That would be entropy.
Why do you want to square v?
“Why do you want to square v?”
kinetic energy
E = (mv**2)/2
70 mph is just over 102 ft/sec, not 88 ft/sec
bowling ball mass of 15 pounds equates to 0.466 slugs (pounds are a unit of force, not mass)
gives us about 2425 foot-pounds of energy. So the analogy of a BB hitting an auto is not too far off.
Much about a collision result depends on the materials of the colliding objects, their angle of impact, their shape, etc. Momentum is a factor: the scalar product of mass and velocity.
To carry on with the analogy, a human struck by that 15-pound bowling ball traveling 70 mph (102 ft/sec) will sustain injuries quite different from a human struck by - say - a 30 cal bullet traveling 2700 ft/sec (common impact velocity fired from many hunting rifles), though the kinetic energy of the projectiles are nearly identical.
Because that's the formula for kinetic energy. Mass time 1/2 the square of velocity.