An inelastic collision is a
collision in which some of the
kinetic energy of the colliding bodies is converted into
internal energy in at least one body such that kinetic energy is not conserved.In collisions of macroscopic bodies, some kinetic energy is turned into vibrational energy of the atoms, causing a heating effect.The
molecules of a
gas or
liquid rarely experience perfectly
elastic collisions because kinetic energy is exchanged between the molecules’ translational motion and their internal
degrees of freedom with each collision. At any one instant, half the collisions are, to a varying extent, inelastic (the pair possesses less kinetic energy after the collision than before) and half could be described as “super-elastic” (possessing more kinetic energy after the collision than before). Averaged across an entire sample, molecular collisions are elastic.
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