A golf ball or a super ball bounces rather nicely; the height of each bounce is a fraction of the height of the previous bounce (see here for the relation of bounce height and speed to conservation of energy and momentum, see here for a middle school science fair project on how balls actually bounce). For instance, suppose we drop a golf ball from a height of 64 centimeters. Say it recovers three-quarters of its height on the next bounce. Then the next bounce will be (3/4)*64 = 48 cm high. The next bounce will be (3/4)*48 = 36 cm high, and the next (3/4)*36 = 27 cm high, etc. You can try other elasticity coefficients on this page.
Surprisingly, if each bounce height is a fraction of the previous bounce height, then the time it takes for one bounce is a different fraction of the time taken by the previous bounce. We will investigate this relationship on the next page.
Next: Bounce Height and Time
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copyright: Besson and Styer, Villanova University 12/22/2007