Describe the difference between elastic and inelastic collisions.....

Question

Describe the difference between elastic and inelastic collisions.

Answer 1

In elastic collisions total momentum is conserved - it's same before and after the collision. Bodies bounced back after the collision keeping total momentum of the system constant.

 

In inelastic collision some part of colliding bodies transforms to other type of energy (say heat), and usually

the structure of bodies changed - that's why they called "inelastic". They bounced back differently (compared to elastic), or even the can stick together, etc ...