How Does Elastic Potential Energy Develop
When a ball is dropped/ thrown to the ground, gravity forces the ball to move downwards, whilst the ball falls down, the Gravitational Potential Energy (GPE) that the ball has transforms into Kinetic energy. As the ball hits the ground with maximum Kinetic energy, the forces in play flatten and deform the frame/shape of the ball by compressing and dispersing the molecules that essentially make up the ball. As stated in the law of conservation energy, energy can neither be created nor destroyed; rather, it transforms from one form to another. Therefore, after the ball hits the ground it recovers it shape due to the face that it is round and either filled or inflated. The energy involved in the process of compressing the ball (Elastic Potential Energy) causes the ball to bounce back up.
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Soft surfaces like the laptop case deformed as soon as the ball hit against it causing the ball to use less Elastic Potential Energy therefore reducing the bounce height whereas harder surfaces such as the classroom table and the classroom floor did not deform and resulted in the ball using more Elastic Potential Energy. Changing heights also altered the bounce rates, the higher the ball was to start off, the higher it bounced and did more total bounces. This is because the higher an object is, the higher it’s GPE and as the ball is dropped, gravity forces it downward and the velocity increases as the GPE transforms into Kinetic energy and when it impacts the floor, it bounces higher than an object with less
Soft surfaces like the laptop case deformed as soon as the ball hit against it causing the ball to use less Elastic Potential Energy therefore reducing the bounce height whereas harder surfaces such as the classroom table and the classroom floor did not deform and resulted in the ball using more Elastic Potential Energy. Changing heights also altered the bounce rates, the higher the ball was to start off, the higher it bounced and did more total bounces. This is because the higher an object is, the higher it’s GPE and as the ball is dropped, gravity forces it downward and the velocity increases as the GPE transforms into Kinetic energy and when it impacts the floor, it bounces higher than an object with less