Question

In which elastic or inelastic collision, the momentum is conserved? What about kinetic energy?

Answer 1

Hint: To answer this question we will first give a statement regarding what conservation of momentum is. We will also know a basic idea about momentum, and later we will answer whether momentum is conserved in elastic or in in-elastic collisions and simultaneously we will discuss kinetic energy.

Complete answer:
Let us see what conservation of momentum is: conservation of momentum is a general statement of physics that states that in an isolated collection of objects, the quantity termed momentum that characterizes motion never changes; that is, the total momentum of a system remains constant. Momentum is equal to the force required to bring an item to a complete stop in a given amount of time when its mass is multiplied by its velocity.

In case of an elastic collision the system suffers no net kinetic energy loss as a result of the collision. In elastic collisions, both momentum and kinetic energy are conserved. On the other hand, An inelastic collision is a collision in which there is a loss of kinetic energy. While momentum of the system is conserved in an inelastic collision, kinetic energy is not. The overall momentum of both objects before and after the impact is the same, momentum is conserved. Kinetic energy, on the other hand, is not conserved. Some of the kinetic energy is transformed into sound, heat, and object deformation.

Note: Do not write that momentum is not conserved in any way just because momentum can also be turned into another form of momentum like EM field momentum.Remember even though this happens the quantity of momentum transformed in routine collisions of macroscopic bodies appears to be very small. As a result, do not respond that momentum is not conserved in any way.