What Is a Super Ball Made of?
The Super Ball made its big bounce into the world in 1965. An extremely elastic ball known for its high coefficient of restitution. This curiously bouncy ball was invented by Norm Stingley, a chemical engineer employed by the Bettis Rubber Company in Whittier, California. Stingley fashioned a ball of Zectron, which is a material originally intended to cap off gushing oil wells.
He placed the molded Zectron ball under intense pressure; the result was the ball could bounce 6 times higher and more energetically than any regular rubber ball. Stingley sold his brilliant Super Ball concept to toy manufacturer Wham-O. Wham-O helped him to perfect his invention into the famous toy we know today.
These rubber bouncy balls are famous for the amazing heights they can reach on bounce after bounce. When dropped from shoulder level, a super Ball will bounce back almost all the way to where it was dropped. Thrown toward the ground by an average adult, a super Ball can bounce as high as a three-story building.