Stacked Ball Drop

What happens when you drop a perfectly balanced stack of balls? And how is the result like a supernova? The classic momentum transfer demonstration, taken to the next level.

A big thank you to my nephews and niece Drew, Max and Whitney for creating the trampoline footage!

Music: YouTube
Space Images/animation: NASA

[tomasmejia]

Right now on the news: A stack of 100 balls sent a satelite flying at .60c towards proxima centaury

[scottgoblue]

If you could somehow balance that 4-stack on, say, a yoga ball, that top sucker would reach orbit

[egodreas]

What are these "feet" and "inches" you talk about early in the video? My physics books never mentioned any of those.

[originalname]

It's so damn cool that we live in a time that people with a passion for physics or really any subject can create interesting videos to explain and share (and hopefully kindle) that passion with tens of thousands of others over the world in hours. I think if these trends continue, we might have an amazing amazing world several decades from now. I hope to see it.

Sorry for an inane ramble, I just wanted to say thanks for being a cool person on the internet.

[KingCrocoduck]

Damn, your videos have gotten really good

[isgdre]

I would try this at home but where am I going to get the dense part of a super nova?  :p

[Kiamm]

Enjoyed the video but I (likely along with others) would prefer it if you added metric system units. No need to scrap the imperial but small footnotes would suffice.

[ernestogastonpacheco]

So refreshing To se you Diana! Praying for you to get well from Argentina.

[mctulok]

I figured this analogy out a long time ago between balls & supernova but had NEVER seen anyone else also use it. Thank you for proving I'm not crazy.

[TheRebelSpyGamer]

I just found your channel when looking up vortex physics. As an aspiring physics major lady, I really enjoy your content! I hope to see much more

[martinasmat]

This is one of the most engaging Physics videos I've seen lately. Will be sharing your channel with students, friends and colleagues. Awesome job!

[apoint]

Really fantastic quality of videos on this channel, wonderful to see both great understandable explanations while maintaining fidelity to the laws of physics. Keep it up!

[Kitkat-]

you should show my physics teacher how to teach a class properly...

[AlbertaGeek]

That was a fantastic demonstration of the transfer of momentum.  Plus, it's easy enough to demonstrate in any school.  Well done, Physics Girl, well done!

[therealcluzio]

Why is no one asking how they managed to stack 3 balls?

[davidwells]

So grateful for this video. I've tried a number of ways to describe and demonstrate this process for my students. This video was golden. Keep up the great work!

[PixelCortex]

Where has this channel been all my life

[brianpso]

I played with this when I was younger! That's why I like your content so much. You make me feel that great feeling of discovering a new thing all over again. The enthusiasm in your videos is quite contagious, so cool.

[Seegalgalguntijak]

That bouncing effect of the multiple balls was sort of self-explanatory. But why, oh, why, use only weird units instead of at least also including the beautifully easy, worldwide-ly known and used metric ones?

[rileypurcell]

You're an excellent teacher. This really could help get a lot of people interested in science.