Yes, correct. The important point is a collision into a substantial wall where the vehicle has to absorb virtually all of the energy. For the head-on collision, the important point is that both vehicles collide directly into each other and the combined KE is equally absorbed by both vehicles. In that case, it is as if both vehicles collided into a wall.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chuckinca
From Wikipedia:
While it is true (via Galilean relativity) that a head-on crash between two vehicles traveling at 50 mph is equivalent to a moving vehicle running into a stationary one at 100 mph, it is clear from basic Newtonian Physics that if the stationary vehicle is replaced with a solid wall or other stationary near-immovable object such as a bridge abutment, then the equivalent collision is one in which the moving vehicle is only traveling at 50 mph.,[3] except for the case of a lighter car colliding with a heavier one.
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