The Physics of Car Crashes
How is the chemical energy of gasoline transformed into kinetic energy of a moving car? And where does that kinetic energy go when the car crashes into something and stops moving? Thanks to...
==========
Gasoline has approximately 56 Megajoules of chemical energy per liter , which is moreenergy than you get from exploding the same of amount of TNT, and is enough to power atoaster for a full day. Cars work by burning gasoline to convert that chemical energy intothe kinetic energy of motion of the car, though almost 80% of it is lost as heat in the engine.Still, 20% of 56 million joules is a lot of joules…To give a direct sense of gas-to-car conversion, it takes about five teaspoons of of gas toaccelerate a 2 ton car to 60kph, and about a third of a cup more for every additionalminute you want to keep it going at that speed.That might not sound like a lot of fuel, but the energy of a car moving 60kph is equivalentto dropping an elephant – or stegosaurus – from the t...
==========
Gasoline has approximately 56 Megajoules of chemical energy per liter , which is moreenergy than you get from exploding the same of amount of TNT, and is enough to power atoaster for a full day. Cars work by burning gasoline to convert that chemical energy intothe kinetic energy of motion of the car, though almost 80% of it is lost as heat in the engine.Still, 20% of 56 million joules is a lot of joules…To give a direct sense of gas-to-car conversion, it takes about five teaspoons of of gas toaccelerate a 2 ton car to 60kph, and about a third of a cup more for every additionalminute you want to keep it going at that speed.That might not sound like a lot of fuel, but the energy of a car moving 60kph is equivalentto dropping an elephant – or stegosaurus – from the t...
