inelastic collision

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noun Mechanics.

a collision in which the total kinetic energy of the colliding bodies or particles is not the same after the collision as it was before (opposed to elastic collision).

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Words nearby inelastic collision

inefficiency, inefficient, in effigy, inegalitarian, inelastic, inelastic collision, inelastic demand, inelastic scattering, inelastic supply, inelegance, inelegancy

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use inelastic collision in a sentence

One witness said the gunfire began after a traffic collision, which drew the attention of a nearby police officer.
France Mourns—and Hunts|Nico Hines, Christopher Dickey|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Physicians are overwhelmed because we are in the middle of a collision of powerful unrestrained forces.
Why Your Doctor Feels Like a 'Beaten Dog'|Daniela Drake|September 11, 2014|DAILY BEAST
It was this music that would set up the collision between poor blacks and middle-class whites that would result in Rock & Roll.
The Stacks: How Leonard Chess Helped Make Muddy Waters|Alex Belth|August 2, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The “cultural collision of Brits and Yanks threatened but never quite broke the partnership,” writes Symonds.
D-Day Was The Largest And One Of The Bloodiest Invasions In History|James A. Warren|June 6, 2014|DAILY BEAST

In November, Kiir dissolved all internal party structures, setting the two men on a collision course.
Before There’s a Genocide: The Slaughter in South Sudan Must Stop|Justine Fleischner, John Prendergast|April 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
From the point of view of cover, the gold certificate is completely inelastic.
Readings in Money and Banking|Chester Arthur Phillips
He used every artifice to prevent a collision between the French and Neapolitan troops.
Napoleon's Marshals|R. P. Dunn-Pattison
He must keep a reasonably careful lookout for other travelers in order to avoid collision; also for defects in the highway.
Putnam's Handy Law Book for the Layman|Albert Sidney Bolles
A collision on the Susquehanna rail road, near Baltimore, by which 30 persons were killed, and a large number badly wounded.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology|Joel Munsell
It was inelastic, incompetent to adapt itself to changing circumstances.
The English Church in the Eighteenth Century|Charles J. Abbey and John H. Overton

Scientific definitions for inelastic collision

inelastic collision

[ ĭn′ĭ-lăs′tĭk ]

Physics

A collision between bodies in which the total kinetic energy of the bodies is not conserved. In an inelastic collision, the total momentum of the two bodies remains the same, but some of the initial kinetic energy is transformed into heat energy internal to the bodies, used up in deforming the bodies, or radiated away in some other fashion. Inelastic collisions, such as the collision of two balls of clay, tend to result in the slowing and sometimes the joining together of the colliding bodies. Compare elastic collision.