How Close Can to Perfection can a Bouncy Ball get?

duckplus

First post here. Hello!

I am wondering how close a bouncy ball's bounceback ration can get to 100% with our current technology. I have a B-16 bouncy ball (the best I can find on the internet) that has a 90% bounceback. It would be great to see something even better.

On a related note, I saw a video where steel balls were bounced on three different ball bearings. One was titanium, one was steel, and one was "LiquidMetal." The steel ball bounced on the LiquidMetal 3 times longer than than the other surfaces. Would a bouncy ball made out of super-compressed rubber with this material as its core make the ball extremely bouncy?

Thank you.

jedishrfu

Welcome to PF!

Is this for a homework assignment?

If so you need to follow the PF template and read up on forum rules. We cant give you answers only hints but only after you show us some work.

duckplus

No, this is out of curiosity.

jedishrfu

so basically the harder and more solid the surface and the harder the ball the closer to 100% you'll get but 90% sounds pretty good.

I don't know what the best rebound rate you can ever get as some energy is dissipated on each bounce due to deformation of the ball and surface which converts the KE to heat and very minimally by air resistance.

and some info on the super-ball of yesteryear (ie when I was a kid):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Ball

duckplus

I feel like we can get a bit better than 90% if there was actually a major demand. Alas, there is not. However, do you think there is much room for improvement possible?

Low-Q

Maybe a solid ball of nitinol would work better - bouncing on a solid nitinol surface? This material is known to be "super elastic". One must do som pretty good work for that material to be permanently deformed (Which will cause loss). Just a thought.

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