Types of Collision
The types of collision are classified on the basis of the formation of products. Basically, there are two types of collision
- Elastic Collision
- Inelastic Collision
Elastic Collision
In Elastic Collision, the system’s kinetic and momentum energy are both conserved. It means the total Kinetic Energy of the two bodies before and after the collision remains the same. The collision of distinct subatomic particles is primarily elastic in this case. The impact of two glass or steel balls, for example, is often elastic. The forces involved in elastic collisions are conservative in nature.
Pictorial Representation of Elastic Collision is given below:
Inelastic Collision
An inelastic collision is one in which kinetic energy is not conserved and only momentum is conserved. The Kinetic Energy gets transformed into other forms of energy say Thermal Energy, Sound Energy, etc. Every day, we encounter numerous collisions that are mostly inelastic. For Example, a ball hitting the ground from a height. Some of the kinetic energy gets transformed into thermal and sound energy.
Pictorial Representation of Inelastic Collision is given below:
The activation energy is another quantity that has a substantial impact on the speeds of chemical processes (Ea). Arrhenius used the term activation energy to describe the least amount of energy that reactants must have in order to generate a product during a chemical reaction.
Collision Theory
Collision Theory says that when particles collide (strike) each other, a chemical reaction occurs. However, this is necessary but may not be a sufficient condition for the chemical reaction. The collision of molecules must be sufficient to produce the desired products following the chemical reaction. The effective collision process, on the other hand, will determine the qualities and properties of the resulting product. As a result, understanding the collision theory is required in order to understand and determine the resulting products.
Max Trautz and William Lewis created the Collision Theory of Chemical Reactions in 1916-1918, which was based on the kinetic theory of gases. The kinetic Theory of Gases explains the behavior of gases by imagining them as a swarm of particles, molecules, or atoms moving in random directions.