Norwik vs Beanbag air resistance

After being accused for stating uneducated claims when writing that a Norwik falls a tiny bit slower than a beanbag or other ball, I now found the time to make a little test. Even 3 American professors of physics said both will hit the ground at exactly the same time. I wonder how many of those 3 professors can juggle 7 balls for more than 100 catches. The difference is small but even small differences can matter in juggling. Add to that, when people juggle Norwiks they tend to throw a little bit higher than with beanbags. This is no problem since the Norwiks are light weight and they are precise.

Happy juggling!
www.norwikjuggling.com

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Sports

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• Norwik
• vs
• Beanbag
• juggling
• norwikjuggling.com
• air
• resistance
• juggler

[KristianWanvik]

@ siteswaper531 I believe it is not possible for a human to drop them perfectly the same. Maybe a machine with a platform that the balls real on top. Then the platform would go straight down faster than the balls fall. Preferably both objects should have the same surface, so that not one of them sticks more to the platform :-)

[KristianWanvik]

@ bboioodd Agreed. Any lighter and bigger ball will fall slower. Does of course not have to be a Norwik :-)

[LearnToJuggleNOW]

All right you win I might buy some, but I don't want to pay the shipping fees from Norway. Do you have plan to let other juggling sellers sell them? Is there a chance I could buy them at the next TurboFest, WJF or IJA festival?

[KristianWanvik]

@LearnToJuggleNOW They will be available from the WJF store soon

[bbooioodd]

Not sure what American professors did you ask or if you gave them all the information about this problem,,, but I see no reason why the balls (used in this video) should fall in the same time. The point is that your balls are lighter and bigger thus there is less gravity and more air resistance for them ... making the beanbags fall first.

If you used a russian ball and a beanbag that would be same size and weight (like 100 gr, 60mm) I'm sure they would fall at same time.

Thanks for sharing this.

[KristianWanvik]

@bbooioodd Actually, I did not talk to the professors, the one that accused, talked with them to prove his point :-)

[floppaboppa]

Not surprising that it falls more slowly, but that also means more air resistance on the way up. Just sayin'...

[bozobozo]

Oh, no... what is this, Galileo Galilei and his Pisa Tower thing again? Of course the Norwik (Russian-style) ball takes longer to fall back to the ground. It's bigger, it faces more air resistance, which slows it down proportionally to its speed. And then even if the beanbag was to have the same size, it would have more mass. And since F=ma, a more massive object is slowed down less than. What were these American "professors" thinking?

[siteswaper531]

I believe you that the beanbag falls slightly faster, but this demonstration doesn't constitute a scientific test, despite the fact that you clearly have put in a lot of work to set it up rigorously. You would need to have someone drop the balls who doesn't have any expectations of which one would fall faster, so they will be blinded to the hypothesized outcome. Otherwise even a small difference in how you drop them could influence the results!

[bbooioodd]

@KristianWanvik

well then you can never know if they explained the problem to the proffessors... The trick is in size and weight... not that they are russians... or Norwik...

[kilrogq]

@Andrexo3o I've been using the Norwiks for about 10 months now, and none of my balls has broke yet. I've also been juggling on concrete, but it doesn't seem to be any difference from juggling on concrete and on other kinds of floors.

[bbooioodd]

@juggledave

I'm just saying that the mass matters. It helpes the ball to overcome the air resistance when it speeds up. That is why heavier beanbag hits the ground first. I think the difference in size isn't so significant for the lenght of falling. If anything then the bigger ball the longer falling.... ===>>> the bigger and lighter ball hits the ground later than smaller and heavier ball. ... that is clear. The question should be if it's later enough to make the juggling easier :-)

[jacus121]

@Andrexo3o I've never tried them so i don't know but they have a 6 month guarantee so if they break he should send you new ones unless you perpously broke them.

[janionnevill]

@juggledave I always thought that yes, they would have greater air resistance but that would mean there was greater air resistance on the way up AND down, so it would cancel itself out. this however does not seem to be the case. In fact, thinking about it, balloons show this point perfectly.