The World's Least Bouncy Ball

That ball makes me sad.

This is effectively our summer camp demo of the 'happy/sad balls' (available from Ed Innovations as Choositz Decision Balls). They're two polymer balls - one made from neoprene, one from polynorbornene - that look and feel almost identical but that bounce very differently.

Admittedly, The Action Lab (which feels really weird as a term to refer to a dude in a video) doesn't have the same trickster nature that I like to use to demonstrate these balls in class. He's okay, and he explains the science and all, but I would hope that you could find a more entertaining way to demonstrate this in class.

Personally, I like to hand the bouncy ball (the neoprene) to a student and give them a few challenges. Drop and catch the ball...drop and catch with a clap in between...drop and catch with a spin between...(but I take the ball back to 'explain' each step...before returning the ball for the 'drop & spin' step, I switch the balls without telling the student, leading to the polynorbornene landing flatly. I usually tell the student that the ball hit a crack, causing it to bounce oddly while they were spinning. I've gotten students to drop the non-bouncy ball like three times before they start to suspect something - even though most of the rest of the class can tell something is wrong pretty quickly.)