How much height does a bouncing ball lose after its first bounce?

[petwoip]

On earth, if I drop a ball from a building height 100m, what will be the maximum height of the ball after its first bounce? Note: This is not a homework question, I am trying to design a game and I want it to be as accurate as possible.

 

[Nabeshin]

Depends on the material of the ball and the surface you're dropping it on.

 

[rcgldr]

Also depends on aerodynamic drag.

 

[Topher925]

Given the information you have provided(none) who is to say that the ball will even bounce?

 

[russ_watters]

Depends on the material of the ball and the surface you're dropping it on.

Just to provide the true range - the answer could literally be anything between zero and 99+m.

 

[Bad Monkey]

If the ball has perfect elasticity (theoretical), the ground is perfectly solid, and there is no atmosphere, it will bounce forever back to the same height, correct me if I am wrong.

In reality of course these conditions can never occur and the answer depends on the degree of the above-mentioned factors.

 

[Nabeshin]

Consider what you know of real world materials and interaction, because I did a brief search attempting to find a table (similar to friction tables?) of relative elasticity values but didn't find anything.

If it's something like a golf ball on concrete, maybe give it 50-60m?
A solid, rubber ball (lacrosse) maybe 70 or so?
A volleyball, maybe 10-20m?

As long as you have a general idea of what the two surfaces are, you should be able to come up with a reasonable estimate that won't look too outrageous. Just test it out and see if it looks normal to you. Humans have a pretty good ability to recognize when something "shouldn't be happening".

 

[mgb_phys]

For official tennis balls dropped form 100" they must bounce between 53-58"

I once built a computer vision rig to allow a company to check them.
They take samples from the production line for normal bals, but those for competitions are all checked individually.

 

[petwoip]

Thanks for all the messages. I never realized all the different factors that could affect bounce height. I think I'll stick with the tennis ball - style bounce, because that would look the best.

 

[mgb_phys]

Remember that on subseqent bounces the ball losses the same proportion of it's height. So if a tennis ball bounces form 100" back to 50" on the first bounce (50%) it will bounce to 25" on the next, 12.5" on the next and so on.