Elastic and Inelastic

Collisions
A perfectly elastic collision is defined as one in which there is no loss
of kinetic energy in the collision.
An inelastic collision is one in which part of the kinetic energy is
changed to some other form of energy in the collision.
Any macroscopic collision between objects will convert some of the
kinetic energy into internal energy and other forms of energy, so no
large scale impacts are perfectly elastic.
Momentum is conserved in inelastic collisions, but one cannot track
the kinetic energy through the collision since some of it is converted
to other forms of energy.
Collisions in ideal gases approach perfectly elastic collisions, as do
scattering interactions of sub-atomic particles which are deflected by
the electromagnetic force. Some large-scale interactions like the
slingshot type gravitational interactions between satellites and
planets are perfectly elastic.
Collisions between hard spheres may be nearly elastic, so it is useful
 Elastic Collisions
• An elastic collision is defined as one in which both
conservation of momentum and conservation of
kinetic energy are observed. This implies that there is
no dissipative force acting during the collision and that
all of the kinetic energy of the objects before the
collision is still in the form of kinetic energy afterward.
• For macroscopic objects which come into contact in a
collision, there is always some dissipation and they are
never perfectly elastic. Collisions between hard steel
balls as in the swinging balls apparatus are nearly
elastic.
• "Collisions" in which the objects do not touch each
other, such as Rutherford scattering or the
slingshot orbit of a satellite off a planet, are elastic
collisions. In atomic or nuclear scattering, the
collisions are typically elastic because the repulsive
Coulomb force keeps the particles out of contact with
each other.
• Collisions in ideal gases are very nearly elastic, and
Collisions involve forces (there is a change in velocity).
Collisions can be elastic, meaning they conserve energy and
momentum, inelastic, meaning they conserve momentum but not
energy, or totally inelastic (or plastic), meaning they conserve
momentum and the two objects stick together.
The magnitude of the velocity difference at impact is called the
closing speed.
The field of dynamics is concerned with moving and colliding
objects.
Deflection happens when an object hits a plane surface
An elastic collision is a collision in which the total
kinetic energy of the colliding bodies after collision is equal
to their total kinetic energy before collision. Elastic
collisions occur only if there is no net conversion of kinetic
energy into other forms. During the collision kinetic energy
is first converted to potential energy associated with a
repulsive force between the particles (when the particles
move against this force, i.e. the angle between the force
and the relative velocity is obtuse), then this potential
energy is converted back to kinetic energy (when the
particles move with this force, i.e. the angle between the
force and the relative velocity is acute).
The collisions of atoms are elastic collisions (
Rutherford backscattering is one example).
The molecules — as distinct from atoms — of a gas or
liquid rarely experience perfectly elastic collisions
because kinetic energy is exchanged between the
molecules’ translational motion and their internal
degrees of freedom with each collision. At any one
instant, half the collisions are, to a varying extent,
inelastic collisions (the pair possesses less kinetic
energy in their translational motions after the collision
than before), and half could be described as “super-
elastic” (possessing more kinetic energy after the
collision than before). Averaged across the entire
sample, molecular collisions can be regarded as
essentially elastic as long as black-body photons are
not permitted to carry away energy from the system.
In the case of macroscopic bodies, elastic collisions are
an ideal never fully realized, but approximated by the
interactions of objects such as billiard balls.
As long as black-body radiation (not shown) doesn’t escape a
system, atoms in thermal agitation undergo essentially elastic
collisions. On average, two atoms rebound from each other with
the same kinetic energy as before a collision. Here, room-
temperature helium atoms are slowed down two trillion fold. Five
atoms are colored red to facilitate following their motions.