24 July 2008

Balls of Glass

Did you know that a ball of glass will bounce higher than a ball of rubber?

Not the post you thought it might be, was it?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Who the hell tested these things??

I want proofs!

Rob Baiton said...

Therry...

Me too!

It is a case of the "as usual" for me. Surfing the internet and wasting time looking for bizarre little factoids.

I am not sure why someone would need to test this and what it contributes to the world of science. It might just be a Newtonian thing where instead of the apple fallingout of the tree the ball of glass did!

pj said...

The reason they bounce higher is probably the same reason that we play biliards with hard balls and not soft ones. Glass - if it doesn't break is a like a stiff spring. Rubber is much softer and more energy is lost into a rubber ball when it deforms than a glass one.

I suppose this is also why motorcycle helmets are designed with some sort of energy dampening material - certainly not made from glass. Or design railroad wheels from rubber haha

From the land of Obscurity

PJ

Unknown said...

I'm shattered!!!!!!!!

Rob Baiton said...

GJ...

Now that is funny!

A very clever play on the glass balls!

cleananglingpledge said...

Oh my god, there is really much worthwhile data in this post!