Racquetball popper

Using a racquetball, you can create a cool science toy.

Materials

* Racquetball

* Knife

Instructions

STEP 1: Have an adult cut the racquetball in half.

STEP 2: Turn one of the halves inside out and have an adult trim off some of the edge. If your popper will not stay in the "inside out" position you have trimmed too much off the edge.

STEP 3: Once the popper will stay inside out, drop it on the floor.

Explanation

With practice your popper will bounce back noticeably higher than the height from which it was dropped. The energy used to turn the racquetball inside out is stored in the popper. Once the popper hits the floor this potential energy is released, sending the popper higher than its original dropping point.

Jason Lindsey is a Science Outreach Educator with Hooked on Science. Check out his website "Hooked On Science" at hookedonscience.org for webcasts and experiments that might get you hooked on science. Send him your science questions at jlindsey@hookedonscience.org. More science experiments can be found at www.semissourian.com.