| MadSci Network: Physics |
Tennis balls have interesting bounce characteristics because of their
unique construction. Each tennis ball is made of a thin rubber shell,
about 1/8" thick, and filled with 24psi air. The air pressure means that
whenever the ball is bounced, the air is compressed a little. This
compression stores some of the kinetic energy as mechanical potential
energy. Then the gas inside the ball presses back, and the potential
energy is converted into kinetic energy again and the ball bounces back.
Tennis Ball entry
in the encylopedia
More
information about tennis balls
Rubber balls with a solid core, like the rubber band ball you are testing,
rely on the compression of the rubber only. They do not use the
compression of the air to store potential energy. Rather, the elasticity
of the rubber itself is what controls the bounciness of solid rubber
balls.
Superball Bounciness
experiment
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