Bowling: Point of a heavier ball?

[Ultima]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
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)

Wtf? Maybe where you lived, but I live in Montreal and all bowling I've ever done has been with 3-holed bowling balls of various weights. I've never heard of the kind of bowling you're talking about.

 

[Ultima]

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

If the speed is the same, kinetic energy is actually quadrupled

But still, isn't too heavy not good? The ball just plows right through the pins without knocking down the ones next to it. Or maybe that's cause I shoot them fast If you take a lighter ball, it imparts more of its momentum to the pins making more of them knock down.

 

[Aquaman]

We have both 10 pin & 5 pin (duckpin) bowling in Canada........ Actually I prefer the 10 pin When I first learned to bowl (elementary school) they said you should pick a ball that is 10% your body weight........... kind of sucked when I was 300 pounds when I became an adult (I was stuck using 18's ) Now I use a 12-14 pound ball (and I'm 220 now ). To me it just feels better.

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[TwinkleToes77]

Originally posted by: Colt45
uh.. since when is there no 10-pin bowling in canada?

I was wondering the same thing, since thats all i bowl here in canada.. although i have bowled 5pin a few times but i cant stand throwing the little tiny balls.

 

[Pepsi90919]

he didn't say there was no 10 pin, he said there was 5 pin.

there aren't many 5 pin lanes left.

 

[LAUST]

pure energy baby , I use a 15 myself, 16's are just right over the hill for being too much for me to last 3 or 4 games

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: bizmark

For the most part, yes. I throw a 16 lb ball at upwards of 45 MPH (clocked when I bowled for ISU ). I hook about 13-14 boards. I can be off by a board or 2 because of the sheer speed I throw at. BTW: I have broken 2 pins in my life, ( I still have one somewhere around here ) and got numerous ones stuck in the ball return.

*cough* *bullshit* *cough*

I call BS too. The lanes where I league at have radar that measures ball speed on every lane. I throw the ball (16 lbs) pretty F'n hard and top out at 27MPH--and there is no way in hell you can throw a ball even that fast and have it hook more than a few boards. I might add that I have never seen anyone throw over 30MPH during league play.

You might convince me you could hurl an 8lb ball 45 miles an hour, but not a 16lb ball and managing 13 boards in a hook. Hell, I'd bet you would have trouble throwing a baseball a mere 30 MPH faster than you claim to be able to toss a 16lb ball.

Most grown men can't even though a baseball 50 mph....45 mph for a 16lbs ball hmmm

"Robert Smith, a touring professional for only three years, has won two national titles and four regional titles.
He is one of the most powerful bowlers ever and was clocked once throwing his ball at 34 mph. His average rate of speed is 24 mph and he puts about 27 revolutions on the ball. You must consider that the normal professional bowler usually throws the ball about 18 mph.
We're talking about a 16-pound ball. "

It is IMPOSSIBLE to throw a bowling ball 45 MPH. The hardest throwing straight spare throwers in the PBA top out in the mid 20's and that's giving it a hurl. Their strike balls average in the 14-16 MPH range.

You might want to check that radar gun. 45 mi/h=22m/s lane length = 18.3 meters... it took 0.83 seconds for the ball to go the length of the alley?

Evadman do you care to answer your detractors beyond what you've already said? I have a lot of respect for you and your knowledge on various subjects, but the evidence seems pretty strong against you in this case....

We were all clocked at ISU when I played. That was what I could throw at when I wanted to kill pins. I don't know of a alley around me in Chicago or suburbs that has a gun, or I would go and take pics. If anyone knows of a alley, LMK. I don't know what else to say.

 

[Daovonnaex]

The reason for a heavier bowling ball is rather simple. Momentum and impulse.
Momentum is defined as mass times velocity (SI unit: KGm/s). Impulse is defined as momentum divided by the contact time (SI unit: N). There are two ways to increase momentum. Either increase the velocity, or increase the mass. The greater the momentum, the greater the impulse (which is basically the force that knocks the pins down). Ideally increasing velocity is better, as in addition to increasing the momentum, it also decreases the contact time. This is also why halving the mass of a bullet quadruples its energy (assuming the same force is applied to launch it--equation for Kinetic Energy is .5mv^2). From this argument, it sounds as if you should simply use as light a bowling ball as possible, since you'll increase momentum more in that fashion. However, there is a definite limit to how fast you can make a bowling ball travel. Your arm simply cannot move that quickly. As such, you should increase the mass of the bowling ball until you reach the point where it starts to compromise the velocity of the bowling ball. Another factor to consider is accuracy. At high velocities, some people cannot accurately roll the bowling ball. Increasing the mass is then an excellent way to still have a considerable momentum while being able to maintain accuracy. I hope this makes sense for everyone.