Does temperature affect the bounce of a volleyball?

Answer 1

This is the sort of question that is amenable to scientific experiment. It may well be that most balls are affected by the temperature. Bounce is after all a question of returning the energy available at impact. The biggest factor is the proportion of the kinetic energy - the energy of motion - that is lost as useless heat. Dropping a few balls at fridge temperature and a few balls at room temperature on a hard surface, and seeing how high they bounce back would answer the question. I haven't done this experiment, but I know that trapped air increases pressure when warmed, and rubber does something strange - it can shrink not expand when warmed. If you have ever driven in a car in really REALLY cold weather, you have probably noticed the 'square wheel' effect until the tires warm up. The flat spot in the tire stays flat for a while. So that suggests a rubber case would lose more energy when cold....