> * Don't ask me how you got a cardboard box up to that speed, but you probably do not survive. 2) You manage to get a Maersk E class up to 70MPH and crash it into another Maersk E class*
I'd be more impressed if you got the Maersk up to 70mph, since it's 100k horsepower engines can manage less than half that.
And I suspect the collision would be pretty terrifying, given it would be dumping a kinetic energy load of 81GJ if I did the maths right (70mph ~= 31m/s, Emma Maersk ~= 170kton, E=1/2mv^2), which is somewhere around 20kton of TNT equiv.
The 300+ metre "crumple zone" might save you, but I wouldn't bet my life on it.
Also don't ask why I expressed wonder at a 70MPH cardboard box but not a 70MPH cargo ship....
Anyway, the kinetic energy involved in the ship collision would indeed be gigantic, but the mass available to absorb it is similarly gigantic. The energy will be going into the structure rather than into your fragile human body. It will take many seconds just to complete the collision. Compare this to the tiny fraction of a second available to decelerate the meatbags from 70MPH to 0MPH in a car collision at that speed.
I'd be more impressed if you got the Maersk up to 70mph, since it's 100k horsepower engines can manage less than half that.
And I suspect the collision would be pretty terrifying, given it would be dumping a kinetic energy load of 81GJ if I did the maths right (70mph ~= 31m/s, Emma Maersk ~= 170kton, E=1/2mv^2), which is somewhere around 20kton of TNT equiv.
The 300+ metre "crumple zone" might save you, but I wouldn't bet my life on it.