elastic collision

American  

noun

Mechanics.

1. a collision in which the total kinetic energy of the colliding bodies or particles is the same after the collision as it was before (opposed to inelastic collision).

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elastic collision Scientific  

/ ĭ-lăs′tĭk /

1. A collision between bodies in which the total kinetic energy of the bodies is conserved. In a perfectly elastic collision, no energy is dissipated as heat energy internal to the bodies, and none is spent on permanently deforming the bodies or radiated away in some other fashion. Elastic collisions, such as the collision of a rubber ball on a hard surface, result in the reflection or “bouncing” of bodies away from each other.

2. Comapre inelastic collision

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Etymology

Origin of elastic collision

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

By definition, an elastic collision conserves internal kinetic energy, and so the sum of kinetic energies before the collision equals the sum after the collision.

From Textbooks • Aug. 12, 2015

This is an elastic collision, with a total momentum of 0 kg • m/s.

From Textbooks • Aug. 12, 2015

We start with the elastic collision of two objects moving along the same line—a one-dimensional problem.

From Textbooks • Aug. 12, 2015

Determine the final velocities in an elastic collision given masses and initial velocities.

From Textbooks • Aug. 12, 2015

There may be an elastic collision, in which the photon merely bounces off.

From The Mercenaries by Piper, H. Beam