elastic collision

noun

, Mechanics.

1. a collision in which the total kinetic energy of the colliding bodies or particles is the same after the collision as it was before ( inelastic collision ).

elastic collision

/ ĭ-lăs′tĭk /

1. A collision between bodies in which the total kinetic energy of the bodies is conserved. In a perfectly elastic collision, no energy is dissipated as heat energy internal to the bodies, and none is spent on permanently deforming the bodies or radiated away in some other fashion. Elastic collisions, such as the collision of a rubber ball on a hard surface, result in the reflection or “bouncing” of bodies away from each other.
2. Comapre inelastic collision

Word History and Origins

Origin of elastic collision¹

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

When, however, we spoke of the conservation of force, in the case of elastic collision, we meant neither a pull nor a push, which, as just indicated, might be exerted upon inert matter, but we meant force invested in motion — the vis viva, as it is called, of the colliding masses.

From Project Gutenberg

There may be an elastic collision, in which the photon merely bounces off.

From Project Gutenberg

Before he began to deal with light, he was intimately acquainted with the laws of elastic collision, which all of you have seen more or less perfectly illustrated on a billiard-table.

From Project Gutenberg