Bowling: Point of a heavier ball?

[StageLeft]

I tried 3-hole bowling (to you americans in Canada bowling is generally done with small cantaloupe sized balls that you hold in your hand - no holes in them) this weekend for the first time. OMFG I SUCK. Anyway what's the point of a 16 vs. a 9 pound ball? It seems to me that the balls are by far heavy enough to go through the pins without losing much momentum anyway and that a heavier ball does nothing but make you accelerate more mass as you swing it, so what's the benefit?

I got a 58 first game and a 68 second game. I was with one other guy, mrsskoorb, the other guy's wife, and his mother in law and they all beat me by a large margin :| But I threw hard !!

 

[Electric Amish]

More momentum.

Actually, I bowl with a 10-12 pound usually.

amish

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: Electric Amish
More momentum.

Actually, I bowl with a 10-12 pound usually.

amish

But does a 12 pound ball really take down pins better than a 9 pound? The ball is so heavy against light pins anyway I doubt a ball slows down much at all between hitting first pin and the last...

 

[thawolfman]

Canadian Bowling = Duckpin here (Right?)

Plus it just wouldn't seem right for some big dude to be using a 6lb ball, and no, I have no reasoning for it

 

Better control once you become proficiant at it

By the way, Canadian bowling over here is called Duckpin bowling, it's what the children play when they want to go bowling.

 

[Viper GTS]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

Originally posted by: Electric Amish
More momentum.

Actually, I bowl with a 10-12 pound usually.

amish

But does a 12 pound ball really take down pins better than a 9 pound? The ball is so heavy against light pins anyway I doubt a ball slows down much at all between hitting first pin and the last...

First off, the pins aren't that light...

Second, kinetic energy doubles when mass is doubled. So a 16 lb ball vs a 9 lb ball carries nearly double the energy when travelling at an equivalent velocity.

Viper GTS

 

[Fausto]

A 58? No holes in the ball? What don't you Canadians suck at? Sheesh.



Point of a heavier ball is that it's deflected less by the pins....easier to get a strike if you hit the "pocket" on the pins. Much harder to control if you don't have the arm/wrist strength tho.

 

[SWirth86]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

Originally posted by: Electric Amish
More momentum.

Actually, I bowl with a 10-12 pound usually.

amish

But does a 12 pound ball really take down pins better than a 9 pound? The ball is so heavy against light pins anyway I doubt a ball slows down much at all between hitting first pin and the last...

Yea. Try using a 14, that's not too hard to use.

Keep practicing until you get a perfect 100!

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: Roger
Better control once you become proficiant at it

By the way, Canadian bowling over here is called Duckpin bowling, it's what the children play when they want to go bowling.

LOL - I thought they played bumper bowling with the gutter walls raised?

 

[Parrotheader]

As far as I can tell, basically the idea is the heavier the ball, the less force they lose when hitting the pins (those pins are fairly heavy by the way.) I know I used to bowl with primarily a 10lb ball when I was a wimpier teenager and did ok. But once I got stronger in college I could step up to 16lb balls (God that sounds funny ) and throw them with some semblance of control. The only thing is that I have skinny fingers and all the 16lb balls are apparently cut so an elephant can bowl with them. I generally use a 14lb ball now whenever possible. I found I had more control with it and don't have to throw it as hard to get it to knock down pins. A lighter ball might just knock the pins down (when thrown at an equal speed), but a heavier ball will blow them away and knock them a lot father in turn knocking down more pins. Or so this pathetic bowler thinks.

 

LOL - I thought they played bumper bowling with the gutter walls raised?

They do for 5 year olds and younger.
That would be sight to behold, a 7 year old trying to bowl with a 12 pound ball !

 

[Electric Amish]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

Originally posted by: Electric Amish
More momentum.

Actually, I bowl with a 10-12 pound usually.

amish

But does a 12 pound ball really take down pins better than a 9 pound? The ball is so heavy against light pins anyway I doubt a ball slows down much at all between hitting first pin and the last...

Argument for lighter ball....

See here...

Pins are 3lbs 2oz to 3lbs 10oz. If you hit them with more momentum you'll transfer more momentum and get better pin action.

amish

 

[MomAndSkoorbaby]

Please note that he said the others, including me, beat him by a large margin!

*giggle*

 

[Jzero]

Those pins are pretty damn heavy.

