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I hope it's ok to post this question. I came across a random video on Youtube and this deer was hit by a car. Upon impact, however, his body flew up pretty high before hitting the ground. I was wondering why that's the case? I would imagine him being thrown in the opposite side of the car's velocity instead of up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCB-JJhwjf0&ab_channel=DaveNealy

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  • $\begingroup$ What part of the car hits the deer? Is the impact point above or below the center of gravity of the deer? $\endgroup$
    – Jon Custer
    Sep 28, 2020 at 20:58
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    $\begingroup$ I suppose the deer hit the windshield (which is far from being vertical) and then ricocheted upwards. $\endgroup$
    – Ruslan
    Sep 28, 2020 at 21:03

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I think in the situation the momentum of the car is transferred to the deer and I assume the impact point is below the centre of gravity for which a component of vertical motion is generated.

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  • $\begingroup$ Thanks! What would be the main keyword about this topic so that I can investigate further? And is there a formula to calculate the impact and direction? $\endgroup$
    – Mac_79
    Sep 29, 2020 at 11:36
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    $\begingroup$ I can personally suggest you to go through centre of mass, momentum ,impulse and collision for better understanding of this kind of stuff. $\endgroup$
    – David
    Sep 29, 2020 at 11:40
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the deer slid up the wedge-shaped windshield, which imparted a vertical component to its velocity. Pretty spectacular. I did almost the same thing in a Taurus wagon: the deer was launched almost vertically upwards while retaining a transverse velocity that carried it up, over, and then down into the opposite lane, where a minivan coming the other way struck it head-on. The blunt front of the minivan did not launch it- it bounced off sideways and ended up in the ditch.

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