Elastic vs Inelastic Collisions

In elastic collisions both momentum and kinetic energy are conserved. Examples: idealised billiard-ball collisions, atomic scattering at low energy, Rutherford alpha-on-gold-foil at large impact parameter.

In inelastic collisions momentum is conserved but kinetic energy is not; some KE becomes heat, sound, deformation, or internal excitation. In a perfectly inelastic collision the objects stick together after impact, giving the largest possible KE loss consistent with momentum conservation.

Quantitative example: a 5 kg mass at 4 m/s strikes a stationary 3 kg mass. Elastic: final velocities are (1.0, 5.0) m/s. Perfectly inelastic: combined speed = (5×4)/(5+3) = 2.5 m/s; KE drops from 40 J to 25 J.

Recent research on this topic from arXiv

Preprints and papers indexed on arXiv.org. Links open the public abstract pages.

A Close Examination on Inelastic Collision
Zhiwei Chong · 2023 · arXiv:2308.00604v1
This paper examines the details of an inelastic collision when a bullet shoots a block vertically upward from below. With the assumption of constant interaction force between them, we obtain quantities of interest including the displacement...
On phase transition signal in inelastic collision
J. Manjavidze · 2008 · arXiv:0807.2322v2
The paper is devoted to retrieval of the first order phase transition signal in the inelastic collisions. The primary intent is to show that the experimentally observable signal exist iff the multiplicity is sufficiently large. We discuss c...
Inelastic Collision Rates of Trapped Metastable Hydrogen
David Landhuis, Lia Matos, Stephen C. Moss et al. · 2002 · arXiv:0210019v1
We report the first detailed decay studies of trapped metastable (2S) hydrogen. By two-photon excitation of ultracold H samples, we have produced clouds of at least 5x10^7 magnetically trapped 2S atoms at densities greater than 4x10^10 cm^-...
Inelastic collisions as a source of entropy?
Jürgen Schlitter · 2011 · arXiv:1104.4272v3
Activation/deactivation by inelastic collisions have been extensively studied at unimolecular reactions in gas phase where they are crucial for equilibration. As equilibration means an increase of entropy, the mechanism can also be consider...

Recent research on this topic from arXiv

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