milliseconds from start to finish. In fact, one of the fundamental assumptions that allows us to use momentum/impulse theory to calculate approach speeds in a typical vehicle accident is that the changes in velocity occur instantly at impact. While this is not exactly true in the real world, the assumption avoids the necessity of dealing with complicated integrals or knowing a great deal about the physical properties of the involved vehicles. Usually we consider the crash event to be from first contact through maximum engagement to separation. If it is possible to determine the point of maximum engagement, that is where momentum is assumed to have been transferred and the speeds changed instantaneously. But like I said, that isn't exactly correct in a classical mechanics sense. If you plot force as a function of time, it will generally trace a curve with a distinct peak at maximum engagement. It is the fact that the vehicles do take a finite amount of time (though a very very small amount) to reach maximum engagement from first contact that allows airbag systems to protect occupants. If momentum was transferred instantaneously at first contact, airbags would have to inflate even faster than they already do, and then they wouldn't be much better for you than the crash.

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