Elastic and Inelastic Collision

An elastic collision is an encounter between two bodies in which the total kinetic energy of the two bodies after the encounter is equal to their total kinetic energy before the encounter. Elastic collisions occur only if there is no net conversion of kinetic energy into other forms. This definition applies to close encounters between a spacecraft and a gravitating body as well as to actual collisions between individual atoms etc. During the collision of small objects, 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 (except for near encounters with a gravtating body) are an ideal never fully realized, but approximated by the interactions of objects such as billiard balls.

When considering energies, possible rotational energy before and/or after a collision may also play a role.

An inelastic collision is a collision in which kinetic energy is not conserved

The molecules 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 (the pair possesses less kinetic energy after the collision than before), and half could be described as super-elastic (possessing more kinetic energy after the collision than before). Averaged across an entire sample, molecular collisions are elastic.