Inelastic Collision Of A Tennis Ball

Inelastic collisions occur when the kinetic energy of an object is not conserved, but converted into other forms of energy, such as heat or potential energy. As such, they still obey the conservation of energy principle that energy cannot be created or destroyed. When two bodies undergo an inelastic collision, their combined initial kinetic energy is not equal to the final kinetic energy of the system. When a tennis ball bounces on the ground, the kinetic energy that the ball possesses just before colliding with the ground is greater than its kinetic energy just after the impact. This means that some of the kinetic energy of the ball is transferred to the surrounding environment in other forms of energy when it collides with the ground, such …show more content…
This is because the calculation that relates velocity to the initial height of the ball requires constant acceleration, and so assumes that air resistance is negligible. By disregarding air resistance, it would be expected that the initial height of the tennis ball would not influence COR. This is because the initial height of a ball is directly proportional to the bounce height. Therefore, when calculating the coefficient of restitution with a constant ratio of bounce height to initial height, the resulting COR will be constant. However, in reality, it is likely that the bounce height will increase less than the initial height, because air resistance will not be negligible. As the initial height increases, the effect of air resistance will also increase, meaning that the bounce height will increase less than it would without the effect of air resistance. Therefore, it is predicted that the coefficient of restitution will decrease slightly as the initial height of the tennis ball …show more content…
Therefore, it is hypothesised that the coefficient of restitution of a tennis ball will be greatest on concrete. This is predicted because the tennis ball will bounce highest on the concrete, as the least amount of energy will be lost during the bounce. The reason is that the duration of contact will be smallest because the surface is the hardest, and the most level with no loose fragments. It is expected that the hard court will have the next largest coefficient of restitution (due to its slightly cushioned, but smooth surface), followed by the synthetic grass (attributable to its softer surface covered in sand particles), then the en-tout-cas court (because of its fine coating of crushed brick creating a soft