# What's the highest an object has ever bounced? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 24, 2014, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-an-object-has-ever-bounced/686904 "2014-04-24T23:13:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-an-object-has-ever-bounced/686904/1 "2014-04-24T23:13:39Z")
What’s the highest an object has ever bounced? If I tossed a superball out of an airplane and it landed on pavement, how high would it bounce? (I’m speculating that the best bounce would come from a solid sphere steel bouncing off of a huge flat block of solid steel? Because a superball or golf ball or anything of that short would have a much lower terminal velocity.) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-an-object-has-ever-bounced/686904/2 "2014-04-24T23:25:51Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > (I’m speculating that the best bounce would come from a solid sphere steel bouncing off of a huge flat block of solid steel? **Because a superball or golf ball or anything of that short would have a much lower terminal velocity**.) Are you sure about that? [Galileo’s Leaning Tower of Pisa experiment](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo's_Leaning_Tower_of_Pisa_experiment) ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-an-object-has-ever-bounced/686904/3 "2014-04-24T23:40:13Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Are you sure about that? > > [Galileo’s Leaning Tower of Pisa experiment](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo's_Leaning_Tower_of_Pisa_experiment) Certainly. That only applies in a vacuum. In an atmosphere, things that are denser fall faster. That’s why a feather falls slower than a rock. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-an-object-has-ever-bounced/686904/4 "2014-04-24T23:45:35Z")
Steel is also more elastic than rubber, even aside from atmospheric drag. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-an-object-has-ever-bounced/686904/5 "2014-04-25T00:08:02Z")
Meteorite strikes blast a little bit of stuff all the way off the planet sometimes. That’s how we sometimes get fragments from, for example, Mars in meteorite falls here on Earth. If some of the original meteorite blasts back into space, that counts as a very high bounce, right? Though I’m not certain this blasting effect knocks much off of Earth, due to our fairly substantial atmosphere. It must for the biggest strikes, though. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-an-object-has-ever-bounced/686904/6 "2014-04-25T00:14:53Z")
Aren’t meteor craters actually caused by explosions resulting from the meteorite being vaporized? ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-an-object-has-ever-bounced/686904/7 "2014-04-25T00:35:20Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > Meteorite strikes blast a little bit of stuff all the way off the planet sometimes. That’s how we sometimes get fragments from, for example, Mars in meteorite falls here on Earth. If some of the original meteorite blasts back into space, that counts as a very high bounce, right? Though I’m not certain this blasting effect knocks much off of Earth, due to our fairly substantial atmosphere. It must for the biggest strikes, though. I’m going to define that as “not a bounce” for purposes of this discussing. A single discrete object must be travelling downward, hit a surface, and then, basically unmodified, be travelling upward. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-an-object-has-ever-bounced/686904/8 "2014-04-25T00:42:39Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > What’s the highest an object has ever bounced? If I tossed a superball out of an airplane and it landed on pavement, how high would it bounce? > > (I’m speculating that the best bounce would come from a solid sphere steel bouncing off of a huge flat block of solid steel? Because a superball or golf ball or anything of that short would have a much lower terminal velocity.) My bet would be on a sphere of [LiquidMetal](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOEBR3DcqN0&feature=youtu.be). ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-an-object-has-ever-bounced/686904/9 "2014-04-25T00:45:42Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > (I’m speculating that the best bounce would come from a solid sphere steel bouncing off of a huge flat block of solid steel? Because a superball or golf ball or anything of that short would have a much lower terminal velocity.) Actually, my guess would be something of basically 1960’s sci-fi rocket shape: narrow for it’s mass with fins or something to keep it upright. That would generate less air resistance than a sphere. I also wonder if some sort of spring in the center would help. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-an-object-has-ever-bounced/686904/10 "2014-04-25T00:55:40Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > Because a superball or golf ball or anything of that short would have a much lower terminal velocity.) I can testify from first-hand experimentation (back in the 60’s when they first came out) that the Wham-O brand SuperBall can be propelled only just so hard before it shatters into pieces (all of which then bounce briefly.) ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-an-object-has-ever-bounced/686904/11 "2014-04-25T01:31:59Z")
See: Tevis, Walter, “The Big Bounce.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-an-object-has-ever-bounced/686904/12 "2014-04-25T02:28:07Z")
if it counts as a “bounce” [this will be hard to beat.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_impact_hypothesis) ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-an-object-has-ever-bounced/686904/13 "2014-04-25T02:31:44Z")
When we were kides we through a bowling ball out the window of a car traveling at about 100 mph, it bounced very high. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-an-object-has-ever-bounced/686904/14 "2014-04-25T03:49:26Z")
> [@chacoguy](#): > > Aren’t meteor craters actually caused by explosions resulting from the meteorite being vaporized? Does “sorta” count as an answer? The energy turns to heat, and this causes an explosion and vaporizes much of the meteorite (but far from all of it in all cases.) But the phrasing is inexact. Some meteors explode above the ground, but others hit the ground in essentially solid form. The “explosion” is caused by the impact of a solid against a solid, and so I would quibble with the way you stated it. Quibbly. Anyway, highjack, never mind. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-an-object-has-ever-bounced/686904/15 "2014-04-25T06:48:06Z")
I presume you are talking about a bounce perpendicular to the earth, of an object accelerated only by the earth’s gravity. It would be possible for a fairly large meteor or asteroid to strike the earth tangentially, and bounce back into space, leaving earth’s gravitational field. It would have to be very large, though, for its momentum to resist a bending of its trajectory by the earth’s gravity toward a more perpendicular path. An object would also bounce higher if it were shot with force down at the earth, and hit the surface at a higher speed than its terminal velocity would have been, had it merely fallen to earth. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-an-object-has-ever-bounced/686904/16 "2014-04-25T12:15:45Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > Meteorite strikes blast a little bit of stuff all the way off the planet sometimes. That’s how we sometimes get fragments from, for example, Mars in meteorite falls here on Earth. If some of the original meteorite blasts back into space, that counts as a very high bounce, right? Though I’m not certain this blasting effect knocks much off of Earth, due to our fairly substantial atmosphere. It must for the biggest strikes, though. The [Chicxulub impactor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicxulub_impactor) (the one that killed the nonavian dinosaurs) blasted [tektites](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tektites) back into space, and completely around the earth – tektites identified as being from Chicxulub have been found in the ocean on the opposite side of the planet. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-an-object-has-ever-bounced/686904/17 "2014-04-25T12:50:24Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > When we were kides we through a bowling ball out the window of a car traveling at about 100 mph, it bounced very high. Did it hit a kerbstone or something and get deflected upwards? I’m trying to work out why it went high, just because you were going fast. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-an-object-has-ever-bounced/686904/18 "2014-04-25T13:02:27Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > What’s the highest an object has ever bounced? If I tossed a superball out of an airplane and it landed on pavement, how high would it bounce? Not quite what you’re looking for, but are you acquainted with the work of Barnes Wallis? And his efforts at the Mohne, Sorpe, and Eder dams? ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-an-object-has-ever-bounced/686904/19 "2014-04-25T15:14:28Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Not quite what you’re looking for, but are you acquainted with the work of Barnes Wallis? And his efforts at the Mohne, Sorpe, and Eder dams? No? ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-an-object-has-ever-bounced/686904/20 "2014-04-25T15:48:22Z")
He invented the Bouncing Bomb of Dambusters fame. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-highest-an-object-has-ever-bounced/686904.md?page=2)