Hooked on Science: Rocket balls

How high can you bounce a tennis ball? How about a pingpong ball? Find out the science secret behind making both balls shoot high through the air.

Materials

• Basket ball
• Tennis ball
• Pingpong ball

Instructions

STEP 1: Hold the pingpong ball directly above the tennis ball and the tennis ball directly above the basketball, so that the balls are touching.

STEP 2: Drop the balls at exactly the same time and observe.

Explanation

The energy from the bouncing basketball is transferred to the tennis and pingpong balls. This causes the tennis and pingpong balls to become energized and shoot through the air.

Jason Lindsey is a science outreach educator with Hooked on Science. Check out his website hookedonscience.org for webcasts and experiments.