Racquetball Collisions

by Loren Winters


This multiflash photo of a single racquetball striking a hard surface shows the various stages of the collision.  During the collision, the 10 successive images were swept horizontally across the film using a rotating mirror.  The time interval between images was 0.75 ms.

The racquetball actually struck the surface at 90°.  The appearance of an oblique collision results from the fact that the images are being swept horizontally while the ball moves vertically.  The horizontal dimension is in effect a time scale.

 

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© 2002 North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics