Physics

HL IA
How does the temperature of a tennis ball affect its bounce
height?
Name: Annelise Dols
Candidate number: 000416 -0036
Supervisor: Mr. Boeyink
School: The International School of the Hague
Table of Contents

Introduction .............................................................................................................. 3

Question ..................................................................................................................... 4

Hypothesis ................................................................................................................. 5

Apparatus ................................................................................................................... 6

Diagram ...................................................................................................................... 7

Method ....................................................................................................................... 7

Results and Calculations ....................................................................................... 8

Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 10

Evaluation ................................................................................................................ 11

Bibliography ........................................................................................................... 12

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Introduction
As a tennis player, there is a lot that has to be taken into consideration in order to play the
best game of tennis. One has to pay attention to the spin of the ball, the position that the ball hits the
racket and the bounce height to name a few. In the list of 3, the bounce height can determine how
well the ball is hit, if it is in the center of the racket and if spin can therefore be created on the ball.
This is why it is important to know if the bounce height can be affected by any outside factors.
Several factors can affect the bounce height of a ball. These can be the size and shape of the
ball, its mass, the material it is made out of, the age of the ball, the surface it is bouncing on, the
temperature of the surface and the temperature of the ball itself ("Q & A: Factors Affected a
Bouncing Tennis Ball."). Since tennis balls have the same specifications (mass, size, shape,
material), the decision is made to investigate the affect of temperature on the bounce height of the
ball, because if you play tennis outside all year round, the temperature of the ball could be affected.
When a ball hits the ground, it deforms and the kinetic energy is converted to elastic
potential energy. (Madden, 2007) As no ball is perfectly elastic, this conversion is not
perfectly efficient and so some energy is lost to heat and sound when the ball hits the ground.
Eventually, the restorative force restores the ball to its previous shape and in doing so
converts the elastic potential energy back to kinetic energy, which in turn is converted to
gravitational potential energy as the ball rises. (University of Virginia, 2011) This can be
looked into in more depth.
A bounce occurs in several stages. In the first stage (fig. 1), the ball falls vertically
Figure 1: First stage of bounce in 2 steps downwards under the effect of gravity.
The velocity of the ball is also in the
downward direction. Due to gravity
pulling the ball down to the ground,
which is a force, one can deduce that the
Normani, Franco. “First stage of ball bounce”. Real World Physics Problems, acceleration is also going downwards.
2016, www.real-world-physics-problems.com/bouncing-ball-
physics.html. October 2016 The acceleration due to gravity is
9.81m/s. As the ball begins to make contact with the ground, it continues to fall vertically down
under the influence of gravity. The velocity and the acceleration are still both in the downward
direction. In the second stage (fig. 2) the ball begins to slow down. The velocity is still in the

Figure 2: Second stage of bounce in 2 steps downward direction, however the

ball is now touching the ground,
thus there is a normal force acting
upwards. This means that the

Normani, Franco. “Second stage of ball bounce”. Real World Physics Problems, 2016,
www.real-world-physics-problems.com/bouncing-ball-physics.html. October 2016 3
acceleration is now directed upwards. This means that the ball has deformed enough that it is
pushing against the ground with a force greater than its weight. Once the ball reaches its maximum
deformation, the velocity becomes 0. In the third stage (fig. 3) the balls velocity starts increasing
again, this time in the upward direction. Due to this, the ball is now less deformed, however it is
still pushing against the ground with
Figure 3: Third stage of bounce in 2 steps
a force greater than its own weight.
This is Newton’s Third Law of
Motion: for every action there is an
equal and opposite reaction.
(Hessler-Knoll, 2014) The ball
Normani, Franco. “Last stage of ball bounce”. Real World Physics Problems, 2016,
www.real-world-physics-problems.com/bouncing-ball-physics.html. October pushes on the ground and the ground
2016
pushes back onto the ball, causing it to
bounce back. The ball is now barely touching the surface and is its original round shape. However
as it is no longer in contact with the ground, there is no more normal force. The only force acting on
it is gravity, which is pulling it down. This causes the upward velocity to decrease, causing a
stationary point at the top of the bounce. As the ball lost some energy in the form of kinetic when it
was travelling and the ground absorbed some energy, the collision between the ball and the ground
is not elastic. This means that the energy before the collision is not equal to the energy after the
collision. Some energy has been lost. The ball does not manage to reach the original height it was
dropped from, as it does not have enough energy to do so due to the loss in energy it experienced.
The normal force exerted from the ground on the ball causes the deformation of the ball.
This causes pressure to build up in the gases inside the ball. The pressure of the gases can be
affected by temperature, as seen in the ideal gas equation 𝑃𝑉 = 𝑛𝑅𝑇 (Elert, 1998-2016). When the
temperature is warmer, and the volume is controlled, the value for pressure will be larger, meaning
that the force exerted on the wall of the ball will be greater than when the ball is at a colder
temperature. As this normal force is bigger, the upward velocity is bigger. This means that when the
ball is launched into the air again, the velocity will be large enough to try and counteract the force
of gravity, thus making the bounce height larger, than that of a colder ball.

