big bounce
A golf ball is held 2 or 3 feet above a concrete or tile floor.
A ping-pong ball is directly over and touching the golf ball.
Both balls are released at the same time. When the golf ball
strikes the floor it bounces upward as expected. The ping-pong
ball however bounces much higher than expected. It shoots
upward as much as 10 feet.
As an aid to releasing the balls properly, form a tube from a
piece of paper. Both the ping-pong ball and the golf ball
are kept in place within the tube. As the tube is held
vertically, the ping-pong ball rests on the golf ball. Then when the
golf ball is released the two balls will fall together.
Just about any ball can be used instead of the ping-pong ball
so long as its weight is much less than that of the golf ball.
A concrete block can be placed on a carpeted floor if a tile
or concrete floor is not available.
Some of the energy of motion of the golf ball is transferred
to the ping-pong ball. The golf ball rebounding upward pushes
the ping-pong ball. A small portion of the golf ball's energy
will give the low mass ping-pong ball a relatively high
velocity.