Would a 2005 Ford Focus travelling at 100kmph kill a Blue Whale?

[Hark]

Hypothetical situation arose with my housemates:

Would a 2005 Ford Focus Sedan launched at 100kmph (aka 62mph) towards a breaching Adult Blue Whale kill it on impact (or shortly after)?

Please show your working.

Pics for reference/Americans:

Notes:
- the 2005 Ford Focus Sedan does not hit the water before hitting the Adult Blue Whale.

- the 2005 Ford Focus Sedan hits the Blue Whale on it's side.

- the 2005 Ford Focus Sedan is launching from a jetty-like structure however the water is deep enough to host the adult Blue Whale.

 

[SABO.]

Theres a whole layer of blubber that is going to fuck up the car and protect the whale

 

[Slayven]

Moose and deer regularly fuck up these cars and still live.

 

[modewarp]

Making weekend plans?

 

[ConanEd]

According to The Last Jedi time-space physics yes.

 

[Jraphics Horse]

It's very rare for Blue Whales to breach, how would you persuade it?

 

[Xiaomi]

That's 60 mph. It will do serious damage to the whale, but even a human could survive that depending on the site of impact.

 

[zma1013]

This is oddly specific. Is your name Ahab?

 

[Dirtyshubb]

What sort of fucked up scenario is this?

Show your working?

Jesus, some people.

 

[danowat]

Quick rough calcs, 350J delivered at (roughly) 1.3 m2, I'd say probably.

 

[Piccalilli Shinpads]

Terrible choice of font.

 

[Deleted member 9241]

Yes, if it drove directly into its open mouth

 

[crimzonflame]

Is this the terrorists law?

 

[LastCaress]

The car is like 1% of the whale's mass

 

[Cor]

The car is like 1% of the whale's mass

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a bullet is well less than 1% of a human's mass tho

 

[Laser Man]

That depends on the airbag and how fast the whale is driving!

 

[CloudWolf]

How drunk were you and your housemates, OP?

As for the question, it would probably not kill the whale. It'd fuck up the car though.

 

[Hark]

Theres a whole layer of blubber that is going to fuck up the car and protect the whale

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That's what two of us agree on. Blubber can be up to 11 inches thick.

Moose and deer regularly fuck up these cars and still live.

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Fantastic point, considered.

Making weekend plans?

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It's very rare for Blue Whales to breach, how would you persuade it?

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This will be the second hurdle.

According to The Last Jedi time-space physics yes.

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Can you please factor your opinion of Last Jedi into your vote?

That's 60 mph. It will do serious damage to the whale, but even a human could survive that depending on the site of impact.

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Great point, considered.

This is oddly specific. Is your name Ahab?

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No, it's Jordan and the panel consists of Luke, Matt and Elyse.

What sort of fucked up scenario is this?

Show your working?

Jesus, some people.

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A hypothetical one.

Quick rough calcs, 350J delivered at (roughly) 1.3 m2, I'd say probably.

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THANK YOU. This is the hard math we need.

Terrible choice of font.

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Reads perfectly to me.

Yes, if it drove directly into its open mouth

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Please refer to notes.

Is this the terrorists law?

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We purposefully opted for a non-Japanese car make so as not to incite political uproar. Please honour us by doing the same.

The car is like 1% of the whale's mass

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This was my thinking. The surface area of the impact would influence the outcome, surely.

That depends on the airbag and how fast the whale is driving!

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Post of the thread. Got four laughs, well done.

How drunk were you and your housemates, OP?

As for the question, it would probably not kill the whale. It'd fuck up the car though.

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Stone sober. It's Thursday night.

 

[Blackpuppy]

I suppose you're wanting to test the Holdo manœuvre.

 

[CrazyAndy]

a bullet is well less than 1% of a human's mass tho

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but also way faster than 100km/h.

 

[kvetcha]

a bullet is well less than 1% of a human's mass tho

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Even the slowest handgun bullet is going 10x as fast as proposed here.

 

[danowat]

but also way faster than 100km/h.

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But probably way less kinetic energy than the car

 

[Nightfall]

This is a very specific query which makes me think of all sorts of new questions

 

[FloatingDivider]

I think there's still too many variables to provide a conclusive answer but I'm fairly sure the whale would get fucked up to some extent. I personally think it's plausible it could injure or even kill the whale but it'd depend on the bumper configuration and precise impact angles. Does the car arc to any extent before impacting or is it a straight shot? How far out of the water is the whale % wise, is it fully breached and exposed or is it partially submerged?

 

[fick]

Title is dumb. Thought you meant 100000 mph

 

[Deleted member 1086]

load the car with explosives

 

[electroshockwave]

100 kph is about 60 mph. Enough to kill a person in most cases. But if the Focus launches at that speed what speed is it actually going at when it hits the whale? I think if it lost a bit of speed and impacted on a spot protected by blubber it could avoid doing serious organ damage or causing internal bleeding. It would definitely do some injury but I want the whale to live.

 

[Deleted member 10224]

Isn't whales heart the size of a car ? lol They're enoooormous. i'm pretty sure the whale would be fine

 

[zero_suit]

No

 

[tommyv2]

- the 2005 Ford Focus Sedan hits the Blue Whale on it's side.

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You love theoretical science experiments but not spelling.

It's = it is
Its = possessive of it

 

[Dan Thunder]

I did a rough calculation and the car will have a force value of between 10000-11000n, depending on passenger weight. If you average off the weight of a blue whale to 100,000kg then hopefully someone can work out something!

 

[Deleted member 11985]

The whale would survive the initial impact, but it would probably get cut up and bleed to death from all the sharp parts of the car.