Anyway heavier ball has more inertia which means more control and more knocking down of pins. Catch is that you have to find a balance between a ball that his heavy enough to do as much damage as possible, but is still light enough for you to throw with enough speed. A 16 pound ball is useless if you can't throw it with enough force to knock the pins down, which is why I usually use 10 or 11.

 

[Zebo]

More pin action and more lane curve/slice so you hit the pins at a better angle.

 

[StageLeft]

Argument for lighter ball....

See here...

Pins are 3lbs 2oz to 3lbs 10oz. If you hit them with more momentum you'll transfer more momentum and get better pin action.

amish

Hmm. Since momentum is nothing more than mass times velocity, although at the same speed a 16 pound will have more momentum than a 10, at the same time I can swing a 10 pound much faster than a 16 thereby increasing the momentum in that way as well.

 

Hmm. Since momentum is nothing more than mass times velocity, although at the same speed a 16 pound will have more momentum than a 10, at the same time I can swing a 10 pound much faster than a 16 thereby increasing the momentum in that way as well.

Increased speed = less accuracy.

 

[Parrotheader]

Originally posted by: Roger

Hmm. Since momentum is nothing more than mass times velocity, although at the same speed a 16 pound will have more momentum than a 10, at the same time I can swing a 10 pound much faster than a 16 thereby increasing the momentum in that way as well.

Increased speed = less accuracy.

Yup.

*hands Skoorb a baseball* Here. Since bowling isn't your strong suit, just skip the bowling part and chuck that at the pins instead. Of course you'll have to throw it about 8 times faster

 

[rudder]

When I go bowling with my little girls, they usually have 8 pound balls available. You should ask at your bowling alley.

 

[MomAndSkoorbaby]

Originally posted by: Parrotheader

Originally posted by: Roger

Hmm. Since momentum is nothing more than mass times velocity, although at the same speed a 16 pound will have more momentum than a 10, at the same time I can swing a 10 pound much faster than a 16 thereby increasing the momentum in that way as well.

Increased speed = less accuracy.

Yup.

*hands Skoorb a baseball* Here. Since bowling isn't your strong suit, just skip the bowling part and chuck that at the pins instead. Of course you'll have to throw it about 8 times faster

And that is exactly what ended up happening. He would literally launch the ball at the pins and missed every time!

(I was pretty bad as well....that was aim!)

 

[KingNothing]

Originally posted by: SWirth86

Originally posted by: Skoorb

Originally posted by: Electric Amish
More momentum.

Actually, I bowl with a 10-12 pound usually.

amish

But does a 12 pound ball really take down pins better than a 9 pound? The ball is so heavy against light pins anyway I doubt a ball slows down much at all between hitting first pin and the last...

Yea. Try using a 14, that's not too hard to use.

Keep practicing until you get a perfect 100!

A perfect score in bowling is 300, not 100.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: MrsSkoorb
Please note that he said the others, including me, beat him by a large margin!

*giggle*

you've done a lot of that giggling today

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: Roger

Hmm. Since momentum is nothing more than mass times velocity, although at the same speed a 16 pound will have more momentum than a 10, at the same time I can swing a 10 pound much faster than a 16 thereby increasing the momentum in that way as well.

Increased speed = less accuracy.

Ah it's all clear to me now. I'd forgotten that key point. If you can make a 10 pound go 50% faster than a 15 pound momentum will be the same but your increase in speed will likely kill accuracy. It's all clear to skoorb.

 

[SoylentGreen]

The pins are about 3 1/2 LBS each.
So you are knocking over 35 lbs of pins down.
When you have a heavier ball, you'll get more pins down on a proper hit. If the ball is lighter, it will most certainly deflect and not get as much pin action.

 

[Ameesh]

Originally posted by: Viper GTS

Originally posted by: Skoorb

Originally posted by: Electric Amish
More momentum.

Actually, I bowl with a 10-12 pound usually.

amish

But does a 12 pound ball really take down pins better than a 9 pound? The ball is so heavy against light pins anyway I doubt a ball slows down much at all between hitting first pin and the last...

First off, the pins aren't that light...

Second, kinetic energy doubles when mass is doubled. So a 16 lb ball vs a 9 lb ball carries nearly double the energy when travelling at an equivalent velocity.

Viper GTS

ahh but velocity is squared so the a lighter ball thrown harder would have more kinetic energy in most cases