Temperature Effects on Bouncy Balls

Cracks

• Extreme cold can cause a bouncy ball to crack. When a bouncy ball is exposed to extremely cold temperatures, the material from which it is constructed begins to freeze. Any irregularities within the bouncy ball, such as air pockets, may expand, causing the ball to crack. Cracks can also be the result of continued exposure to cold air, causing the material to dry out and crack when you try to bounce the ball off a hard surface. Sometimes the cracks can cause chunks of the ball to break off when bounced.

Bouncing

• Extreme weather conditions will affect how well the bouncy ball bounces. Extreme cold can cause the ball to not bounce as high, while heat can cause the ball to bounce higher. This has to do with the change in temperature's affecting not only the performance of the bouncy ball, but also the air through which the ball passes and the surface on which the ball is bounced. All of these factors combine to affect how high or how low the ball bounces.

Dry Rot

• Prolonged exposure to extremely hot or cold conditions can cause the bouncy ball to dry-rot. This occurs when all of the moisture is stripped out of the ball owing to intense temperature conditions, generally extreme heat. When the ball dry-rots, its material can crumble, break or crack. This causes the ball to bounce less, because its rubbery material is breaking down and becomes essentially useless against the hard surfaces the ball is bounced against.

Melting

• Warm-to-hot temperatures can cause the outer layer of the rubbery material of a bouncy ball to become more pliant, almost as if it were melting. While the bouncy ball will not literally melt in most cases, heating the outer layer of the ball can cause the ball to bounce higher. If the ball becomes too hot, the outer layer will dry out and will crack on impact when the ball is bounced against a hard surface.