The combination of the material properties of a ball (surface textures, actual materials, amount of air, hardness/ softness, and so on) affects the height of its bounce.
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What are the physics behind bouncing balls?
The air in the ball acts like a spring—it gets compressed and expands again. During the collision, some of the ball’s energy is converted into heat. As a consequence, the ball shoots up with less energy than it had when it reached Earth.
Why will a Super Ball never bounce all the way back to its original height?
The reason it doesn’t bounce higher than where it started is simple: some of the ball’s energy is lost as heat when it bounces, so it doesn’t have as much going up as it did coming down.
Why did they stop making super balls?
Super Balls began to hit sidewalks (and chandeliers) in 1966. Wham-O had another success. In the 1970s, though, Super Ball knockoffs flooded the market and began to undersell the premium-priced toy. Super Ball sales dropped, and Wham-O stopped making them in 1976.
Why does a ball bounce higher on hard surfaces?
As the ball is released, gravity pulls the ball downwards and transforms that potential energy into kinetic energy, the energy of motion. The harder the court surface is the more energy a dropped ball retains and the higher it rebounds. A basketball bounces pretty well on hardwood, but even better on concrete.
Why does a ball bounce higher when dropped higher?
When the ball hits the ground, all that kinetic energy has to go somewhere. A lot of it goes back into the ball, giving it more force to pop back up into the air—so the higher the potential energy, the higher the kinetic energy, and the higher the kinetic energy, the higher the bounce!
Does Weight Affect bounce?
In conclusion , this experiment’s data shows that the weight of the ball does matter when it comes to bouncing. If its to heavy it won’t bounce to high because of its weight. If its to light it won’t have enough force to bounce.
What factors affect the efficiency of a bouncing ball?
The higher the bounce, the more efficient the ball is. Balls which do not bounce high are less efficient as they have lost energy. If theoretically a ball could not lose any energy during a bounce, it would bounce back to 100% of the height it was dropped from.
How does pressure affect the bounce of a ball?
When a ball has more air inside of it, there is more pressure which causes the material of the ball to be less floppy and deform less when bounced. Also, when there is more air there is a greater force acting against the ground upon impact.
What energy changes occur each time the ball is dropped and bounces?
As the ball falls towards the ground, its gravitational potential energy is transformed into kinetic energy. The kinetic energy of the ball will continue increasing as the ball gains momentum, until it finally collides with a surface. When the ball collides, the kinetic energy is transformed into other forms of energy.
How does the drop height of a ball affect the height of its bounce?
If the drop height increases, then the resulting bounce height will also increase, because as the drop height increases, so does the gravitational potential energy which can be converted back into kinetic energy on the rebound.
Do heavier balls bounce higher?
The air friction is approximately proportional to the square of the radius at high speeds, and to the radius at low speeds. So for bigger balls the ratio of gravitational to frictional force goes up, compared to small balls. That would tend to make the large balls bounce higher.
What’s inside a Super Ball?
It is an extremely elastic ball made of Zectron, which contains the synthetic polymer polybutadiene as well as hydrated silica, zinc oxide, stearic acid, and other ingredients. This compound is vulcanized with sulfur at a temperature of 165 °C (329 °F) and formed at a pressure of 3,500 psi (24 MPa).
What color was the original Super Ball?
The Original SuperBall was larger for one thing. About the size of plum, it measured 1.875 inches (4.76 centimeters) in diameter. Its color was reminiscent of a plum, as well. It came in midnight black or deep purple, like any self-respecting Space Age toy should.
What are super balls made of?
The Super Ball was invented and patented in 1964 by chemist Norman Stingley. The ball is made of a synthetic material he called Zectron, using a polymer polybutadiene and other materials, a form of artificial rubber. It was sold to toy stores by the Wham-O company and was, for a while in the 60s, a great fad.
Why do soft surfaces absorb more energy?
When it hits the ground on something soft, like carpet, some of that energy is absorbed by the ground. This is because the ground is springy, so it actually squishes a bit when the ball hits it. Or if the carpet is really shaggy, some of the energy goes to making the little bits of yarn move.
What is the dependent variable in the bouncing ball experiment?
Because we can drop the ball from any height we choose, the drop height is called the independent variable. But since the rebound height depends on the drop height, the rebound height is called the dependent variable.
Is a bouncing ball elastic or inelastic?
When a ball is dropped to the ground, one of four things may happen: It may rebound with exactly the same speed as the speed at which it hit the ground. This is an elastic collision.
How do you calculate ball bounce?
- While the ball is not in contact with the ground, the height at time t after the last bounce at t0 is given by h(t+t0)=v0t−12gt2. where v0 is the velocity just after the bounce.
- During the impact, the ball will deform and there will be friction.
Why do balls fall at the same speed?
Gravity causes everything to fall at the same speed. This is why balls that weigh different amounts hit the ground at the same time. Gravity is the force acting in a downwards direction, but air resistance acts in an upwards direction.
How do you calculate energy lost in a bouncing ball?
Since linear momentum is m v , linear momentum changes by the same r = √ R factor at each bounce. For example, if a ball bounces 80% of its height on each bounce, then the ball is losing 20% of its energy on each bounce.
Does the mass of a ball affect how far it rolls?
Similar to balls in flight, surface friction impedes the movement of balls with low mass-density, such as soccer balls, more than it does those with high mass-density, such as bowling balls. In other words, given equal size in terms of diameter, the ball with the greater mass will roll farther.
Does the temperature of a ball affect how high it bounces?
One factor that can influence the bounce of a ball is the temperature of the ball. A warmer ball will bounce higher than a cold one. The reason for this is twofold. In a hollow ball, the change in temperature causes a change in air pressure within the ball.
Can a ball bounce higher than from where it was dropped?
By conservation of energy, the top ball will bounce higher than the point it is dropped. (while another ball lost its energy almost completely.)
Why it is impossible for a ball to be 100% efficient?
The output work is always less than the input work because some of the input work is used to overcome friction. Therefore, efficiency is always less than 100 percent.