the.com/collision
Two things trying to occupy the same space, politely disagreeing with physics.
means The sudden, forceful meeting of two or more things coming together with impact, typically causing damage or disruption.
from From Latin collidere — com- ('together') plus laedere ('to strike, hurt'). The same laedere root gives us 'lesion.' So a collision is etymologically just two things violently introducing themselves, with injury baked into the word from the start.
- momentum
- conserved even when everything else is destroyed
- elastic vs inelastic
- one bounces back, one just gives up
- hash collisions
- two different inputs, same unlucky fingerprint
- galaxies
- collide for millions of years, barely notice