The Digital Bits Science Labs are fun science experiments for young children. Kids, make sure you have an adult's permission before trying any of these science experiments.
Digital Bits Science Lab
Science Experiments for Kids, Parents and Teachers
Energy transfer experiment and super-ball-bouncing
Description:
This experiment shows the concept of energy transfer, how kinetic energy can be transferred from one object to another. It also demonstrates a basic concept of Einstein’s E=mc2 equation, about mass-energy equivalence.
Equipment needed:
A superball
(or any very small, light, solid rubber ball)
The Digital Bits Science Lab Experiment:
Go outside with all your balls, and find some solid, hard ground, like a driveway or playground.
Drop the basketball. Do the same with the tennis ball and superball. Watch how high they bounce.
Now, take the basketball and the superball. Place the superball on top of the basketball. Making sure the balls are still touching, drop them on the pavement. The balls will hopefully hit the ground while still touching. And when they hit, watch the bounce! The smaller ball will fly up a lot higher than usual, and the basketball won’t bounce as high.
This Science Lab experiment shows us how kinetic energy can be transferred from one object (the basketball) to another (the smaller ball). During the drop and pavement bounce, the basketball’s energy is transferred to the smaller ball: the smaller ball flies high, and the basketball – with less energy now – doesn’t bounce as high.
This also is a good example of “mass-energy equivalence“. Einstein’s E=mc2 equation tells us that the amount of energy something has is related to its mass. The basketball is more massive than the smaller balls, so it has more energy to transfer to those balls. This is why they fly up in the air much higher – during the ground bounce, the littler ball just got handed a lot more energy, far more than it gets when bouncing on its own.
Other articles related to this topic:
- Kinetic energy transfer with a drum and drumsticks
- Heat is energy
- Open your fingers and try to drop something: experiment with the body and its limitations
- Why does a boat float? Experiment with buoyancy.
- Learn the basics of static electricity and electron transfer
The bouncing balls experiment is an example of basic Newtonian physics, which has nothing to do with E=mc².