What makes a ball rebound

This activity uses different shaped balls to investigate how and why balls bounce differently. Are there any similarities between the balls that bounce the highest? Can you bounce each ball into a container? Are some harder than others? Is this related to the type of game they are usually used for? When comparing how different balls bounce, think about the conditions you should keep the same, for example, the height the ball is dropped from and force used to drop the ball.

When a ball is dropped gravity pulls the ball toward the ground, slowing the ball down so that each bounce is shorter and shorter, until eventually the ball stops bouncing. This can cause the ball to bounce forward, bounce back, or sideways. When a ball is dropped gravity pulls the ball toward the ground, slowing the ball down so that each bounce is shorter and shorter, until eventually the ball stops bouncing.

The force of the ball hitting the hard ground puts an equal force back onto the ball, meaning it bounces back up. When a rubber ball hits something, it absorbs energy and releases energy really fast, Zheng said. When it hits something, it stops, and the kinetic energy is stored inside the ball as internal energy. Then it can quickly convert the internal energy back into kinetic energy which allows the ball to bounce back. In an idealized situation with a fixed coefficient of restitution between 0 and 1, a ball bounces an infinite number of times in a finite amount of time and travels a finite abount of total distance, with the frequency of bounces approaching infinity as the time approaches the limit of time based on the initial ….

The horizontal position axis acts as a time axis because the horizontal velocity remains constant. Analysis however, shows that in this model, the ball can make an infinite number of bounces in a finite amount of time. The reason is that the time between bounces decreases as the bounce height decreases.

When the ball is elevated it has potential energy and gravity pulls on it and it falls using up kinetic energy and so it bounces lower and lower. While the ball is on the move, kinetic energy--the energy of motion--is at work.

As the energy-driven ball hits the floor, the physical forces in play flatten and deform the shape of the ball, dispersing and compressing the molecules that make up the ball. The Law of Conservation of Energy states that energy cannot be lost or gained, so that, instead, energy is transferred.

Because a properly inflated or filled ball is essentially round, it quickly tries to recover its round shape, and the energy involved in that causes the ball to bounce back into the air. The Racquet Sports Industry's website states that, like human fingerprints, no two balls seem to be alike, and each has slightly different bouncing ability.

Balls get distorted when they bounce. Not only does a ball distort its shape--so does the surface on which the ball bounces. Surfaces that "give," such as Styrofoam and cork, deform as a ball hits against them and save the molecules in the ball from having to do most of the flattening and distorting. Surfaces like Styrofoam, in contrast to metal or ceramic tile, act like a trampoline, states the Terrific Science website, allowing the ball to bounce back higher and faster.

How do balls bounce? Does it have to do with gravity? Answer 1: That is a good physics question! Answer 2: Note from a reader: In reference to Answer 1 above, "If the ball was made of something softer like silly putty, it would just be squashed on the ground and wouldn't bounce.