As I have learned from participating in CYO basketball over the years, maintaining control of the ball is dang hard and nobody on my team ever has been good at it. But when attempting to dribble, I cannot help but wonder what sort of physics are behind what would seem such a simple motion. To begin, why does it seem to work that the ball almost always bounces lower in respect to its original height that it had been dropped from? This is because of a rule discovered by many a physicist that energy cannot be created nor destroyed, however it can be converted between forms, a very interesting entity. When the ball is held at its highest point it has all potential energy and little to no kinetic energy, as we all should know very well by this point. However as it falls, the ball consistently loses it's potential energy and begins to gain kinetic energy due to the force of gravity accelerating the ball at -9.81 m/s^s. As on would assume, when the ball hits the floor it has all kinetic energy and no potential energy, the very opposite of what it had at its highest point. When the ball ceases contact with the floor and begins to bounce back up, it results in the ball reaching a lower height than before it had been dropped. This means it has less potential energy, but where did it go, son?! :afro: Well that's why I'm here :frog:. You see when the ball hits the ground it gets squished, which causes friction between the different rubber molecules that make up the ball, and this friction actually heats the ball up. Because friction slows down the ball, it has lost some kinetic energy and gained heat otherwise known as thermal energy. If I knew this, maybe I would be good.