Do Tennis Balls Float?
Tennis balls can be used for a lot of different things. Not just for playing on the tennis court, but also for playing with your dog or just throwing it to each other for fun. There are a lot of people that are asking what will happen if you throw the tennis ball into the water, will it sink or float? That’s what we will go through in this post.
Do tennis balls float? Tennis balls float in water. That is because tennis balls are hollow and filled with air, which has more density than water. All objects that have more density than water, will float when thrown into the sea.
Why Tennis Ball Floats On Water
Tennis balls float because the ball is denser than water, which means that the ball has positive buoyant. If you know anything about psychics, when something has positively buoyant, it will float on water. Another reason why tennis balls float is that they are filled with air, which is denser than water.
The buyout force caused by water pressure is stronger than the force of gravity pulling down the tennis ball. Tennis balls are hollow and have a thin layer of rubber, which is denser than water and makes the ball float.
Something to remember is that all tennis balls aren’t filled with air. There is something called pressureless tennis balls and they are becoming more popular every year that goes by.
These pressureless balls don’t float in water because they aren’t filled with air, like the normal tennis balls. Therefore they have a positive buoyant, which will make the tennis ball sink when thrown into the water.
Physics Behind Tennis Ball Floating
If the weight of an object is less than the weight of the displaced fluid when fully submerged, then the object has an average density that is less than the fluid and when fully submerged will experience a buoyancy force greater than its own weight.
An object that floats in water is said to be positively buoyant. An object that sinks is negatively buoyant. To determine an object’s buoyancy, both its mass and volume must be taken into consideration.
A regular tennis ball has less density than water and therefore tennis balls have a negative buoyant and that is why it floats on water. If an object has more density than water, it has a negative buoyant and will sink.
The same applies with example foil balls. They are crumpled into a tight clump, that has more density because their pennies are crowded into a smaller space than those in the foil boat.
The foil boat has less density because it is spread out and filled with air, just like a tennis ball. Things float when they have less density than water, but sink when they have more.
Most tennis balls are pressurized, which means that the balls are filled with air. Air is denser than water and that is why tennis ball floats in water. With pressureless tennis balls, as the name suggests, they don’t have any air-filled within the ball. This will lead to a negative buoyant and the ball will sink into the water.
Final Thoughts
If you want to play with your tennis ball in the water, make sure you choose a regular tennis ball that is pressurized. Those balls will let you throw the ball into the water and it won’t sink. But, remember if you play with your dog and they destroy the rubber, the air will disappear from the ball. Which will make the ball sink.
Apart from that, a tennis ball can be a great tool to not only throw around the ball around the water. But, also something for your dog to play around with and catch in the water.
However, according to AKC, you shouldn’t let your dog chump on the tennis ball. “The fuzz on a tennis ball acts like sandpaper that gradually wears down the dog’s teeth. Which can lead to dental problems such as exposed tooth pulp and difficulty chewing”. So, have that in mind. If you are interested, I listed the best tennis balls for dogs in this post.
Now when you know that the ball won’t sink into the water, just go ahead and play around with it. It’s not only a great tool for dogs, but a fun water activity to just throw the ball at each other. As long as you don’t play with a pressureless tennis ball, there is no need to worry about it sinking.
