Chapter 11.2, Problem 27SSC

To determine

To Explain: The reason of softness and hardness of balls and bat in tennis and table tennis games.

Explanation of Solution

Introduction:

Law of conservation of energy states that the energy can neither be destroyed nor be created. It can only transform from one form to another.

When the tennis ball hits the racket, then energy stored in the ball is passed to the racket, to hit the ball. Tennis balls are made very soft so that with a little loss, it can transfer maximum kinetic energy. On the other hand, a hard ball and a hard pad is used in table tennis, to create high impact force by transferring maximum energy for very short time duration. Other examples of combinations where both the things are hard: A baseball and bat; a golf ball and club. In both the cases maximum impact force is created.

Conclusion:

To create maximum impact force in table tennis both ball and pad are hard and to transfer maximum kinetic energy in tennis game, both ball and bat are soft.