If i punch something like a milk carton and it crumples, why is the energy from my punch greatly reduced?

So can anyone explain why my punch's energy was greatly reduced when i punched the carton and it crumpled?





It has something to do with the carton absorbing energy... But where does the energy go? Please keep the answer sort of basic!





Thanks.|||During the time your hand is passing through the carton, the carton is getting bent, and that takes energy. So, your hand is exerting a force on the carton. Since every action has an opposite and equal reaction, the carton is also pushing back on your hand (if that carton was made of concrete you would definitely be feeling it).





Work is done on your hand, according to work=force * distance (see link below). You could probably measure the distance, and work out the force using F=ma if you really wanted to.





The energy used up probably ripped apart pieces of the carton, bent other pieces, and also might have heated up the carton (in an extreme case, sawing some wood can make that wood really hot).|||the real question should be is why are you beating up milk cartons?|||Some energy is used to deform the carton - at a molecular level chemical bonds will be stretched / broken. Chemical bonds are created when electrons "fall into a potential well", thus "losing" energy - it takes energy input to stretch them out and also to break them.|||Thermodynamics states that energy can not be destroyed..only change to another form.





When you throw a punch, your fist is moving. Therefore it has kinetic (motion) energy. When your fist strikes the carton, the kinetic energy is transferred into deforming the box.|||It is not an elastic collision and so some energy is used in deforming the carton! The energy is used to reshape the carton and that is work done. It is like folding a piece of sheet metal, it takes energy to get the work done. If you use a manually operated metal bender the metal does not get thrown away and yet you know that you put energy in to it to to reshape it. I hope this is of some help.|||It could have been that the energy you have given out when your hand when you hit the milk carton comes into contact with it, the energy gets transferred from the hand to the carton, so the energy from the punch you made greatly reduced while the carton after experiencing tremendous pressure from the punch, the outer walls of the carton applied a force on the inner walls, so there was an uneven pressure between the two walls, the carton burst and crumples.





Can drinks also have the same effect.





But, by the way, why do you need to punch a milk carton or even think of doing it? I am curious!!!