# Car crashes into giant block of Superball material **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 16, 2015, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-crashes-into-giant-block-of-superball-material/740642 "2015-12-16T22:51:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2015, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-crashes-into-giant-block-of-superball-material/740642/21 "2015-12-18T22:28:02Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > not by a long shot. > > anyway, this is a lot harder to answer than the foam question, since the “super ball” material is likely to tear apart under such an impact. I am not sure I quite agree with this, based on first-hand experience. My friend took my superball (which I just liked to bounce while I was walking) and threw it into the sidewalk as hard as he could, resulting in about a 100’ bounce. After I retrieved it, I noticed that it was buzzing when it bounced. He tried another hard bounce, which then broke it into two unequal pieces. A car at high speed has a lot more give to it than a sidewalk. I seriously doubt that the initial impact would split or tear a block of that size. And if you did the sensible thing, shaping the block to handle the impact optimally (not just a flat-faced cube), it would probably not be damaged to any discernible extent. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2015, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-crashes-into-giant-block-of-superball-material/740642/22 "2015-12-18T23:32:27Z")
“That’s the way the Mercedes Benz!” ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2015, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-crashes-into-giant-block-of-superball-material/740642/23 "2015-12-19T01:36:55Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I thought that was golf balls. > > And… what happens if you put a Superball in a microwave. Probably nothing interesting but it may have been a good thing there weren’t microwave ovens around when I was a kid. Didn’t golf balls have a powerful explosive in the center? And if you didn’t hit the ball just right…that makes no damn sense whatsoever. :o ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2015, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-crashes-into-giant-block-of-superball-material/740642/24 "2015-12-19T02:39:13Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Didn’t golf balls have a powerful explosive in the center? And if you didn’t hit the ball just right…that makes no damn sense whatsoever. :o That sounds like a plot device from _Kind Hearts and Coronets_. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2015, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-crashes-into-giant-block-of-superball-material/740642/25 "2015-12-19T06:31:05Z")
A block of dense, rigid rubber that thick and massive is going to be a lot more like a concrete wall than a trampoline in terms of what will happen to the car. The car will disintegrate to a much larger extent than it bounces back. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2015, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-crashes-into-giant-block-of-superball-material/740642/26 "2015-12-19T19:26:17Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I recall something about Superballs shattering if they’re hit hard enough. The Gen 1 Superballs, which bounced MUCH better than the safer Gen 2 balls, often exploded quite spectacularly if you threw them hard enough. Not two pieces, but shrapnel flying at great speed in all directions. They were great! ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2015, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-crashes-into-giant-block-of-superball-material/740642/27 "2015-12-19T20:55:39Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Didn’t golf balls have a powerful explosive in the center? And if you didn’t hit the ball just right…that makes no damn sense whatsoever. :o I read an anecdote about 40 years ago, about a young mother who called the Poison Control Center in a panic because her toddler had managed to get the little ball out of a golf ball, and had bitten through it and ingested some of the fluid. A call to the manufacturer revealed that the gooey center was castor oil. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-crashes-into-giant-block-of-superball-material/740642.md?page=1)