 

[Euler007]

Just a flesh wound.

 

[LastCaress]

I'm #teamWhale

If humans survive crashes:

https://gizmodo.com/how-likely-you-are-to-get-killed-by-a-car-depending-on-1778993900

whales survive crashes.

 

[Bumrush]

Moose and deer regularly fuck up these cars and still live.

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Yeah, I mean...we're talking 300 pounds vs. 150 TONS. If a 300 lbs land animal can walk away from it (to some extent) I don't think the whale will have too many issues, especially when it has a massive layer of blubber protecting it

 

[bionic77]

This is probably similar to when a killer whale rams its head into a whale.

One hit won't kill the whale, but if aimed properly it can do internal damage and enough of those hits will weaken the whale so that they can drown it.

So no, a single hit from the Focus at this speed would not kill a blue whale even if breaching. A killer whale weighs A LOT more than a ford focus and they can get up to 35 mph so I think that extra speed is a wash. But while it won't kill it, it can still fuck it up if aimed properly.

 

[Torpedo Vegas]

This is oddly specific. Is your name Ahab?

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No he'd be asking about the white whale not the blue whale.

 

[Nick]

I'm concerned that OP is conducting "scientific research" like the Japanese do with whales.

 

[Coinspinner]

I don't think whale bodies are made to deal with sudden impacts. They generally can't handle their own weight without buoyancy to support them. Many whales die from boat injuries years after the actual impact. It's plausible to me that a whale could die from this, even if the speed is low and the object very blunt and prone to crumpling. That said we should ask a...

 

[CaptainDreads]

When we're talking about people surviving similar collisions you need to consider that a person would most likely be launched and the car will carry on at a good chunk of its original speed.

In the case of the whale I think it's a safe assumption that the car would be stopped, thus all the energy would be transferred into the whale.

 

[danowat]

I think people way under estimate the amount of kinetic energy is in a vehicle travelling at 62mph, it's a lot.

 

[Dan Thunder]

Yeah, I mean...we're talking 300 pounds vs. 150 TONS. If a 300 lbs land animal can walk away from it (to some extent) I don't think the whale will have too many issues, especially when it has a massive layer of blubber protecting it

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We're talking about a car doing 100kph not 50-60 though. There's an exponential increase in force the faster something moves.

 

[bionic77]

I think people way under estimate the amount of kinetic energy is in a vehicle travelling at 62mph, it's a lot.

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Its probably in the same ball park as a Killer Whale ramming a blue whale when they attack it.

This already happens in nature. They have to batter them for hours before the internal damage really starts to stop them in their tracks and then they go in for the kill. It doesn't happen with one strike.

 

[Bumrush]

We're talking about a car doing 100kph not 50-60 though. There's an exponential increase in force the faster something moves.

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I understand, and agree. But we're also talking about a blue whale. Would a bullet traveling at 60 mph kill a human? It's roughly the same, no?

 

[Jeffram]

sounds like the equivalent of a professional baseball player getting hit by a fastball

 

[danowat]

Its probably in the same ball park as a Killer Whale ramming a blue whale when they attack it.

This already happens in nature. They have to batter them for hours before the internal damage really starts to stop them in their tracks and then they go in for the kill. It doesn't happen with one strike.

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I don't know how hard the nose of a killer whale is, or how much it would deform, or what the surface area is, but the energy of a car, applied to the surface area of the front of the car, on something that probably isn't very dense wouldn't end well for the whale, I'd envisage a 1.3m2 hole would be pretty fatal in the end, it's all about surface area and energy.

It's all theoretical, but if you knew how thick the skin of the whale was, and it's density, you could work it out.

Another way is to pro rata the scale and assume the car is a bullet and the whale is a person.

 

[bionic77]

I don't know how hard the nose of a killer whale is, or how much it would deform, or what the surface area is, but the energy of a car, applied to the surface area of the front of the car, on something that probably isn't very dense wouldn't end well for the whale, I'd envisage a 1.3m2 hole would be pretty fatal in the end.

It's all theoretical, but if you knew how thick the skin of the whale was, and it's density, you could work it out.

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I believe the area of the skull that the whales ram other animals and specifically whales with is incredibly strong. Remember that Killer Whales are going top speed (35+ mph), weigh much more than a focus (up to 12,000 pounds) and do it repeatedly over hours to weaken an adult whale before they drown it. And this is done by several members of the pod.

The car is not going to make a hole in the whale. It would fuck up the whale just like the killers do, but one blow would not be an instant kill. Might kill it in the long run though depending on where it hit.

 

[Wilf Netherton]

It's less like a bullet and more like a spear. A spear striking you at 100 km/h is going to kill you.

 

[Amalthea]

If the whale is the driver and it's driving the car into an active volcanos maw, then absolutely.

 

[danowat]

I believe the area of the skull that the whales ram other animals and specifically whales with is incredibly strong. Remember that Killer Whales are going top speed (35+ mph), weigh much more than a focus (up to 12,000 pounds) and do it repeatedly over hours to weaken an adult whale before they drown it. And this is done by several members of the pod.

The car is not going to make a hole in the whale. It would fuck up the whale just like the killers do, but one blow would not be an instant kill. Might kill it in the long run though depending on where it hit.

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I'm prepared to accept it might live, I couldn't rule it out without doing the equations, but with the killer whale example, do the whales manage to reach top speed before hitting them?

For the killer whale to have the same kinetic energy as the car, the surface area of it's nose would have to be (at least) 1.1m2, trying to find that information is surprisingly hard!