Bouncing ball Definition and 87 Threads

The physics of a bouncing ball concerns the physical behaviour of bouncing balls, particularly its motion before, during, and after impact against the surface of another body. Several aspects of a bouncing ball's behaviour serve as an introduction to mechanics in high school or undergraduate level physics courses. However, the exact modelling of the behaviour is complex and of interest in sports engineering.
The motion of a ball is generally described by projectile motion (which can be affected by gravity, drag, the Magnus effect, and buoyancy), while its impact is usually characterized through the coefficient of restitution (which can be affected by the nature of the ball, the nature of the impacting surface, the impact velocity, rotation, and local conditions such as temperature and pressure). To ensure fair play, many sports governing bodies set limits on the bounciness of their ball and forbid tampering with the ball's aerodynamic properties. The bounciness of balls has been a feature of sports as ancient as the Mesoamerican ballgame.

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  1. M

    Understanding Periodic Motion: Proving and Explaining its Repeating Nature

    For part (a) of this problem, The solution is, However why did say show the motion is periodic, but then the solutions don't show it, instead explain how it is periodic? Is there a way to prove that the motion is periodic other than the solution to part (b)? Many thanks!
  2. W

    Ideas on How This Exhibit was Designed?

    Watching this exhibit from years ago () led me to think that ball bearings will bounce really well from steel glockenspiel bars, but that wasn't the case when I tested this myself with a stainless steel ball bearing and a steel glockenspiel bar. Granted, I was just propping up the bare...
  3. A

    A bouncing ball hits a blob of putty on the rebound upward

    Please someone help me
  4. B

    Closed form of the position of a bouncing ball

    I know that the height before the first bounce will be ##y = g * t * t + v_0 * t + y_0##. After the first bounce, I can find y by pretending the ball was thrown from the ground with velocity ##e * -v_f## with ##v_f## being the velocity of the ball when hitting the ground, but I have to reset the...
  5. Np14

    Impulse applied to a bouncing ball

    Homework Statement A 0.500 kg ball is dropped from rest at a point 1.20 m above the floor. The ball rebounds straight upward to a height of 0.700 m. What are the magnitude and direction of the impulse of the net force applied to the ball during the collision with the floor? Homework...
  6. A

    Kinetic energy of a bouncing ball

    Homework Statement I'm trying to find the coefficient of restitution (COR) and energy loss upon impact of a bouncing ball, and I'm trying to understand how these relate to each other. Homework Equations COR=sqrt(2gh/2gH) suvat equations (possibly) 1/2mv^2=mgH (using m=0.0585kg, g=9.8) energy...
  7. wolf1728

    I What is the exponential decay equation for a bouncing ball?

    This is not a physics question. Each time a ball bounces it will bounce to, let's say 75% of its previous height. (I am not interested in the time, energy or velocity, of the ball.) So if we drop it from 100 cm it will bounce back up to 75 cm, and on the next bounce it goes up to 56.25 cm and...
  8. T

    Measuring one second with a bouncing ball

    Hello Theoretically any ball that bounces 1.225 metres high is in the air for one second. This is fairly precise, +/-4% time variance is +/- 10 cm height variance, so bouncing to a height of 1.13 metres is 0.96 seconds and to a height of 1.32 is 1.04 seconds. The theory is at least dependent...
  9. C

    The equation to find the frequency of a bouncing ball

    [Mentors' note: No template because this thread was moved from the General Physics forum] Ok so first of all believe me i would not make a new post if i found the answer anywhere online but i i couldn't find it. Right now i am doing an experiment to find the frequency of a bouncing ping-pong...
  10. S

    Bouncing ball and Doppler effect

    Homework Statement Consider two parallel walls perfectly reflective placed at the distance ##d = 0.8 m ##. A ball, provided with a device through which are emitted continuously frequency sound waves equal to ##f_0=430 Hz##, is launched from one wall to another. It moves with constant velocity...
  11. J

    Function for the velocity of a bouncing ball

    I graphed different heights from which I had dropped a bouncing rubber ball on the y-axis and the time taken for it to bounce on the x-axis. The function came out to be quadratic, but I do not know why. If someone can show mathematically why this is, that'd be splendid. Thank you.
  12. J

