How can you measure the height a ball bounces? To determine how high a tennis ball will bounce when dropped from a . When it is dropped, the air molecules will squish together and then spring apart. Then when dropping the ball again eye level was kept level with the blue tack. There were some trends observed in our As it did so the downward force was partially balanced out by the upwards force of drag, increasingly so the closer the ball got to its terminal velocity. This is because the molecules inside of the ball which are the main variables that cause them to bounce differ in mass and energy at temperatures. There is an activity at home that can be used to investigatebounciness. The difference between the predicted height and the actual height will provide evidence as to how air resistance affects the flight of the ball. This is because the ball starts with more GPE. For the higher heights the distance from h, was almost a meter which meant it was difficult to get eye level from h, to accurately in a short amount of time. The surface onto which the ball is dropped upon will be kept the same. Therefore, our hypothesis was refuted by our final results. This was added onto another issue we had to Keep a close eye on the ball, and instruct Phlebas to do the same. In this experiment you will use a ball filled with air. Hypothesis. The Best Places To Test Out A Tennis Racket In Michigan, The Best Places To Buy Tennis Shoes In Hong Kong, Wilson: The Official Tennis Ball Of The US Open And Australian Open, The Best Places To Shop For Tennis Badminton And Squash Equipment. Its not just a game for the wealthy; its also a game for everyone. Air density will not change enough to affect the flight of the ball seeing as all the results will be collected during a brief period on one day. Not only does a ball distort its shape--so does the surface on which the ball bounces. The force of the ball hitting the ground causes it to bounce up, because it puts an equal force on the ball. Copyright 2002-2023 Science Buddies. The results are shorter rallies and quicker points. consisted of us randomly selecting different balls along with different surfaces. Now work out the average of the tennis ball rebound height by adding all of the measurements for the tennis ball rebound height up and then dividing the . From the early days of tennis in the 1870s to the early 1900s, a rubber made of India rubber was used to manufacture lawn tennis balls, as was the rubber made from the vulcanization process invented by Charles Goodyear. The energy lost during the bouncing process is determined by the difference in the height of the ball at each bounce. This will be repeated five times, possibly more (for accuracy), for each height and the top and bottom results will be discounted. Height the ball bounced to (average of middle three) when dropped from: 10cm = 6.7 6.7 = 66% of 10 (to the nearest percent), 20cm = 14.0 14.0 = 70% of 20 (to the nearest percent), 30cm = 22.3 22.3 = 74% of 30 (to the nearest percent). One of the hunks of information we found was "Under Pressure: Ball Bouncing Dynamics.". carpet, tennis 57 cm 56 cm 61 cm 58 cm Do different kinds of balls bounce differently? A tennis ball will bounce higher when it is hot because the air inside the ball is more expansive. The same square of tiling will be used throughout the experiment so that inconsistencies between different floor tiles do not affect results. What factors affect the bounce height of a ball? This is due to two factors. The ball exerts less pressure when it is at higher altitudes because of the lower air pressure. Drag is a squared function of velocity and therefore as the ball drops drag increases a greater amount each second. However the conditions were kept the same for each drop of the ball. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. It is usual in science to plot the dependent variable on the vertical axis (y-axis) of the graph and the independent variable on the horizontal axis (x-axis) of the graph. The higher the ball goes, the more GPE it ends up with. For any other use, please contact Science Buddies. Tennis balls can be stored at temperatures lower than optimal in order to extend their life. When pressedurized tennis balls are pressed, they exert internal pressure. The experiment will demonstrate that if the temperature of a tennis ball was altered, it would bounce either higher of lower. After the ball reaches terminal velocity, no more GPE is converted into KE is the ball cannot get any faster. A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. - Pencil x Using this experiment, we will attempt to determine whether the temperature of an object has an effect on its behavior. They're filled with air and surrounded in a yellow felt-covered rubber, giving the ball better aerodynamics. It might be a good idea for students to experiment with a variety of balls to determine which one is most effective. hard ball made of rubber should bounce the highest on a concrete surface, which Also it shows inaccuracies in the experiment as it shows that heights were recorded that exceeded the height that the ball would have reached had it been dropped in a vacuum. We use cookies and those of third party providers to deliver the best possible web experience and to compile statistics. As the ball is accelerating due to gravity, at 9.81m/s2it is constantly getting faster and therefore the drag force gets bigger and bigger. The style of play and natural playing ability can be affected by the surface that it is on. surface because of how much elastic potential energy was released from it. If the coefficient to restitution = 0.7, a ball dropping from h, in a vacuum would reach the height of 0.7 h, As velocity increases air resistance increases in proportion to the square of the velocity. The aim of the experiment my partner and I performed was to find out