Article 4

Bounce of a Basketball in a Puddle: Depth of Water and Coefficient of Restitution

by Chankyu Han

Abstract

A basketball was dropped into puddles with depths of water ranging from zero to 4 mm from a height of 1.1 m to investigate the relationship between the depth of water in a puddle and the coefficient of restitution with measurements of the drop height and bounce height. It is shown that the coefficient of restitution has a square root relationship with the depth of the puddle. A “puddle constant” is defined and found for this drop height and this ball to be 830 kgm/s2.

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