Constraining the minute amount of audible energy radiated from binary collisions of light plastic spheres in conditions of incomplete angular coverage of the measured pressure.

Usually, the energy released as air-coupled sound following a collision is dismissed as negligible. The goal of this Letter is to quantify the value of this small but measurable quantity, since it can be useful to impact studies. Measurements of sound radiation from binary collisions of polypropylene balls were performed in order to constrain the fraction of incident energy radiated as sound in air.

Non-Hertzian behavior in binary collisions of plastic balls derived from impact acoustics.

This paper presents slight deviations from Hertz's impact law, inferred from acoustic signatures of polypropylene ball collisions. An impact acoustics model is used to fit the acoustic data. The model is built upon a generalized relationship between impact force (F) and deformation (xi) of the form F=kappaxi(alpha).