Enhancing the Bounce of a Ball

In sports such as baseball, softball, golf, and tennis, a common objective is to hit the ball as fast or as far as possible. Another common objective is to hit the ball so that it spins as fast as possible, since the trajectory of the ball through the air is strongly affected by ball spin.¹ In an attempt to enhance both the coefficient of restitution (COR) and the spin of a golf ball, I conducted several experiments to see what would happen when a 45‐g, 42.8‐mm diameter golf ball bounced on: (a) a 58‐mm diameter, 103‐g Super Ball®; (b) an 8‐mm thick, 56‐mm diameter circular disk of Super Ball material cut from a large Super Ball and glued to a 3.4‐kg lead brick; and (c) a 3‐mm thick sheet of rubber glued to a 3.4‐kg lead brick. (See Fig. 1.)