Dribbling...Another important part of the game of basketball is dribbling the basketball. Obviously, a ball with more air in it will bounce higher than a ball that has no air in it. “The more air pressure a basketball has inside it, the less its surface will bend or deform during a bounce, and the more its original energy will be stored in the compressed air inside. Air stores and returns more energy than the material that the ball is made from” (Willis). Another way to look at dribbling the ball can be concerned with the potential and kinetic energy the ball has. When the ball is held the ball has potential energy. Upon its release to the floor, the potential energy converts to kinetic energy. “As the ball hit’s the floor the kinetic energy is stored as elastic potential energy. Because of this elastic energy the ball and the floor dent” (Flores).
http://www2.hesston.edu/Physics/Basketball/Paperpg.htm |