Collision

Oct 15, 2019, 16:45 IST

Elastic and Inelastic collisions examples

We define a collision as an isolated event in which two or more colliding bodies exert relatively strong forces on each other for a relatively short. 

Type of Collision

Collisions between particles have been divided broadly into two types:

1. Elastic collisions

2. Inelastic collisions

(A) Elastic collision:

A collision in which there is absolutely no loss of kinetic energy is called an elastic collision.

The basic characteristic of an elastic collision are:

(i) The linear momentum is conserved, 

(ii) Total energy of the system is conserved, 

(iii) The kinetic energy is conserved. 

Obviously the mechanical energy (i.e. K.E.) is not converted into any other form of energy like heat energy, sound energy etc.

(iv) The forces involved during elastic collisions must be conservative forces. 

(B) Inelastic collision:

A collision in which there occurs some loss of kinetic energy is called an inelastic collision. 

The basic characteristic of an inelastic collision are 

(i) The linear momentum is conserved. 

(ii) Total energy is conserved. 

(iii) Kinetic energy is not conserved. Obviously, a part of mechanical energy (i.e. K.E.) is converted into some other form of energy e.g. heat energy, sound energy etc. 

(iv) Some or all the forces involved in an inelastic collision may be non-conservative in nature. 

For example. When we drop a rubber ball onto a hard floor, and the collision between the ball and the floor is elastic, the ball would lose no kinetic energy because of the collision, and would rebound to its original height. However, the actual rebound height is somewhat shorter, showing some loss of kinetic energy in the collision. Therefore, the collision is somewhat inelastic. However, if we neglect the small loss of K.E., we may approximate the collision as elastic.