Inelastic Collisions

In reality, most collisions fall somewhere between the extremes of completely elastic collision and a completely inelastic collision.

When two objects collide and kinetic energy is not conserved. In this type of collision some of the initial kinetic energy is converted into other types of energy (heat, sound, damage, etc…), which is why kinetic energy is NOT conserved in an inelastic collision.

In a perfectly inelastic collision, the two objects colliding stick toghther.