Why does a basketball bounce back up?
Air's Big Push
Why does a basketball bounce back up?
You drop a basketball. It slams into the ground — and then shoots right back up into your hands. Why? What invisible force lives inside that orange ball?
Here's the secret: air. A basketball is a rubber shell pumped full of air molecules — billions and billions of them, all jammed together, pushing outward in every direction like a crowd trying to escape a tiny room.
