Almost every player is familiar with the pop sound made by the tennis ball cans once you open them. However, many do not know the reasons behind the pop sound. Why do tennis ball cans pop? This article will help you to find out why.
Tennis ball cans pop because the balls are usually filled with gas and packed in an airtight can to maintain proper pressure inside the tennis ball. Pop sound is produced once the can is open due to the different air pressure inside and outside the ball.
Below are more details on why tennis ball cans pop.
What type of can is used to store the tennis balls?
Since tennis balls are pressurized, they are stored or packed in airtight cans, which have higher internal air pressure than the outside. And once you break the seal, the ball will be lively and have bounced as required.
They are kept in an airtight can just immediately after the ball production to maintain the needed pressure and for the balls to have appropriate bounce. Note that the pressure inside the tennis ball usually pushes some air out. It usually happens when you hit the ball, and the ball’s bouncing forces some of the air to come out of the tennis ball.
As time goes by, the ball continues losing the air inside it, and there will be imbalanced air pressure between inside the ball and outside. Once this happens, then the ball loses its speed and bounce.
Why are the cans open just before the game?
Have you wondered why the tennis ball can remain sealed even before the game has to start? Once you open the can, the ball will offer the best bounce. However, the ball loses the bounce with time and becomes useless for competitive games or tournaments.
The tennis game comes with powerful shots from the players, and to achieve a high speed of the ball, the new tennis ball help in this. You can easily have a minimum range bounce to compete with your opponent. Therefore, this is why the ball is taken out of the can immediately before the game begins.
Outside and inside the can
Why do tennis ball cans pop? It is due to the difference in air pressure outside and inside the can. When you open the can where the tennis balls are packed, you will hear a pop sound.
The pop sound is the gasses inside the can, higher than the outside pressure escaping from the can. Since the air inside the can is at high pressure and can come out through a narrow opening, you will hear the pop sound as the air moves out.
If the reason for storing the tennis balls in a can is to preserve the aliveness and original bounce, you need to answer what happens after the ball is removed from the can. Once the ball is removed from the can, game time is the first thing that happens.
Once the ball is outside the can, the pressure inside and outside becomes imbalanced. The ball starts losing its equilibrium, and the air is resealed from the ball for every shot or bounce. Once this happens, the ball begins losing its bounce with time.
However, a new tennis ball can maintain its pressure for around two weeks before it starts losing its proper bounce.
It is why you will find in tournaments; they change the tennis ball after approximately nine games because, at that time, the ball might have lost its original bounce.
Making tennis ball to last for long
Since the tennis ball goes bad in a very short period, then having a way to make them last for long will be a great idea. It will help you not to have a lot of tennis balls as waste, and it will save your money.
If you want to maintain their performance, you will have to buy the pressurized machine and cans to pressurize them once they lose their bounce and store the cans.
You will not spend money after using the balls in a few games with this process. Also, you can store your balls in the can under the refrigerator, and it will last longer than it could have. Avoid storing the ball at a place with high temperatures.
What is the importance of the bounce?
In a tennis game, a suitable ball bounce is required to maintain the high standard of the game. Therefore, tennis balls are pressurized and engineered to have the proper bounce so that the ball can have equally bounce to offer the same level of competition. Thus even after the unique form of designing the ball, the manufacturer innovates a unique way of packaging or storing the balls to maintain their bounce level.
In other tournaments, they store the balls in a refrigerator so that the pressure inside the balls cannot be affected by the imbalance pressure or heat. In other parts of the world, due to the hot weather, the ball also loses its pressure. So to solve the problem of high temperature, they also do the same and store the ball at a cool temperature.
Why is a pressurized can used to store or packaging
The ball is stored in a pressurized can to match the pressure inside the ball and the can. The ball’s air pressure will be maintained when there is balance in pressure. But note that the ball and the can have the same pressure; the pressure of the can is high if you compare it with the outside air pressure.
These are the reasons why the tennis ball cans pop Despite the high quality of the balls, courts surfaces, great players, racquet technology, the balls have to be kept in the cans to maintain their quality.
Therefore without this technology used for storage then, the ball could not have the appropriate bouncing even during the first time of the match. Therefore to maintain the precisions result of the ball from the manufacturers to the game, the can must be pressurized.
The short life span of the ball
The tennis ball has a short life span once removed outside the can. The pressure in the ball is around 26.7 pounds per square inch, while the air pressure from the surrounding is about 15 pounds per square inch.
Since the ball has high pressure on the outside, the air is continuously released in a small amount of time. The air inside the tennis ball diffuses via the rubber of the ball. With time the rubber skin of the tennis ball will start to soften and lose its firmness and bounce.
For tennis to be used in a tournament or match, then it should have at least a bounce of 53 to 58 inches once it is released at the height of 100 inches.
But after a short period, the ball fails to pass this test. Once this happens, the tennis ball is viewed as dead because it cannot be used in a match. However, the period the ball will come useless depends on the type of competition and the level of the players.
Tennis pressure-less balls
Apart from the pressurized balls, you can use pressure-less tennis balls to play the game. The pressure-less balls have a harder and thicker rubber skin.
This ball does not lose its bounce quickly as the standard pressurized tennis balls. The pressure-less tennis ball is not used in professional tournaments because it can cause injuries due to its heaviness.
However, you might see this is the most type of tennis ball used during practice. Then do the pressure-less tennis ball bounce more than the pressurized balls. The answer is no, they bounce less, and even their travel speed is less.
Frequently asked question
Why does a tennis ball bounce better than other similar balls?
They bounce better because they have high inside air pressure, and it usually pushes outwards more than the impact it gets when it hits the ground. It is possible because the inside pressure is high, and it exerts more force or strength to offer the strong bounce once it hits the ground.
Can you use the tennis ball after it loses its bounce?
You can use it for your practice, but not in a professional tournament or match. You can use it for warm-up to improve your hand strength or grip. However, if the balls are many, they become useless unless you use them for other things but not playing tennis. You can also recycle them by repressurizing the tennis ball.
Can the ball lose its bounce once in the can?
It can, but it depends on the time it was stored there and the quality of the tennis ball. Some brands can retain their bounce for around six months, and others will not be dead even after years when you open the can.
The ball goes bad because the air leaks out the can with time. If the brand of the ball skin is more permeable, then more gas molecules will escape, and the ball becomes soft with time.
Final Thoughts
Why the can is open only immediately before the match is some of the questions you have known the answers to. The tennis ball and the can are pressurized to maintain the ball’s performance.
However, the ball’s performance does not last long due to the difference between surrounding and inside the ball. Due to this reason, you might end up having a lot of unused tennis balls that have lost their better performance. You can also buy a pressurized machine to recycle the ball and use them again.
