Drop a basketball and it springs right back up — boing, boing, boing! But drop a wet ball of clay and it just goes splat and stays there.
Today you'll become a Bounce Detective 🔎 and discover the secret of the springy bounce. Tap Next when you're ready!
Made for curious kids in Singapore 🇸🇬
When a ball hits the floor, it does something very fast — too fast for our eyes to see! It squishes flat for a tiny moment, then pops back to its round shape.
Press and hold the button to squish the ball, then let go to watch it pop back.
When the ball squishes, the moving energy doesn't disappear. It gets stored inside the ball, just like a squeezed spring or a stretched rubber band.
The more you squash a springy thing, the more energy it stores — ready to push back!
The ball wants to be round again. So it pushes against the floor as it pops back into shape. That push shoots the ball back up into the air. Boing!
A good Bounce Detective can guess which things bounce. Springy = bounces. Soft & floppy = no bounce. Tap each thing to test your guess!
Have you noticed each bounce is a little lower than the one before? Every squish leaks a tiny bit of energy as heat and sound (that's the "boing!"). So the ball can't reach as high.
Quick think: Why does the ball finally stop bouncing?
The secret of the bounce:
1️⃣ The ball squishes when it hits the floor.
2️⃣ The squish stores springy energy inside it.
3️⃣ The ball pushes back into shape and shoots up. Boing!
4️⃣ Only springy things bounce — soft clay just goes splat.
5️⃣ Each bounce loses a little energy as heat & sound, so it gets lower until it stops.
Great work, Bounce Detective! 🕵️ 🏀
Next time you bounce a ball, picture the tiny squish-and-push happening too fast to see!