|
shareMomentum & Energy
Discussion
Types of collisions.
| Energy in Collisions | ||
| type | total kinetic energy |
comments |
|---|---|---|
| perfectly inelastic | decreases to a minimum | objects stick together |
| inelastic | decreases by any amount | all collisions between macroscopic bodies |
| partially elastic or nearly elastic | "nearly conserved" |
billiard balls, bowling balls, steel bearings and other objects made from resilient materials |
| elastic | absolutely conserved | collisions between atoms, molecules, subatomic particles and other similar microscopic bodies |
| superelastic | increases | contrived collisions between objects that release potential energy on contact, fictional superelastic materials like flubber |
Anything else?