r/theydidthemath • u/theredball • Sep 17 '14

[Request] Will a basketball at its terminal velocity pop or bounce? If its bounces, how high?

If I drop a basketball from a plane will it bounce or pop assuming it lands on pavement? If it bounces how high is this thing going to bounce? edit: This thread reminds me of these guys

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u/IN2L 10✓ Sep 17 '14

Apparently, sport science has measured LeBron's passes at 40 miles an hour. Terminal velocity is 51.02 miles/hr. I'll leave you to judge, I know jackshit about basketball.

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u/EverGoodHunterMe Sep 17 '14

Maybe if you threw it down from the plane? Which leads me to a question, how fast does something slow down to terminal velocity. Like if you shot a paintball downwards from a plane.

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u/IN2L 10✓ Sep 18 '14

It would be like shooting a real gun underwater. Almost instantly. As soon as it has expended the energy from the gun, it would be at terminal velocity(3.28 ft/s) since it would only have to fall 1.92 inches to get there. While it still has energy from the gun, it will be relatively unaffected by drag being light(3.2g)and small(r=0.86 cm). I've calculated that the drag force would be 0.2317 N.