The equation to find the frequency of a bouncing ball

[Carlo Silanu]

[Mentors' note: No template because this thread was moved from the General Physics forum]

Ok so first of all believe me i would not make a new post if i found the answer anywhere online but i i couldn't find it.

Right now i am doing an experiment to find the frequency of a bouncing ping-pong ball with different heights in the given time. I did my experiments with 5 different heights which is 0.30m, 0.60m, 0.90m, 1.2m,1.5m. What i want to find is how many times did the ping-pong ball bounces back when its dropped from a certain height during the first 5 seconds of the drop.

i was wondering is there any equation/formula to find the frequency of the bouncing ball?

 

[PeroK]

Ok so first of all believe me i would not make a new post if i found the answer anywhere online but i i couldn't find it.

Right now i am doing an experiment to find the frequency of a bouncing ping-pong ball with different heights in the given time. I did my experiments with 5 different heights which is 0.30m, 0.60m, 0.90m, 1.2m,1.5m. What i want to find is how many times did the ping-pong ball bounces back when its dropped from a certain height during the first 5 seconds of the drop.

i was wondering is there any equation/formula to find the frequency of the bouncing ball?

You need to know the coefficient of restitution between the ball and the floor. This would have to be determined by experiment.

 

[BvU]

Hello Carlo,

Interesting experiment ! You can do calculations indeed, provided you are familiar with the so-called SUVAT equations for motion under constan acceleration (from gravity), in particular: $$x = x_0 + v_0 t + (1/2) a t^2$$are you ?

And, since you mention an experiment: I am curious what you are measuring and how you do the experiment in detail ?

 

[Carlo Silanu]

Hello Carlo,

Interesting experiment ! You can do calculations indeed, provided you are familiar with the so-called SUVAT equations for motion under constan acceleration (from gravity), in particular: $$x = x_0 + v_0 t + (1/2) a t^2$$are you ?

And, since you mention an experiment: I am curious what you are measuring and how you do the experiment in detail ?

Yes i am familiar with SUVAT equations for motion. so my experiment is about how many times did the ball bounce back from the ground during the first five seconds of the drop. so what i did was dropping the ping-pong ball from different heights to see is there any difference on how many times does the ball bounce back. my hypothesis or my prediction is that the higher the height of the point where the ball is dropped the lower the frequency of the bouncing ball. i did my experiment and the results is the same as i expected which is the frequency gets lower the higher the drop point. What i don't understand is the calculation or equation behind it if there is any. this experiment is actually for a school work I am working on and i want it to be as detailed as possible so i was looking around the internet if there is an equation/formula to find the frequency of a bouncing ball

 

[PeroK]

Yes i am familiar with SUVAT equations for motion. so my experiment is about how many times did the ball bounce back from the ground during the first five seconds of the drop. so what i did was dropping the ping-pong ball from different heights to see is there any difference on how many times does the ball bounce back. my hypothesis or my prediction is that the higher the height of the point where the ball is dropped the lower the frequency of the bouncing ball. i did my experiment and the results is the same as i expected which is the frequency gets lower the higher the drop point. What i don't understand is the calculation or equation behind it if there is any. this experiment is actually for a school work I am working on and i want it to be as detailed as possible so i was looking around the internet if there is an equation/formula to find the frequency of a bouncing ball

You could start with the assumption that the ball bounces to the same height each time and work it out for yourself.

Did you look up "coefficient of restitution"?

 

[Nugatory]

What i don't understand is the calculation or equation behind it if there is any. this experiment is actually for a school work I am working on and i want it to be as detailed as possible so i was looking around the internet if there is an equation/formula to find the frequency of a bouncing ball

There is such a formula, and you can derive it yourself from the SUVAT equations. PeroK has already given you one big hint, and I'll give you another: how much time passes between bounces?

 

[Carlo Silanu]

There is such a formula, and you can derive it yourself from the SUVAT equations. PeroK has already given you one big hint, and I'll give you another: how much time passes between bounces?

You could start with the assumption that the ball bounces to the same height each time and work it out for yourself.

Did you look up "coefficient of restitution"?

Thanks Nugatory and Perok for helping me now i got the idea and the equations