# Supersonic ping-pong ball

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supersonic-ping-pong-ball/649558>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [February 7, 2013, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supersonic-ping-pong-ball/649558 "2013-02-07T04:55:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supersonic-ping-pong-ball/649558/1 "2013-02-07T04:55:09Z")

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It turns out not only is this possible, the equipment to make it happen is rather simple.

This [video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9zBGgpzl0I&feature=youtu.be) explains in detail how it’s done. To see the effect of a supersonic ball contacting a ping-pong paddle, skip to 5:50.

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**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supersonic-ping-pong-ball/649558/2 "2013-02-07T10:31:08Z")

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What? No super slow-motion replay? I’m disappointed!

That’s pretty amazing, actually. You can’t even see the paddle disappearing.

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**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supersonic-ping-pong-ball/649558/3 "2013-02-07T19:10:26Z")

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So…who else is planning to try this at home? 😃

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**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supersonic-ping-pong-ball/649558/4 "2013-02-07T21:01:06Z")

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> [@Balance](#):
>
> So…who else is planning to try this at home? 😃

That was my first thought - you can’t show something like that and then say “don’t try this at home”!

I could probably cobble something like that together in my garage over a weekend.

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**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supersonic-ping-pong-ball/649558/5 "2013-02-07T21:05:40Z")

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> [@Xema](#):
>
> To see the effect of a supersonic ball contacting a ping-pong paddle, skip to 5:50.

That’s pretty much what happened to the space shuttle Columbia. Or at least that’s what they figured out in post-disaster testing, when they fired a chunk of foam toward a wing panel at about 500 MPH. “Oh, it’s so soft and fluffy, it could never…\<BOOM\>…HOLY SHIT!”

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**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supersonic-ping-pong-ball/649558/6 "2013-02-08T23:06:10Z")

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Good thing they didn’t try [this](http://what-if.xkcd.com/1/).