Question

In case of elastic collision, at the time of impact.(a) total K.E. of colliding bodies is conserved.(b) total K.E. of colliding bodies increases(c) total K.E. of colliding bodies decreases(d) total momentum of colliding bodies decreases.

Answer 1

I realize this has been asked many times around the Internet, but I've found nothing that answers my question. I'm going to use an example situation of PAScars traveling along a PAStrack (negligible friction). For elastic collisions, they simply collide, for inelastic collisions, they collide with Velcro strips that attach, forming one mass.
I've seen that kinetic energy is lost in inelastic collisions as it transforms into other forms of energy (sound, deformation, head). How and why is this same transformation not occurring for elastic collisions? There's collision - contact - so surely there's a noise, and surely the two colliding objects deform partially, and surely there's heat produced from that collision.
I simply can't see what mystical act is happening in elastic collisions that prevents energy from transforming from kinetic energy into other forms, while, for inelastic collisions, there's seemingly nothing preventing this change from happening.