tune bounciness – A physics experiment shared in a new video shows how adding or removing weights on a lower sprung platform can tune the response between two “bouncy” objects, even wiping out the bounce completely—illustrated with a simulation tool for systems like golf balls
There’s a special kind of fun in anything that bounces: trampolines that fling you back up, bouncy castles that make ordinary jumps feel weightless, and bouncy balls that never seem to land the way you expect.
But in the real world, not every bounce is welcome. The physics gets trickier when two flexible, springy things collide—especially when both objects can store and release energy. That’s exactly where Steve Mould’s latest look lands: tuning the “bounciness” so the bounce can be reduced until it’s effectively gone.
The core idea starts with energy. To change what happens when a bouncy object meets another bouncy one. you have to understand how kinetic energy is stored in each flexible material—and how that energy is dissipated without turning back into extra motion. In the simple demonstration setup shown, weights can be added to or removed from the lower sprung platform. That adjustment tunes the response of the system to a bouncy ball dropped on top of it.
Mould then moves from the basic demonstration to the science of springy behavior using practical examples that include golf balls and clubs. In that setting. the problem is familiar to anyone who’s tried to get a clean transfer of energy: undesirable oscillations—bouncing and wobbling—can reduce the final kinetic energy transferred to the ball. The result is that “bouncy” isn’t just about play. Golf equipment behaves like a tuned spring system, even if it doesn’t feel that way at first.
What’s more, Mould frames golf clubs and balls as being just as bouncy as more obvious springy examples—like a bouncy ball or even an electric switch—only on different scales. The point is that they’re still systems where optimization and analysis matter.
To make that tuning more accessible, he introduces a simulation tool he created. The tool lets you tweak the parameters of a double spring system. the same kind of arrangement you get when you’re dealing with two interacting springy components. It’s the kind of step that can bring high school physics back to the surface—only now you can actually test how the behavior changes when you adjust the “give” in the setup.
The video is embedded below:
physics bounce reduction double spring system Steve Mould simulation tool golf ball and club oscillations springiness kinetic energy energy dissipation