Newton's cradle with water balloons versus frozen water balloonns 

Video suggestion: Try making a newtons cradle out of the 7mm zirconium oxide balls if you can get ahold of them. They have a coefficient of restitution of around 0.99 when bouncing on an atomic trampoline! Check out Steve Mould's video on it if you're unfamiliar with the atomic trampoline.

What an awesome breakdown, and a very satisfying resolution to where the energy was going in the ice ball case. Those slomo shots of the wave passing through the water balloons were fantastic. the water makes it so much more visible than in the solid balls!

That was unexpected 😮

Suggestion: try pool balls stuffed inside balloons, similar to the frozen water balloons. I'm curious how much the rubber skin on the frozen water balloons affects their ability to transfer kinetic energy. I suspect that they are acting like a small cushion, contributing somewhat to the dampening effect. This contribution may or may not be significant.

I almost didn’t click this because I thought it was so trivially obvious that the ice would work better, and here I am, wrong! I love that feeling!

Myth busters tried to make a gigantic newton cradle. They filled metal balls with cement or concrete. That did not work.

If you don't do a newton's cradle with non-newtonian fluid I'll cry

It would be fun to explore the slow-mo scenario of the single falling water-balloon with different thicknesses of balloon (doubled up, maybe?) and from different heights, to see how bounce height can be controlled.

I was surprised by the results with the frozen balloons! In my formal education, as far as I got with physics there was always the simplifying assumption that colliding bodies did not deform at all.

Love you and your videos Bruce - getting back to the basic fun of science and experimentation! I'm inspired every time. Also - it's best to have heavy and stiff balls to minimise losses due to air resistance and elasticity :)

Pretty sure a bowling ball Newton’s cradle would be fun to see.

Captivating, thanx pal.

Nice. Science is fun.

Bit of parametric resonance going on, especially when liquid. Energy is also being expended in the elasticity of the knot end and string.

It would be cool to see balls made of some sort of very elastic 3d printed metamaterial, such as the new airless basketballs

Silly putty in water balloons or large tungsten carbide balls may be interesting. Castles doors were broken using a battering ram. If there were steel balls or another ram touching the inside of the door would the door last longer, or would it need some steel in the door to transmit the force?

Try making the ice colder, that will make it harder and should make it work better.

Quite honestly it worked exactly opposite of what I thought it would happen. Because I thought the latex would absorb most or all of the energy when the water was in liquid form.

What about those bouncy balls? If it is elasticity that makes it work then they should work waaaay better than the steel bbs...

Pretty cool, not what I expected either. Thanks for sharing! I've got plenty of suggestions if you're interested. Pycrete (ice containing a certain ratio of sawdust) is supposedly somewhat bulletproof. Perhaps it'd be strong enough to resist cracking and losing energy? Seeing you use balloons makes me wonder if you could perhaps make the world's first inverted newton's cradle with hydrogen or helium balloons. Or air balloons in a glass water tank. The lack of mass in the balloons might be an issue, though. Might lose most of the energy to drag. I was also curious how repelling magnets would behave, but it'd be tricky constraining them so they don't just twist around and attract instead. Perhaps magnets affixed to the ends of rigid levers? You could also use rigid levers with counterweights to make an inverted cradle. Heavy weight on the short end of each lever, large light ball on the long end. I *think* that would still behave the same as a normal one? Might be fun to show people, anyway. And it gives you a chance to change the mass without changing the size or material of the striking surface. Or vice versa. Anyway, thanks again. I enjoy your videos, they make me feel young again.

Looks more like Newtonless cradle. Would Non-Newtonian fluid work any better than ice? Ice was totally underwhelming.

Data sure is beautiful.

How would non-newtonian fluid do in newton's cradle? Would it be elastic until the pressure is too low then deform and stop?

oh man its 4 am right now

Well I guessed totally wrong. I thought the ice would perform better.

Ya had me thinking the ice balls would be the winner. Maybe it would have worked with no energy from friction?

I wonder what would happen if you alternated ice and water balloons

Even the tiny latex film covering the ice acts as a damper since it won't restore its pre-collision thickness until after the balls have separated. Not a fan of inelastic Newton's cradles. I'd like to see one with sledge hammers.

the energy is transferred (not through the balloon) but rather absorbed by the balloon as it deforms. As for the ice, I'm guessing the shape is primary reason, not a globe, but oval. That's just my unscientific impression lol

Does the behavior depend on the temperature of the ice? E.g. what would happen if every ice ball first got cooled down with liquid nitrogen?

Newton's cradle. We called it Newton's balls

What about a non-newtonian fluid like ooblic?

Frozen water 86% and sawdust 14% filled ballons, AKA Pykrete.

I think because the ice gets crushed so all the energy goes into deforming and it doesn’t give the energy to the next ball like water

Curious and not at all what I expected.

You should try a non-Newtonian fluid and repeat the test. Also there are over five different states of water ice. Have you thought about trying each one?

What is the name of the soundtrack at 2:28?

The frozen balloons are made from two materials, not one like a que ball.

Rubber superballs

Non Newtonian Newtons cradle.Fill the balloons with non Newtonian liquid, cornstarch and water.

Try non Newtonian fluid

Wooow .. i like! This channel needs S M Zeus!!!

eggs

How about a Newton’s Cradle of magnets 🧲🧲🧲🧲🧲 repelling their neighbors?