(August 1, 2011 at 3:12 am)Tiberius Wrote:
Newton's third law does indeed state "To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction". However, you forget that there are two forces involved here (one for each car), so each must have an equal and opposite reaction. Whilst the total force involved in the impact is 100 mph, it has to be spread between both cars equally, since both are contributing to the force equally. Hence, each car will receive the same "reaction" as if they had hit a stationary wall at 50 mph.
This was recently demonstrated by the MythBusters.
Oops I should've read the OP closer.