We discuss the measurement of the coefficient of restitution (COR) and the acceleration of gravity g using video and sound analysis with both Tracker and Logger Pro 3 software. Measuring COR of a bouncing ball is a common activity in physics labs from high school to intro level college courses (e.g., measuring COR to obtain gravitational acceleration). A typical experiment involves measuring the heights of subsequent ball bounces, although its precision is sometimes of concern. An indirect measurement by analyzing the sound of collisions is also popular and provides higher precision. In our experiment, video and sound analyses are integrated to provide both direct and indirect measurements of COR for pedagogical purposes. COR values by video analysis produce more accurate determinations of the gravitational acceleration compared with the COR from sound analysis alone.
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Coefficient of restitution
projectile motion
sound analysis
video analysis