Elastic Collision

Definition

An elastic collision is a type of collision where both kinetic energy and linear momentum are conserved. In this type of collision, objects bounce off each other without any loss of energy.

Analogy

Think about two bumper cars colliding on an amusement park ride. If they collide elastically, they will bounce off each other with no loss of speed or energy. It's like when you throw two rubber balls at each other - they bounce back with almost all their initial energy intact.

Related terms

Kinetic Energy: Kinetic energy refers to the energy possessed by an object due to its motion and depends on both mass and velocity.

Coefficient of Restitution: This value represents how bouncy or elastic a collision is and ranges from 0 (completely inelastic) to 1 (completely elastic).

Recoil Velocity: Recoil velocity refers to the backward movement experienced by one object after an elastic collision with another object.