On Aug 27, 2007, at 1:37 PM, Robert Clair wrote: > 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.
Is this a theoretical qualification, or is there really some substance we're likely to find on a tennis racket that will keep contact with the ball longer yet send it back faster? After all, we're discussing the difference between nylon and gut here. > If the ball and racket strings were perfectly elastic that would make the game interesting... > the rebound speed would be the same as the inbound speed no matter > how long the collision took. Even if someone is swinging the racket (which is highly likely)? -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
