Kinematics

Abstract

The energy transfers and kinematics in elastic collisions between two isolated particles can be solved fully by applying the principles of conservation of energy and momentum. We consider those collisions in which the kinetic energy is conserved to be elastic. An inelastic collision does not conserve kinetic energy; an example is the promotion of electrons to higher energy states in collisions where substantial K-shell overlap occurs. The energy lost in promoting the electrons is not available in the particle-atom kinematics after the collision. In this chapter we consider only elastic processes.