super ball

Various bouncy balls.

A bouncy ball, power ball or super ball is a popular toy which rebounds proportionally to the amount of force used when thrown at a hard surface. A typical bouncy ball can keep around 70%^{[citation needed]} of its kinetic energy in one rebound.

In the United States, they are often sold from bulk vending machines for 25 cents or more. These vending machines can be found in a variety of venues from grocery stores, department stores, strip shops, and malls to nearly any place that will attract a large number of people with intentions of spending money. Occasionally, they are even sold in restaurants (usually family themed ones). Since bouncy balls are often sold alongside candy, there have been instances of customers mistaking them for gumballs and almost choking on them^{[citation needed]}. This has been recognized and addressed by the increase in size of some bouncy balls (some have doubled in size from the originals), yet retaining the same price. They vary from different colors and designs. They are exported from China to the United Kingdom and the United States^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] References

1. Frauenfelder, Mark; Sinclair, Carla; Branwyn, Gareth; Kreth, Will editors. (1995). "The Happy Mutant Handbook: Mischievous Fun for Higher Primates". New York, Riverhead Books (Penguin Group). ISBN 1-57322-502-9, pg..134-136

[edit] Notes

[edit] Patent

• Stingley, Norman H., — "Highly Resilient Polybutadiene Ball"

[edit] External links

• Wham-O
• Superballs.com, a tribute site
• History of the Superball
• Kinematics of an Ultraelastic Rough Ball (free PDF)
• liketelevision.net Classic B&W TV commercial for Super Ball and for Super Elastic Bubble Plastic, c. 1970
• Applied Physics Engineering