Why does a ball bounce?
There are two kinds of balls that bounce, those that are solid, like a solid rubber ball or a golf ball, and those that are hollow, like a tennis ball. No matter whether the ball is solid or hollow, its bounce is due to the fact that it is elastic. A thing is said to be elastic when it tends to return to its former size or shape after being pressed down or stretched. Rubber is a very elastic substance, as you know. Press a rubber ball on the ground. It loses its perfect roundness, but the instant you take away the pressure of your hand, it springs back into shape. Throw it sharply on the ground; it loses shape against the ground but springs back so sharply that it bounces. Now a great law of science is that nothing is ever lost and that everything has to be paid for. When the ball starts bouncing it has a certain amount of motion in it, which is force, or power, or energy. When it stops, that has gone. Either we must show that the energy has gone somewhere and has not been destroyed, o
A ball bounces because of the material and whether or not it is solid or hollow. Balls bounce because it is elastic and when something is elastic, it returns to its former shape after being stretched or pressed down. The pressure inside the ball caused the material to go back to its original shape and therefore it bounces.
Energy, in physics, is a quantity related to work. Energy has many forms. For example, you use mechanical energy to toss a ball, heat energy warms a room,electric energy makes a light bulb glow, and chemical energy provides the driving force for an automobile. Solar energy, energy from the sun, warms and illuminates Earth and its atmosphere. Almost all of that energy arrives at the top of the atmosphere as electromagnetic waves. From the least energetic to the most energetic, those waves include radio waves; infrared rays, which we feel as heat; visible light; ultraviolet rays, which can cause sunburn; and small amounts of X rays and gamma rays. The atmosphere blocks some of the visible light and infrared rays, almost all the radio waves and ultraviolet rays, and all the X rays and gamma rays. The term solar energy also refers to energy supplied by solar panels and other devices that use energy from the sun. Two forms of energy are fundamental—that is, any other form consists of one or
