impactenergie

Impactenergie, or impact energy, is the kinetic energy that a moving object possesses at the moment of impact with another body. It is defined by the formula E = 1/2 m v^2, where m is the object's mass and v its velocity relative to the target. The magnitude of impact energy indicates how much work the collision can perform on the struck material, and thus the potential for deformation, fracture, penetration, or fragmentation. Higher impact energy generally leads to greater damage, depending on material properties and contact duration.

During an impact, energy is transformed rather than preserved as kinetic energy. Some energy may be stored temporarily as elastic deformation, while the remainder is dissipated as heat, sound, and permanent damage. In elastic collisions, some energy is recoverable; in inelastic collisions, a larger portion is dissipated or absorbed by the materials involved.

Impactenergie is a central concept in safety engineering and design. It informs requirements for protective structures, vehicle crashworthiness, sports equipment, packaging, and architectural resilience. Engineers assess impact energy through tests, simulations, and the use of energy-absorbing materials to limit peak forces and injuries.

In planetary science, impactenergie helps estimate crater sizes and ejecta from meteorite impacts, using scaling relations that relate energy to observed outcomes considering target properties. See also kinetic energy, collision, energy absorption.