Simple bouncing ball puzzle, with $50 prize
1–10 of 58 posts
Re: Simple bouncing ball puzzle, with $50 prize
#2[deleted]
Re: Simple bouncing ball puzzle, with $50 prize
#3This is indeed a very nice puzzle.
Re: Simple bouncing ball puzzle, with $50 prize
#4The little boy picks it up and throws it again?
Re: Simple bouncing ball puzzle, with $50 prize
#5I'm no maths/physics geek so I'm just guessing here, but I'd assume that it loses energy at a far more rapid rate and maybe bounces once more and then just rolls along the ground.
My reasoning is based on the fact that while the ball absorbs 40% of the energy on the higher bounces there is a minimum amount of energy it absorbs and on the smaller bounces the energy left meets the minimum amount of energy the ball will absorb and then simply stop bouncing.
Like i said this is pure conjecture and I may not have even articulated it right.
Re: Simple bouncing ball puzzle, with $50 prize
#6I'd love to know how many people have swamped him with the correct answer so far. Any junior high physic student could answer this.
Re: Simple bouncing ball puzzle, with $50 prize
#7I'm no maths/physics geek so I'm just guessing here, but I'd assume that it loses energy at a far more rapid rate and maybe bounces once more and then just rolls along the ground. My reasoning is based on the fact that while the ball absorbs 40% of the energy on the higher bounces there is a minimum amount of energy it absorbs and on the smaller bounces the energy left meets the minimum amount of energy the ball will…
Generally things tend to get more elastic at low energies, not less; so I think your 'minimum amount of energy the ball will absorb' hypothesis is wrong. However, in the real world, there are other factors which drain energy from bouncing balls -- air resistance, for example.
But this is all irrelevant, since the problem is explicitly in a non-physically-accurate world.
Re: Simple bouncing ball puzzle, with $50 prize
#8I'd love to know how many people have swamped him with the correct answer so far. Any junior high physic student could answer this.
I'm more curious to know how many people have sent in incorrect answers. My immediate guess disagreed with my mathematics.
Re: Simple bouncing ball puzzle, with $50 prize
#9The little boy picks it up and throws it again?
There is no air resistance in this world, hence no air. The little boy asphyxiated shortly after the first time he dropped the ball. :-)
Re: Simple bouncing ball puzzle, with $50 prize
#10Where's the spoiler?