What is the difference between inelastic and elastic collisions

During collision of small objects, kinetic energy is first converted to potential energy associated with a repulsive force between the particles, and then this potential energy is converted back to Kinetic energy.

Examples of elastic collision include: collision in ideal gases, collision of atoms, neutron-nucleus scattering reaction, and collision of billiard balls etc.

Inelastic collision is a type of collision in which the total kinetic energy is not conserved due to the action of internal friction. What this means is that, the total kinetic energy of the colliding bodies after collision is not equal to their kinetic energy before collision. In perfect inelastic collision, there is net conversion of kinetic energy into other forms. In this type of collision, energy is lost to the environment, colliding objects are deformed; heat and noise is generated.

Sep 4, Explanation: For an elastic collision, the total kinetic energy before the collision ie the sum of the kinetic energies of all the bodies participating in the collision is equal to the total kinetic energy after the collision.

Related questions In a collision between two objects of identical mass, could the acceleration values be different? Is momentum conserved in an elastic collision but not in an inelastic collision? What are some examples of a coefficient of restitution? Can the coefficient of restitution be negative? Does the coefficient of restitution change? How do you calculate inelastic collisions?

Then the potential energy tends to convert back to kinetic energy. This happens when particles move with repulsive force. In a perfectly elastic collision, the energy conversions show no net energy loss. As a real-life example, collisions of atoms is a nearly perfectly elastic collision.

For example, Rutherford backscattering is an application of elastic collision of atoms. Furthermore, molecules in gases or liquids rarely show perfectly elastic collisions. In addition to these, we can approximate perfectly elastic collisions by the interactions of objects such as billiard balls.

A perfectly inelastic collision is the physical process of striking one object against another without conserving the kinetic energy of two objects. This is the opposite of a perfectly elastic collision. The kinetic energy is not conserved in a perfectly inelastic collision because of the internal friction.