    Displacement-Time Graph of a bouncing ball

    Homework Statement Does anyone know how to plot a displacement-time graph that will give the average velocity of a bouncing ball? The ball bounces 5 times and I would like to know it's average velocity. What equations would I use? Homework Equations 0.5mv^2=mgh? The Attempt at a Solution I...
  13. tink7718

    Initial height of a bouncing ball and energy lost

    I am doing a lab in my senior physics class (IB HL Physics 3-4) and I am very confused about a relationship that I found. For my experiment I dropped a racquetball from different heights and then used video analysis to find the height of the ball on its final bounce. I used this data to...
  14. G

    What materials bounce cowhide or vulcanized rubber most?

    I am trying to find out what material that cowhide or vulcanized rubber will bounce off the most? (High school student working on a patent, so really not too experienced with materials engineering.)
  15. I

    What is the final velocity of a bouncing ball after hitting a wall?

    I've seen the solution to finding the velocity after a ball bounces off of a wall. http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/ideas/bounce.htm If a ball of mass m1 and velocity v1 hit a massive wall, what is the final velocity. I understand the math. What I find a little confusing is reconciling the math...
  16. M

    What is the Average Power of Energy Loss for a Bouncing Ball?

    Homework Statement A ball bounces down a uniform flight of stairs of height H , rising after each bounce to to the level h of the previous stair . the velocity of the ball before the impact is equal in all the impacts . what is the average power of energy loss ? Homework EquationsThe...
  17. M

    Conservation of energy in bouncing ball

    Throwing a ball which is (m)kg on the ground If the velocity of the ball just before it reaches the ground is (v)m/s Assume it is a elastic collision The velocity of the ball when it leaves the ground should be (-v)m/s According to conservation of momentum,the ground has a change of...
  18. freutel

    Find the time it takes for bouncing ball to come to rest

    Homework Statement A ball, which is launched in the air with velocity V, has inelastic collisions with the floor: the kinetic energy after each collision is k times the kinetic energy before the collision, where k<1. Assume that the gravitational acceleration is constant: g [m/s^2]. I was asked...
  19. V

    Momentum is not conserved with elastic bouncing ball?

    So if you throw an elastic bouncy ball at the non-closed door, it will bounce off with bigger velocity than it was approaching the door before hitting it, as well as the door will now have some gained momentum and will move. P (momentum) = mv In this case, it appears as if the ball gained...
  20. Valerie Prowse

    Relating quadratic graphs & bouncing movement

    Homework Statement Hi everyone, I am doing a lab currently (and it looks like a few other people on here have had similar questions...) and I'm having trouble with one of the concepts. I had to drop a ball from a height and measure the movement with a motion sensor, which was graphed with the...
  21. Ritzycat

    Bouncing ball - How many times does it bounce

    Problem statement: I have a 0.0506kg bouncy ball that will I drop at 1.75m. I must predict how many times it will bounce before it comes to a rest. My work: We did a lab to predict the percent of energy "lost" from each bounce. After doing some calculations with my data, I found that, on...
  22. P

    Conceptual understanding of moment transfer for bouncing ball

    Hi, I am trying to wrap my head around what happens when a ball of mass m bounces against a hard floor. I assume a system that includes the ball and the floor (and eventually the entire planet) and an elastic collision. Before the ball hits the floor it has a momentum of mv. After the bounce...
  23. B3NR4Y

    Bouncing Ball Dissipative Interaction

    Homework Statement A 0.62-kg basketball dropped on a hardwood floor rises back up to 64% of its original height. If the basketball is dropped from a height of 1.6m , how much energy is dissipated in the first bounce? How much energy is dissipated in the fourth bounce? Homework Equations U(x) =...
  24. P

    The Bouncing Ball Lab- Loss of Energy

    1. Okay. So, my lab is to bounce a ball at a given high while i calculate the time, mass, and different heights. Given these I find the PE, Velocity, and Difference in PE. I've gotten most of the lab complete but there is a final question that asks "If you wanted the golf ball to rebound to a...
  25. T

    Why do we need the vertical distance that a bouncing ball traveled?

