Velocity Amplification in Collision Experiments Involving Superballs
Abstract
If a pen is stuck in a hard rubber ball and dropped from a certain height, the pen may bounce to several times that height. The results of two such experiments, which can easily be duplicated in any undergraduate physics laboratory, are plotted for a range of mass ratios. A simple theoretical discussion which provides a qualitative understanding of the phenomenon is presented. A more complicated formulation which agrees very well with one of the experiments is also presented. The latter involves a simple analog computer program. Finally, an intriguing generalization of the phenomenon is considered.
- Publication:
-
American Journal of Physics
- Pub Date:
- June 1971
- DOI:
- 10.1119/1.1986253
- Bibcode:
- 1971AmJPh..39..656H