Super Ball facts for kids
A Super Ball is a super bouncy toy ball. It was invented in 1964 by a chemist named Norman Stingley. This amazing ball is made from a special type of synthetic rubber called Zectron. This rubber is super elastic, meaning it can stretch and return to its original shape very well. If you drop a Super Ball from your shoulder, it bounces almost all the way back up! If an adult throws it down hard, it can even bounce higher than a three-story building.
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How the Super Ball Was Invented
Norman Stingley, the inventor, was looking for ways to use his new synthetic rubber. He first offered his idea to the company he worked for, but they weren't interested. They thought the material wasn't strong enough. So, Stingley took his invention to a toy company called Wham-O.
Wham-O worked hard to make the Super Ball even stronger and more durable. The president of Wham-O, Richard Knerr, said it took them almost two years to perfect it. The ball always had its amazing bounce, but it used to break apart easily. They solved this by using a special high-pressure method to shape the ball. After that, they started selling millions!
The Super Ball Becomes a Fad
When the Super Ball first came out, it became incredibly popular very quickly. This kind of quick popularity is called a fad. At its busiest, Wham-O made over 170,000 Super Balls every single day! By the end of 1965, more than six million Super Balls had been sold. Even McGeorge Bundy, an adviser to the U.S. president, had five dozen sent to the White House for the staff to enjoy.
Richard P. Knerr, a Wham-O executive, knew that fads usually don't last forever. He once joked that if their sales didn't drop faster than a Super Ball's bounce (which is 92% as high as the last bounce), they would be fine. At first, a full-sized Super Ball cost 98 cents. By the end of 1966, smaller, colorful versions were sold for as little as 10 cents in vending machines.
Giant Super Ball Stunt
In the late 1960s, Wham-O made a huge Super Ball, about the size of a bowling ball. This was a special stunt to promote the toy. They dropped this giant ball from the 23rd floor of a hotel in Australia. On its second bounce, it landed on a parked convertible car and completely destroyed it!
Super Balls and Music
In 1965, a composer named Alcides Lanza bought some Super Balls for his son to play with. But soon, he started experimenting with the sounds they made. He would rub the Super Balls along the strings of a piano. This led him to create a musical piece called Plectros III in 1971. In this piece, the musician is told to use two Super Balls on sticks like mallets. They use them to hit and rub the strings and the outside of the piano.
How the Super Bowl Got Its Name
The name for the famous American football championship, the Super Bowl, actually came from the Super Ball! Lamar Hunt, who started the American Football League (AFL) and owned the Kansas City Chiefs, saw his children playing with a Super Ball. He then thought of the name "Super Bowl."
On July 25, 1966, he wrote a letter to the National Football League (NFL) commissioner, Pete Rozelle. In the letter, he said, "I have kiddingly called it the 'Super Bowl,' which obviously can be improved upon." The football team owners had decided to call the game the AFL–NFL World Championship Game. However, the news media quickly started using Hunt's "Super Bowl" name. It became the official name starting with the third annual game in 1969.
How Super Balls Work (Physics)
Super Balls are great for learning about how things bounce. High school physics teachers often use them to show students how impacts work.
One interesting thing about a Super Ball is how it spins. When a Super Ball bounces, it often reverses its direction of spin. This happens because of how the ball's surface interacts with the ground when it hits. It's not just a simple bounce; the ball's material actually grips the surface a little bit, causing the spin to change.
See also
- The Absent-Minded Professor
- Happy Fun Ball
