> Since "power" for his purposes > is nothing more than ball speed off the racket, any absorbtion of > energy from the ball
Right - any inelasticity in the collision (the missing energy going into heating up the racket, the ball and making satisfying "thwock" sounds) will reduce the rebound speed of the ball. > or delay in rebound Wrong - if by delay you mean the time it takes for the ball to squish into the racket, reverse direction and come off. This time interval depends on the "spring constant" involved (essentially the elastic characteristics of the ball and the strings) and (roughly) the mass of the ball. If the ball and racket strings were perfectly elastic the rebound speed would be the same as the inbound speed no matter how long the collision took. > is going to reduce power. You may now resume restringing your racket or your lute. ...Bob -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
