why do balls bounce higher in a concrete floor than in a wooden floor?

Answer 1

Concrete has less give in it than wood. They both hurt a lot though when your balls bounce on them.

Answer 2

To every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction...

SO, if you bounced two equal weighted balls together at equal velocities, they'd bounce equally off of each other.

Simlarly, even though the wooden floor is relatively static, it DOES have some 'give' to it but a concrete floor doesn't.

Thus, when the ball bounces against the wooden floor, it gives a bit which takes power away from the bounce of the ball.

Hope this helps! :)

Answer 3

I agree with what everyone else has said about the wood absorbing the energy, but what about a trampoline? It's very flexible and a rubber ball wouldn't bounce very high if dropped on it, yet people can bounce higher than if they were on a concrete floor.

Another point about absorbing energy is if the ball doesn't have enough air in it it won't bounce as high.

Answer 4

Wood absorbs more of the balls energy than concrete because it will flex. Concrete will absorb some energy but most of it is transferred back to the ball making it bounce higher.

Answer 5

The concrete floor is harder than the wood. Therefore the wood floor gives to the pressure of the ball. The concrete floor doesn't.

Answer 6

I believe it is because wood absorbs more of the energy than concrete does...hence the reason profesional and school basketball is played on a wooden floor instead of concrete..it absorbs more energy not only from the ball but it also absorbs some of the energy from you so your body doesn't feel the jolt/shock as much from you running.

Answer 7

The difference in flexibility of the materials. Concrete has less flex so more of the energy of the falling ball stays in the ball and, therefore, it bounces higher.

Answer 8

Bounce depends upon what is called co-efficient of restitution(COR).This is defined as:The ratio of speed of separation to speed of approach in a collision. In an elastic collision, it is 1. In a collision the material the masses are made from makes a difference because the diffrence between their elasticity. The COR is generally a number from between 0 and 1 inclusive. 1 represents a perfectly elastic collision, while 0 represents a perfectly inelastic collision.An object with a COR of 1 collides elastically(that ball will reach the same height as from which it was dopped), while an object with a COR of 0 will collide inelastically, effectively "sticking" to the object it A COR greater than one is theoretically possible, representing a collision that generates kinetic energy, such as land mines being thrown together and exploding. A COR less than zero is also theoretically possible, representing a collision that pulls two objects closer together instead of bouncing them apart

Answer 9

Concrete is harder than wood, so it doesn't absorb much of the force with which the ball falls on it. However, wood is a bit softer, so it absorbs some of the ball's force, and so the ball bounces lower.

Answer 10

I would believe it would be the hardest of the surfaces, reason it would allow less of the energy to be lost in the flex of the flooring. Carpet would absorb the energy, tile would be harder and would absorb much less but I believe concrete would be the hardest and would cause the ball to bounce the highest but to some degree it would depend on what is behind the tile. If the tile is backed by a hard surface you may see similar results to that of the concrete.