A thrown lump of clay hits a block in mid air and sticks to it. what happens to the total kinetic energy of the ball+clay system during this inetraction, ignoring gravity? Solution As the lump of clay sticks to th block, it is an example of inelasti collision. During the inelastic collision, the momentum will be conserved for ball+clay system but Kinetic energy will not. Total Kinetic Energy of ball+clay system will decrease during the interaction..