Collisions : elastic and inelastic
- In a perfect elastic collision, the ball bounces back off the wall at the same speed as it hits. The animation below pictures elastic collisions between the particles and the walls of the container.
In the case of an inelastic collision, there is a reduction in kinetic energy (speed of particles). Kinetic energy is transferred into heat, noise, vibration, etc...In this case the ball doesn't bounce back at the same speed.The restitution factor is usually given as a percentage. In that case, the particles eventually stop.