# Elastic and Inelastic Collisions

1. Jun 11, 2007

### BMWPower06

1. The problem statement, all variables and given/known data
Which of the following statements are true about elastic and inelastic collisions?
True False for elastic collisions, linear momentum is conserved but kinetic energy is not
True False for inelastic collisions, neither linear momentum nor kinetic energy is conserved
True False for inelastic collisions, both linear momentum and kinetic energy are conserved
True False for elastic collisions, linear momentum is not conserved but kinetic energy is
True False for elastic collisions, both linear momentum and kinetic energy are conserved
True False for inelastic collisions, linear momentum is conserved but kinetic energy is not

3. The attempt at a solution
Answers are in bold, basically this seems really simple i just cant figure out what im doing wrong. Im applying each one as if it were a car accident and thats what i got. Unfortunately the program doesnt tell me which ones are wrong, only that the answer is wrong, can anyone help me out?

Thanks.

2. Jun 11, 2007

### nrqed

Are the bold answers your answers or the supposedly correct ones? because they don't look right to me.

In short: in ALL collisions the momentum is conserved. In eleastic collisions the kinetic energy is also conserved whereas in inelastic collisions the KE is not conserved (but the momentum is still conserved)

Last edited: Jun 11, 2007