The Effects Of A Surface On Bouncing A Basketball

Whether you are an amateur or professional, the game of basketball changes depending on the type of surface on which it is played. Because concrete and hardwood affect the bounce of a ball differently, your indoor basketball skills may not translate to the outdoor game. Although training, skill and physical condition are all essential to the game, knowing how different surfaces affect a basketball's bounce can help you to become a more versatile player.

Hardness

If you drop a basketball, the force at which is hits a surface is countered by an opposing force from the surface itself. As surfaces flex as they come into contact with a dropped basketball, some of a basketball's energy is lost to the surface on which it is bounced. Using the same basketball and holding its internal air pressure constant, a basketball will cause a softer surface to flex more than a harder one. This leads the basketball to lose more energy to the softer surface, resulting in a lower bounce height than on a harder surface.

Texture

Although wooden floors may not be as hard as concrete outdoor surfaces, the loss in bounce on the softer surface is balanced by its smoothness. Adding wax to a wooden surface further smooths out any imperfections, leading to a bounce that is consistent in height and direction. While the bumpy, uneven surface of a concrete outdoor court may not be noticeable to the naked eye, its texture can lead the ball to bounce erratically. By landing on an uneven surface, for example, the ball may rebound in a slightly different direction and have multiple points of contact, sapping the ball's energy and decreasing its bounce height.

Surface Combinations

Due to the effects of a surface on a ball's bounce height and direction, layered surfaces can affect how a ball bounces. Even very slight changes, such as adding paint to an outdoor court, may affect the height and direction of a ball's bounce. Although the effect of adding paint is practically insignificant, layering surfaces is vital to indoor basketball. In the National Basketball Association, for example, a layer of flexible hardwood is placed over a hard concrete base. Because a level concrete surface provides a higher bounce and softer wood floors may be easier on players, layering the two helps to maximize bounce while minimizing injury.

Friction

Basketball is a game of quick transitions, requiring players to be able to start and stop without much effort. Similar to how it affects these abilities in players, the amount of friction that a surface provides also affects a ball's bounce. While this is important to starting and stopping with the ball as you run across the court, it also affects bounce passes. Because concrete provides greater surface friction than a waxed hardwood floor, a bounce passes may not go as far when playing outdoors. With less friction to slow the ball's forward momentum, the waxed hardwood floor is better suited to long, low bounce passes.