Explain the characteristics of elastic and inelastic collision.

Explanation

In any collision process, the total linear momentum and total energy are always conserve whereas the total kinetic energy need not be conserved always Some part of the into kinetic energy is transformed to other forms of energy. This is because the impact collisions and deformation occurring due to collisions may in general, produce heat, sound light to By taking these effects into account, we classily the types of collisions as follows
(a) Elastic collision (b) Inelastic collision
(a) Elastie collision: In a collision, the total initial kinetic energy of the bodies before collision is equal to total final kinetic energy of the bodies (after collision) then is called as elastic collision i.e.
Total kinetic energy before collision=Total kinetic energy after collision
(b) Inelastie collision in a collision, the total initial kinetic energy of the bodies (before collision is not equal to the total final kinetic energy of the bodies after collision) it is called as inelastic collision i.e.,
Total kinetic energy before collision ne Total kinetic energy after collision
`("Total kinetic energy before collision")-("Total kinetic energy after collision")=("loss in energy during collision")=triangleQ`
Even though kinetic energy is not conserved but the total energy is conserved. This is because the total energy contains the kinetic energy term and also a term `triangleQ`, which includes all the losses that take place during collision. Note that loss in kinetic energy during collision is transformed to another form of energy like sound, thermal, etc. Further, if the two colliding bodies stick together after collision such collisions are known as completely inelastic collision or perfectly inelastic collision. Such a collision is found very often. For example when a clay putty is thrown on a moving vehicle, the clay putty for (or Bubblegum) stricks to the moving vehicle and they move together with the same velocity.