Bouncing Balls

Alexander Gustafsson has been playing with a physics simulator. In the video above, he starts with 100 balls in a straight line and each has a slightly different degree of surface restitution (bounciness) than the next. When they are all dropped at the same time from the same height, it takes a while for them to differ in their response. When they do, the effect is somewhat like the mercury wave, except that bouncing balls dispel their energy pretty fast and their bouncing eventually stops. The other difference is that this is a simulator. Then he does it again with 900 balls in a 30x30 grid. As the balls differ in bounciness, they also differ in color and the sound they make when they bounce. That was so much fun he went wild for his next video. 


 
This version renders 999 balls arranged in a spiral. The surface restitution, color, and sound are barely distinguishable between individual balls, but vary greatly from first to last. This one rendered a bit strangely toward the center, with balls so close together they look like a continuous shape, like a snake. (via the Awesomer)