    1. Homework Statement 1.Main question: Why would anyone need to know the total VERTICAL distance traveled by a bouncing ball? 2.Other question: Does anyone have a link to an explanation (or could explain themselves) on how to calculate the total HORIZONTAL distance traveled by a bouncing...
  26. T

    How to calculate the horizontal distance traveled by a bouncing ball?

    Does anyone have a link to an explanation (or could explain themselves) on how to calculate the total HORIZONTAL distance traveled by a bouncing ball? I have filmed and analysed (plotted the points) of a few trajectories, so I have the values, I just need to explain why i got those values and...
  27. T

    Find the height of a bouncing ball at any given time

    Homework Statement Find an analytical model for the height of a bouncing ball to be able to find the the height of the ball at any given time. In other words, as I understand, write an equation that would define the trajectory of a bouncing ball. Let's say the coefficient of restitution (COR)...
  28. M

    Bouncing Ball and the Principle of Equal and Opposite Forces

    Homework Statement A ball hits the wall.So wall will exert an equal and opposite force the ball Why doesn't the ball's forces gets equal so it moves with constant velocity? Homework Equations Gui Na The Attempt at a Solution No attempt needed here.F-F=0 net force.
  29. B

    Trying to understand the bouncing ball

    hi all, ok i read another post from this forum about the bouncing ball but i didnt want to start asking questions when i never made the thread ok so I am programming a program that starts with a ball in the air and it will automatically start to fall here is a simplified look at my code to...
  30. M

    Kinematics bouncing ball problem

    given below is a more than one choice type MCQ, A ball is bouncing elastically with a speed 1 m/s between walls of a railway compartment of size 10 m in a direction perpendicular to walls. The train is moving at a constant velocity of 10 m/s parallel to the direction of motion of the ball...
  31. T

    Is (0,0) a Valid Coordinate in a Bounce Height Experiment Graph?

    Hi, I just need some help with 3 questions that is asked in my rubric for this investigation. I have already done the experiment to investigate the relationship between the height from which a ball is dropped and the height of the resulting bounce Homework Statement 1) Draw a graph of average...
  32. J

    Total Distance Traveled by Bouncing Ball Series

    Homework Statement A ball is dropped from a height of 16 feet. Each time it drops h feet, it rebounds 0.81h feet. Find the total distance traveled by the ball. Homework Equations Geometric series sum of ar^n The Attempt at a Solution D1= 16 feet D2 = 16(0.81) + 16(0.81) =...
  33. E

    The Bouncing Ball: Understanding Energy Conservation

    Homework Statement Time tries to crush a 0.85kg basketball, but is only able to compress it by 1.5cm when a force of 50N in applied a) What is the spring constant of the ball? b) When he throws it against the floor, it is compressed by 3.4cm. How high will the ball bounce? Homework Equations...
  34. Spinnor

    Expanding/Collapsing Universe vs Bouncing Ball: Kinetic & Potential Energy?

    I think in a piece by John Baez we learn that the physics of an expanding and collapsing dust filled universe is the same as the physics of a bouncing ball, Radius, R, verses time and height, h, verses time? If so are there counterparts to the kinetic and potential energy of a bouncing ball...
  35. A

    How High Should a Soccer Ball Be Kicked to Clear a 2.20m Bar with a Bounce?

    Homework Statement Determine the initial velocity with which a soccer player must kick the ball, such that the ball bounces and then achieves maximum height of 2.20 m at point C or just passing under the horizontal bar. Coefficient of restitution between the ball and the field is e=0.5...
  36. K

    Bouncing ball exercise with time of contact with the surface given

    Hello. I have an exercise (not exactly homework, it's a physics contest that we are allowed to solve at home, using all possible help we can find) that goes like this: A ball with mass m = 0,10 kg falls vertically on a horizontal non-movable solid surface. Speed of the ball just before the...
  37. T

    Quadratic Graph & Bouncing Ball

    Hi guys. I've been a lurker for a while, but I've recently become super stumped on this physics question (physics is far from my forté). I've attached the graph of my bouncing ball. First, I had to identify the coefficients and what they mean. I understand that A is acceleration, B is initial...
  38. Feodalherren

