How Do Elastic, Inelastic, and Explosion Collisions Differ?

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An elastic collision is characterized by the conservation of kinetic energy, meaning that the total energy of the colliding objects remains unchanged before and after the collision. In contrast, inelastic collisions result in energy loss due to factors such as friction and deformation, leading to a decrease in the total kinetic energy. A perfectly inelastic collision represents the extreme case where the maximum energy is lost, and the colliding objects stick together post-collision. An explosion collision can be viewed as a perfectly inelastic collision occurring in reverse, where energy is gained. Understanding these distinctions is crucial for analyzing different types of collisions in physics.
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What is an elastic collion? I don't understand the difference between elastic, inelastic and explosion collisions.
 
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In an elastic collision, no energy is lost. This means that the collective energy of the objects that collide, before the collision and after, is the same. In other collisions, energy is lost due to things like friction, deformation of the objects, sound, etc.
 
An explosion collision is a perfectly inelastic collision run in reverse. A perfectly inelastic collision represents the maximum amount of energy that can be lost (or gained, in this case) during the collision.

Elastic: No energy is lost by the colliding objects. Maximum boingy.

Inelastic: Energy is lost by the colliding objects.

Perfectly inelastic: The maximum amount of energy is lost by the colliding objects. Sticky.
 

Thread 'Mousetrap Car Energy efficiency'

For simple comparison, I think the same thought process can be followed as a block slides down a hill, - for block down hill, simple starting PE of mgh to final max KE 0.5mv^2 - comparing PE1 to max KE2 would result in finding the work friction did through the process. efficiency is just 100*KE2/PE1. If a mousetrap car travels along a flat surface, a starting PE of 0.5 k th^2 can be measured and maximum velocity of the car can also be measured. If energy efficiency is defined by...
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