Question How does the temperature of a tennis ball affect its bounce height?

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Hypothesis
The hypothesis for this experiment is that the colder the tennis ball is, the lower the bounce
will be. This is due to the “stability” of the ball. The ball is trying to maintain its most stable shape,
which for a tennis ball would be spherical. When it hits the ground, the ball is forced into a more
elliptical shape, due to the force of gravity. This causes a build up of pressure from the gas inside of
the tennis ball. The pressure of the gas pushing on the sides of the ball creates a force, causing the
tennis ball to bounce off of the ground. When the gas inside the ball is cooled down, it is more
condensed. The rubber of the ball becomes harder. This means that when the ball comes into
contact with the ground, the ball does not deform as much. As there is not as much deformation of
the ball, there is not as much pressure created within the ball. This means that less force is applied
from the ball onto the ground. As every action has an equal and opposite reaction, and the action of
the ball on the ground is not very large, the reaction of the ground on the ball will not be very big
either. This means that the force exerted by the ground onto the ball will be smaller. The
acceleration of the ball off the ground is less, thus the upward velocity being smaller, therefore not
being able to counteract the force of gravity. The bounce height will not be as large as if the ball
were at room temperature or heated.
When the ball is heated, the gases inside the tennis ball gain more energy in the form of
kinetic energy. This causes them to move around more at a faster pace. They are therefore colliding
more with one another and the walls of the ball. When the ball hits the ground and become
deformed, the pressure from the gas is large as the gas molecules have a higher kinetic energy. This
causes a greater force from the ball on the ground, thus allowing for a greater reaction force from
the ground onto the ball. As the force is greater, the ball is able to bounce higher. Therefore the
hypothesis for this experiment is that the warmer the ball, the higher the bounce height.

Variables
Table 1: Independent Variable
What is the independent variable?
Temperature of the ball (°C)
Table 2: Dependent Variable
What is the dependent variable?
Bounce height of a tennis ball (m) The bounce height is expected to change based on the influence
How is it manipulated?
The tennis ball will be heated and cooled down. There will be 5
different values for the temperature of the tennis ball, aiming to
be around 0°C, 10°C, 20°C, 50°C, 60°C
How is it affected?
of the independent variable (temperature). This means different
results are expected for each temperature.

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Table 3: Control variables and how to control them
What is being How is it being controlled Why is it being controlled
controlled
Drop Height A tape measure is taped to the If the drop height is not controlled, then the
(2.30±0.01m) wall. Every time the ball is balls do not gain the same amount of
dropped, the bottom of the ball gravitational potential energy, thus not
must be touching the top of the transferring the same amount of energy into the
tape measure. The ball is being ground
dropped from rest.
Mass of tennis Each time a tennis ball is being The force that the ball exerts onto the ground is
ball (58±0.5g) used, the mass must be taken determined by F=Ma. If M is changed, then the
using a balance value for F will change, thus affecting the
bounce height
New tennis ball A new tennis ball, which has Each time a tennis ball is bounced, it loses a
for each trial never been used before and has very small amount of elasticity. If the same ball
been in a pressurized container, were to be used throughout, it would be
is used for every trial. They affected by the heating and cooling therefore
should each have equal masses, the results would no longer be controlled.
volumes, shape and size
Surface which The experiment will be carried Some surfaces absorb more energy then others.
the ball is out in the same location, each If the surfaces were to change, then the bounce
bounced on time bouncing the ball on the height could change, depending on the amount
floors of the science lab. of energy the surface would absorb.
Reading for the When the ball is at its It is difficult to gage the reading for the middle
bounce height maximum bounce height, the of the tennis ball, so this is not used. The
reading must be taken from the reading for the top of the tennis ball is
bottom of the ball sometimes covered or hard to see due to where
the tennis ball is situated. The easiest reading is
from the bottom. If this is not controlled, then
the bounce height differs immensely, which
could be as big as the diameter of the tennis
ball.