which were able to construct a successful experiment. During the research fraction of the experiment, it was It would also be fun to explore the effect of different surfaces on the bounce of the bouncy ball. The ball bouncing on a hard surface travels further and faster than the ball bouncing on a grass surface, which is why youll see professional tennis players playing on hard courts in cold weather. This is longer than the 5-8 ms ball bounce from a solid surface or racquet. Changes in the area of linoleum floor tile that the ball collided with may have affected the height to which it bounced to thus producing variation between results. Science Buddies Staff. If a ball reaches terminal velocity at 20cm from the floor when dropped from 2m, it will reach terminal velocity at 10cm from the floor when dropped from 1.9m. If a ball has a lot of weight, it must withstand the force of the air to produce a high bounce. A tennis balls trajectory is determined by its temperature. With this information, we Why a ball bounces: The ball's energy is matched by the ground it hits. However when the ball is dropped from a relatively low height, drag 0. Record the new pressure reading in your data table and repeat steps 4 and 5. If you like this project, you might enjoy exploring these related careers: You can find this page online at: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-ideas/Sports_p007/sports-science/ball-bouncing-dynamics. Most of the points on grass are very short. Also it shows inaccuracies in the experiment as it shows that heights were recorded that exceeded the height that the ball would have reached had it been dropped in a vacuum. The acceleration due to gravity causes the ball to change direction and start moving downwards at stage 2. Which ball will bounce higher off a hard surface? Hard court tennis demands a lot from your joints! When it reaches Earth, it collides head-on with an . - Four surfaces (carpet, rough concrete, dirt and smooth concrete). Overall, our experiment taught us that harder Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. However if two results are recorded that do not fit the trend of other results nor are close to results recorded for that height then the experiments accuracy would be brought into doubt. is well-inflated and made of rubber which would give it more kinetic energy and Anyone, regardless of age or ability, can take part in tennis on a court with a ball. H is the height of the ball before it is dropped. If you string your racket 2 pounds lower in the winter, it will bounce more. This therefore provides accurate and reliable results. The higher the air pressure the more air particles per cubic meter. will start at 2m and then move down in intervals of 10cm to 10cm. Method:The apparatus will be set up as shown: H is the height of the ball before it is dropped. A cold tennis ball bounces lower than a warm one. At 2ft, the basketball bounced 15 inches, the tennis ball bounced 12 inches, and the golf. - Rubber ball x As for catching the balls on time, we changed our hand positioning and We did this by bouncing different types of balls Then they would be dropped from a table, and the height would be measured. This would eliminate parallax error further. It should be on a smooth cement surface for optimal ball bouncing. Therefore the heavier the ball is, the faster its terminal velocity. Use the paint and a tape measure to make a series of lines on your roll of paper. "That's The Way The Ball Bounces," The Exploratorium Museum, San Francisco, CA. Therefore, harder surfaces will ultimately bounce a ball higher. Take your class outside, to an area with a smooth, flat surface. Make a line graph of your data. Instead, as the ball is still always loosing GPE so long as it is still falling, all GPE is converted into thermal energy. The ultimate answer was that a basketball This means that not all the GPE is converted into KE as it would have been if the ball had been dropped in a vacuum. The average variation between results was 3cm. The temperature of a tennis ball can affect its bounce height. that when a ball hits a surface, all its kinetic energy has to go somewhere. Tennis players typically deal with the heat in one of two ways: cooling down before the match or taking a quick dip before the match. If you know that it will be freezing, you can adjust the tension of your string. The steel snaps back more quickly when it hits the ground. Hot balls were the more likely to bounce higher than cold balls. We The material ball is made from will affect the ball as if it is smooth then the drag will be significantly less than if it is rough. Our team of volunteer scientists can help. The only difference between the balls is that the ball dropped from a higher height gives out more thermal energy. stay constant, results in an increase in m g h, stay constant, results in a decrease in m g h, The surface onto which the ball is dropped will affect the height to which the ball bounces because for any two objects that collide, the properties of both determine the percentage of the kinetic energy either possesses approaching the collision that is conserved subsequent to the collision taking place (Coefficient to restitution) discounting the effects of air resistance. Let's see if physics can explain what happens. that bounced the highest on the smooth concrete. half the results (concrete), we were incorrect about the basketball. As the ball falls it hits against air particles. Also the difference between the force of air resistance acting upon a ball travelling at 1ms-1 and the force of air resistance acting upon a ball travelling at 2ms-1 is far smaller than the difference between the force of air resistance acting upon a ball travelling at 20ms-1 and the force of air resistance acting upon a ball travelling at 21ms-1.
tennis ball bounce on different surfaces experiment