system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
If two cars are traveling at 100 mph towards each other would the impact be the same as one car hitting a wall at 200 mph?

So if two cars hit each other going 100 mph would the damage be the same as one car hitting a wall at 200 mph?

Edit: you guys are really awesome! I found the answer and you guys are helpful.
gpt
You mean in total?  Because in one case you have one car (and a wall that would escape relatively unscathed) and the other case you have two cars.  

Or do you mean to the passengers in the cars?  In this case the 200 mph case would be worse.  The total speed makes no difference.  What matters is the momentum change to a single passenger.  In both cases they go from top speed to zero.  In the first case the top speed is half the second case's top speed, so there would be a greater momentum change felt by the passenger in the second case.

If you had asked which was worse - two cars going 100 mph hitting head-on or two cars each hitting a wall at 100 mph - the answer would be, in a first-year physics way, they would be equivalent.  The momentum change felt by all passengers would be the same.