With the start of the National Basketball Association (NBA) season about a week ago, the new type of ball being used has attracted much attention.
As can be seen in the photo, the new ball differs from the old kind not just in its replacement of leather with a synthetic surface, but also in the design of the segments of the exterior.
I learned from this ESPN.com article about some scientific research being conducted on the new balls. At the request of Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, physicists at the University of Texas-Arlington tested the performance of the new ball vs. the old kind.
One of the tests was of the height of the bounce of the new versus old types of basketball. Having read University of Nebraska professor Timothy Gay's book Football Physics a while back, I immediately thought of the relevant physics term, the Coefficient of Restitution (COR). As described in the linked document, the COR has a very simple formula, especially when the tested object is being dropped onto a stationary surface.
I did some searching of UT-Arlington webpages and came upon this project website for the basketball studies. From the project site, you can access a copy of the report submitted to the Mavericks, as well as other pages related to the research. Indeed the COR was a major element mentioned in the research report.
Another interesting aspect of the UT-A investigations dealt with the absorption of moisture (which the new ball is designed to prevent) and how that affects the ball.
Of course, the main thing a basketball does in a game is go through the hoop and net. I guess this posting did have something to do with strings, after all.