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Bouncing Ball Dynamics and Formulas

The document summarizes the bouncing motion of a ball dropped from a height of 10 feet. It finds expressions for (1) the height of each bounce, (2) the total vertical distance traveled after n bounces, and (3) the total time taken as n approaches infinity. The ball is found to bounce infinitely many times but in a finite total time, so it does not bounce forever.

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287 views2 pages

Bouncing Ball Dynamics and Formulas

The document summarizes the bouncing motion of a ball dropped from a height of 10 feet. It finds expressions for (1) the height of each bounce, (2) the total vertical distance traveled after n bounces, and (3) the total time taken as n approaches infinity. The ball is found to bounce infinitely many times but in a finite total time, so it does not bounce forever.

Uploaded by

Skye
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

The Algebra Symposium: Notes on Bouncing Balls

This file is http://www2.math.uic.edu/~jlewis/as/asbouncenote.pdf

From Calculus, Hughes–Hallett, et al.:


3
1. A ball is dropped from a height of 10 feet and bounces. Each bounce is of the height
4
of the bounce before.
 Thus after the ball hits the floor for the first time, the ball rises to
3
a height of 10 = 7.5 feet, and after the it hits the floor for the second time, the ball
4
   2
3 3
rises to a height of 7.5 = 10 = 5.625 feet.
4 4

(a) Find an expression for the height to which the ball rises after it hits the floor for the nth
time.
 n
th 3
After it hits the floor for the n time, the ball rises to a height of 10 feet.
4

(b) Find an expression for the total vertical distance the ball has traveled when it hits the
floor for the first, second, third, and fourth times.

After
 one
1 time the ball has traveled 10 feet. After two times theball1has traveled 10 + 2 ·
  2
3 3 3
10 feet. After three times the ball has traveled 10 + 2 · 10 + 2 · 10 feet.
4 4 4

(c) Find an expression for the total vertical distance the ball has traveled when it hits the
floor for the nth time. Express your answer in a closed form.

Hint
1 − rn+1
1 + r + r2 + . . . + rn = .
1−r
 n
3
After hitting the floor for the nth time, the next bounce adds 2 · 10 to the total
4
vertical distance. Thus the total vertical distance traveled after hitting for the nth time is
 1  n−1 !
3 3
10 1 + 2 · + ... + 2 · .
4 4

A closed form of this expression is

n−1
X k !  n
3 (3/4) − (3/4)
10 · 1+2 = 10 1 + 2
4 1 − (3/4)
k=1

asbouncenote.tex 1/2
If we let n → ∞, the total vertical distance traveled is
 
(3/4)
10 1 + 2 = 70feet.
1 − (3/4)

2. You might think that the ball [in the previous problem] keeps bouncing forever since it
takes infinitely many bounces.

Is this true?

Although there are infinitely many bounces, they occur in finite time. If a ball falls from
a height h feet, its vertical position at time t is given by
1
y = h − gt2 ,
2
2
where g ≈ 32 feet/(sec) is the gravitational constant. Thus y = 0 when
p
t = 2h/g
p √
= 2/g h
1√
≈ h.
4

An argument similar to the calculation of the total total vertical distance traveled will
show that the total time elapsed traveled after hitting for the nth time is
r  1 n−1 
2 p p
10 1+2· 3/4 + . . . + 2 · 3/4 .
g
A closed form of this expression is
r n−1
! r p p n!
2 X p k 2 3/4 − 3/4
10 · 1+2 3/4 = 10 1+2 p
g g 1 − 3/4
k=1

If we let n → ∞, the total time elapsed is


r p !
2 3/4
10 1+2 p ≈ ∗sec.
g 1 − 3/4

We exploit the simultaneous convergence of the two geometric series:


∞
X k
(bounce ratio) ,
k=1
X∞ √ k
bounce ratio .
k=1

asbouncenote.tex 2/2

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