fairfolio
Saved Projects

How Do Various Types of Table Tennis Balls Differ in Bounce Height?

CSEF · 2019 Product Science (Physical) (Junior Division Only)

Kayla S. Goodwin · Bonny Doon Union Elementary School, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz County

Overview

Objectives The objective is to measure how various types and brands of professional table tennis balls differ in bounce height. Methods Different types and brands of table tennis balls, camera, ball dropper, and measuring backboard. I dropped each type of five times using the ball dropper and recorded with slow motion video. By watching the video I determine the bounce height. Results I recorded the bounce heights of each type of ball by watching the videos. I calculated the average and the median bounce height for each type of ball. Conclusions The types of balls that are played more often in international competition bounce lower, than some of other 40+mm plastic balls. The new plastic balls were similar in bounce height as the 40mm celluloid balls.

Summary statement

My project is important because table tennis players can use this ball bounce height information to adjust their playing style in competitions.

Help received

I designed and built the ball dropper myself. My dad helped with the slow motion camera, and my teacher helped review my research report.

Competition history

  • CSEF 2019 Product Science (Physical) (Junior Division Only) · Entry J2008

Resources

Related projects

Closest projects by meaning, across every fair and year in the corpus.

Browse more like this

Source: California Science & Engineering Fair public projects

Save projects to your library

Sign in with Google to keep track of projects you find interesting, organized into folders. An account also raises your daily allowance for “Has this been done?”, and lets you create a key for the MCP server with a much higher limit than anonymous use. Browsing stays public.

Continue with Google