Perfectly inelastic collision

A perfectly inelastic collision is an inelastic collision in which the bodies stick and share one outgoing velocity. For two isolated point masses, momentum conservation gives $v=(m_1{u}_1+m_2{u}_2)/(m_1+m_2)$. At fixed total momentum, common velocity minimizes the outgoing translational kinetic energy, so sticking gives the greatest loss of that kinetic energy for the specified incoming state.