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Re: [Phys-l] Interactive Physics Simulations



I use the following definitions:

Elastic: kinetic energy, K', immediately after collision = kinetic
energy, K, immediately before collision

Inelastic: K' < K

Completely inelastic: K' = 0 in center-of-mass frame

I never use an additional adjective with elastic.

Daniel Crowe
Loudoun Academy of Science
dcrowe@loudoun.k12.va.us

hhaskell@mindspring.com 10/12/2006 1:47 PM >>>
At 10:35 -0400 10/12/06, Rick Tarara wrote:

I maybe haven't read this thread carefully enough, but could someone
define
what a 'totally' inelastic collision actually is? In my mind, an
elastic
collision conserves both momentum and kinetic energy while an
inelastic
collision conserves momentum but not KE. It's the 'totally' that is
confusing me here.

I don't know how others may treat it, but I look at the collision in
the center of mass frame, and define a totally inelastic collision to
be one in which the post-collision kinetic energy is zero. A totally
elastic collision is one in which the post-collision k.e. is the same
as the pre-collision value. Anything in between, where the
post-collision k.e. is somewhere between zero and the pre-collision
value is called either partially elastic or partially inelastic
(usually the former, since the latter isn't really great English).

Hugh
--

************************************************************
Hugh Haskell
<mailto:haskell@ncssm.edu>
<mailto:hhaskell@mindspring.com>

(919) 467-7610

When you are arguing with a stupid person, it is a good idea to make
sure that
person isn't doing the same thing.
Anonymous
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