On: Ever-growing cars: why they keep on getting wider

[jacobwilliamroy]

Is it physically possible for the energy absorbed by crumple-bits to be greater than the additional energy required to decelerate all the extra mass which the crumple-bits provide?

[remcob → jacobwilliamroy]

Yes, the energy required to make permanent deformations in a material is unrelated to it's kinetic energy.

[humbledrone → jacobwilliamroy]

I'd rather get hit in the head by a ten pound blob of clay than a five pound iron ball. (Preferably neither, though.)

[jacobwilliamroy → humbledrone]

I think I'd pick the iron ball? I'd have to feel the clay first.

[cma → jacobwilliamroy]

Would you rather be hit by a moving concrete wall or a moving concrete wall at the same speed but with 5 layers of cardboard boxes taped to it.