Apparatus
• 25 new tennis balls (58±0.5g) • 300cm3 beaker
• measuring tape (3m) • Freezer
• Infrared thermometer • Tape
• Tripod and gauze • Balance
• Bunsen burner • Phone (for video purposes)
• Heat proof mat • Water
• 1000cm3 beaker

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Diagram
Diagram 1: Set up of Bunsen burner and water bath

Method

1. Tape the measuring tape onto a wall, making sure it is 2.30m off the ground
2. Take the mass of a tennis ball
3. Take the temperature of a tennis ball
4. Drop the tennis ball from 2.30m, making sure that the bottom of the tennis ball is at the
2.30m line, and see how high it bounces. Take the bottom of the ball as the bounce height.
To make it easier to see, video the bounce so that it can be watched several times
5. Do this with 4 other new tennis balls
6. Put 5 new tennis balls in a freezer to cool them to around 2 or 3°C
7. Once the tennis balls reach around 2°C (measured with infrared thermometer) take 1 out of
the freezer
8. Drop the frozen tennis ball from 2.30m and see how high it bounces
9. Do this for the other 4 tennis balls, making sure to take them out one at a time and that they
are all the same temperature
10. Put 5 new tennis balls in a fridge
11. Once the tennis balls reach around 10°C, take 1 out of the fridge
12. Drop the cold tennis ball from 2.30m and see how high it bounces
13. Do this for the other 4 tennis balls, making sure to take them out one at a time and that they
are all the same temperature

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 14. Set up a heat proof mat, Bunsen burner and tripod and gauze (see diagram 1)
15. Set up the water bath as seen in diagram 1, using a new tennis ball to do so
16. Light the Bunsen burner and start heating the water bath
17. Keep measuring the temperature of the tennis ball, until it gets to 50°C
18. Carefully remove the tennis ball from the water bath
19. Drop the heated tennis ball from 2.30m and see how high it bounces
20. Do this for another 4 tennis balls, each time heating to 50°C
21. Take 5 new tennis balls and heat these using the water bath, this time to 60°C
22. Drop these tennis balls from 2.30m

Results and Calculations

Table 4: Raw Data collected from the experiment
Temperature Bounce height (m) (±0.01)
(°C) (±4)
23 1.25 1.30 1.31 1.32 1.31
50 1.36 1.36 1.38 1.38 1.35
60 1.42 1.40 1.41 1.38 1.43
3 0.57 0.64 0.73 0.60 -*
10 0.65 0.90 0.85 0.86 0.85
*When this trial was being done, the tennis ball bounced onto the end of the measuring tape. This means that the surface,
which the ball was bounced onto was not controlled and therefore this piece of data was removed.

Table 5: Processed data displaying temp. in K, averages and uncertainties
Temperature (K) (±4) Average bounce height Absolute uncertainty Percentage
(m) (±0.01) (see calc.1) bounce height (m) uncertainty (%)
(see calc. 2) (See calc. 3)
276 0.64 0.10 15.7
283 0.87 0.04 4.7
296 1.30 0.06 4.7
323 1.37 0.03 2.2
333 1.41 0.04 2.9

Table 6: Uncertainties to be used on graph
Temperature (K) Uncertainty for bounce height for graph
(m2) (see calc. 4)
276 0.20
283 0.08
296 0.12
323 0.06
333 0.08

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Example calculations for averages, absolute uncertainties and percentage uncertainties using
data from table 2
Calculation 1: Calculation for average bounce height for 333K
!.!"!!.!"!!.!"!!.!"!!.!"
!
=1.41
Calculation 2: Calculation for absolute uncertainty for 333K
Max-average 1.43 − 1.41 = 0.02𝑚
Average – min 1.41 − 1.38 = 0.03𝑚
The value for bounce height was measured directly; therefore an estimation of an uncertainty of
0.01m was assumed to be the systematic uncertainty.
0.03 + 0.01 = 0.04𝑚
Calculation 3: Calculation for percentage uncertainty for 333K
!"#$%&'( !"#$%&'("&)
!"#$!%#
×100 = 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑦
!.!"
!.!"
×100 = 2.84%
Calculation 4: Calculation for error bars for the bounce height (333K)
As the bounce height is squared on the graph, the uncertainties must also represent this. When
multiplying 2 numbers together, you have to add their percentage uncertainties together, and then
find the absolute uncertainty.
1.41
2.84 + 2.84 = 0.06𝑚!
100

Graph 1: Temperature vs Bounce height

Temperature vs Bounce height

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Calculation 5: Calculation for slope uncertainty
Slope of max line = 0.033 m2K-1
Slope of min line = 0.023 m2K-1
Slope of max – Slope of min = 0.033 – 0.023
= 0.01
!"#$% !" !"#!!"#$% !" !"#
!
= 0.005𝑚! 𝐾 !!
This means that the real value for the slope of the line of best fit is 0.03±0.005m2K-1. This
slope shows that the ball gains 0.03𝑚 (=0.17m) of bounce height for every kelvin added.