    Acceleration of a bouncing ball (no calculations needed)

    Homework Statement A hard rubber ball is bounced on the floor. Compare the ball's acceleration on the way down to its acceleration on its way back up. Homework Equations - [b]3. The Attempt at a Solution [/b First off, ignore air resistance. Lets assume that the person bouncing...
  39. G

    Bouncing Ball Conservation of Energy

    I have just recently completed a lab in Conservation of Energy. My course is through correspondence, so my labs are virtual. I noticed that the heavier the ball was, the haters the total energy dropped as the ball continued to bounce. Now I understand that energy can be transferred into many...
  40. B

    Storing energy in a bouncing ball

    I found this text As the ball's surface dents during an impact, these polymer molecules move about and begin to exert forces on one another (storing energy in the process). As the ball rebounds, these molecules release their stored energy and push the ball back into the air. I'm not sure...
  41. S

    Is the Phase-Space of a Bouncing Ball a Straight Line?

    Hey, The phase-space, a graph of momentum against position, shows a trajectory of a particular system and any point on this trajectory gives a microstate of a particular macrostate; given the Energy of the system is constant... I think this is roughly true, correct me where I'm wrong please...
  42. I

    What can we learn from a bouncing ball experiment?

    Hi guys - recently in college we have done an experiment where we drop a ball from 10 different heights, and recorded the bounce height. Obviously all the results were tabulated, and then a graph produced. It turns out that the graph is linear, and I have worked out y=mx+c, so am able to predict...
  43. I

    Can I Use Calculus to Explore the Results of My Bouncing Ball Experiment?

    Hi guys - recently in college we have done an experiment where we drop a ball from 10 different heights, and recorded the bounce height. Obviously all the results were tabulated, and then a graph produced. It turns out that the graph is linear, and I have worked out y=mx+c, so am able to predict...
  44. F

    Bouncing ball and coeff. of restitution

    Dear Forum, in the coefficient of restitution lab, a ball is drop from a certain height and the bounce height is measured to eventually calculate the coefficient of restitution COR... Why should the initial height always be measured from the bottom of the ball and not from the top? Why...
  45. M

    Calculating Impulse Without Mass: A Bouncing Ball Lab Dilemma

    Homework Statement I am currently working on a lab that deals with a bouncing ball where I need to find the KE and impulse yet I have no mass given. Homework Equations PE=mgh KE=1/2mv p=mv The Attempt at a Solution I have calculated KE by first finding the PE in the middle of the...
  46. J

    Bouncing Ball Problem - 2 Dimensional Challenge Lab

    Homework Statement The object of the lab is to find the diameter of the bouncing ball shown in the pdf attached. We are working with Logger Pro. The only 2 pieces of information that we have is that the ball is on the surface of the earth, where Ay=-9.81 m/s2, and that the frames are 0.05...
  47. M

    Bouncing Ball Graph/Quadratic Formula

    Homework Statement The graph I have posted is the result of using a motion sensor above a bouncing ball. I am asked to write a clear interpretation of the meaning of each parameter in the equation Y=At^2+Bt+C.Homework Equations Y=Ax^2+Bt+C y=y0+v0t+1/2at^2The Attempt at a Solution...
  48. N

    No conservation of momentum with bouncing ball?

    So I was thinking about the conservation of momentum. If you throw a handball at a wall, the wall will provide an equal normal force, thus sending the handball back at the same velocity (in a perfect scenario). The ball has a momentum vector, the wall never moves, and thus only has a...
  49. A

    Calculations associated with a bouncing ball

    Homework Statement For our final project we have to design a lab, take the data, and write a lab report. My lab is bouncing balls of different masses, onto different surfaces, from different heights, and use balls of different materials in order to see what factor influences efficiency the...
  50. A

    Calculations associated with a bouncing ball

    Homework Statement For our final project we have to design a lab, take the data, and write a lab report. My lab is bouncing balls of different masses, onto different surfaces, from different heights, and use balls of different materials in order to see what factor influences efficiency the...
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