Conclusion

From the original data a graph was created, however it was not linearized. In order to
linearize the graph, the values for bounce height had to be squared. This is the graph, which is seen
above. The squared value for bounce height has a positive linear relationship with the temperature
of the ball. One can clearly see from the graph, that there is an anomaly for the point where
temperature was 296K. All 3 lines (max, min and best fit) struggle to pass through the error bars of
the point where the temperature was 323K. However the error bars for these 2 points are not that
large, which could then assume that the data is quite precise. This means that there could have been
a systematic error within the experiment.
Looking at the trend displayed by all 3 lines, one can see that the warmer the ball got, the
higher the ball bounced. It is evident that at some point the ball will no longer be able to bounce any
higher. This is because the energy, which the ball has, is limited to gravitational potential energy.
As the collision with the ground is also not elastic, the ball will lose some energy in the form of heat
and sound.
If the line of best fit were to be extended, the x intercept should display the temperature at
which the ball would no longer have a bounce. The y intercept would be the height at which the ball
would bounce at absolute 0. Theoretically this should be 0m, thus creating a proportional line of
best fit. However it is unsure if the ball will be behave the same way when frozen.
If one were to create an equation for the relationship between the bounce height and the
temperature of a ball, the following aspects would have to be taken into account: mass, surface area,
material of the ball, material of the ground, temperature of the ground, bounce height of the ball and
the temperature of the ball. The equation would have to display that 𝑚! ∝ 𝐾, where m is bounce
height and K is the temperature of the ball.

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Evaluation

From the data, one can conclude that there may be an issue with the accuracy of the
data. This is concluded as the error bars are not all that large, however the 3 lines drawn on
the graph (max, min and best fit) do not go through all the error bars. There is one clear
anomaly at the point for 296K. This is unexpected, as this is the value for room temperature.
One would expect this value to be the most reliable. It is therefore believed that there are
issues with the other points and not this one. This claim is being made, as it was very difficult
to say that the tennis ball was at a definite temperature. Where the tennis ball had been
subjected to heat, the bottom of the ball was warmer than the top. This was the same for the
cold tennis balls as well. This means that if the ball was dropped on the colder side, the value
for the bounce height could have been less than expected. Another explanation for this
anomaly would be that this temperature value was done first. As the experiment went on, one
could become better at recognizing the bounce heights, thus being more precise. To improve
this error, one could measure the starting temperature and the final temperature once the ball
has bounced. One could even track the changing temperature throughout the fall of the ball.
This way one could be certain at what temperature the ball was when it hit the ground and
therefore how much pressure the gas had on the walls of the ball. With the issue of it being the
first temperature tested, one could also do another trial at room temperature once all the
other trials had been done, to see if the value had changed.
Another error with the measurement could be from judging the height of the ball
bounce. Videos were taken when the ball was bouncing, however sometimes the ball did not
bounce straight up next to the tape measure, making it difficult to judge the height of the
bounce. Another issue with using this method is that you can only film from one angle. If the
ball were filmed from different angles, then different bounce height values would be seen.
This error has tried to be taken into account in the uncertainties, however after evaluating on
the process, a larger error should have been used. It is very difficult to find an improvement
for this aspect of the experiment, unless high tech equipment were to be used, which is not
viable for a school experiment.
Another issue, which could be found when trying to control the experiment, could be
the temperature of the ground the ball was bouncing onto. If the temperature were cooler, the
ball would transfer more energy into the ground upon impact, as heat energy transfers from
high energy to low energy. This could have also affected the bounce height. In future the

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temperature of the ground should be measured and controlled, as this is a factor, which could
also affect the bounce height.
An additional issue, which could also be considered, was how the ball bounced. If the
ball did not bounce on the vertical, but at a slight angle, some of the kinetic energy of the
bounce is consumed in the horizontal component of the motion. This would lead to a smaller
bounce height, thus affecting the data. For a case like this, one should not include the data
received and try again. This becomes difficult when using balls that have been cooled down
and heated, as they would have to go through the cooling or heating process again, to ensure
that they are not the correct temperature.
Further investigations into this area could be the effect of the surface material on
bounce height, or the effect of rain (a wet ball) on the bounce height. These would all be valid
experiments and apply to a tennis match.

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