Table Tennis Superstars

Have you ever played Ping-Pong? The rules are simple. Players use paddles to hit a small plastic ball across a table and over a net. The ball must bounce once before their opponent hits it back. If it bounces twice, the first player scores a point.

People who have only played Ping-Pong casually might think of it as a slow-paced game. But the sport-officially called table tennis-is played by serious athletes. Top players can hit a Ping-Pong ball across the table as fast as 30 meters (98 feet) per second!

Table tennis is thought to be one of the most popular indoor sports in the world. It’s also one of the fastest growing sports. About 300 million people regularly play table tennis around the world. That includes about 20 million Americans.

Have you ever played Ping-Pong? The rules are simple. Players use paddles to hit a small plastic ball. It sails across a table and over a net. The ball must bounce once before it’s hit back.

You might think of Ping-Pong as a slow-paced game. But serious athletes play this sport. It’s officially called table tennis. Top players can hit a Ping-Pong ball across the table 30 meters (98 feet) per second!

Table tennis is thought to be the world’s most popular indoor sport. It’s also one of the fastest-growing sports. About 300 million people regularly play table tennis around the world. That includes about 20 million Americans.

Understanding how a paddle affects a ball’s motion can help players win games. Whacking the ball transfers energy from the paddle to the ball. Harder hits transfer more energy, moving the ball to the other side of the net faster.

But just hitting the ball hard is not the best strategy, says Chang Kee Jung. He studies sports science at Stony Brook University in New York. Instead, Jung says, players should hit the ball in ways that make it rotate, or turn, in the air. This is called adding spin. It makes the ball move in ways that are hard for opponents to predict.

For example, if players brush the top of the ball with their paddle as they hit it, the ball rotates forward in the air. That motion is called topspin (see Topspin Up Close). The spin causes the force of air to be greater above the ball than below it. The air pushes the ball down, making it move in an arc instead of a straight line.

As the ball hits the table, it transfers energy to it. Some of that energy is transferred back to the ball. That causes the ball to bounce. If the ball has spin, friction between the ball and the table pushes it in a new direction.

In professional table tennis games, a ball can spin up to 50 times in a second. Players must watch their opponents closely to predict where the ball will bounce. They have just a fraction of a second to hit it back!

Players need to know how a paddle affects a ball’s motion. It can help them win games. Hitting the ball tansfers energy from the paddle to the ball. Harder hits transer more energy. That moves the ball faster.

But just hitting the ball hard is not the best move, says Chang Kee Jung. He studies sports science. He works at Stony Brook University in New York. Players should hit the ball so it turns in the air, says Jung. This is called adding spin. It makes the ball move in hard-to-guess ways. 

For example players can brush the top of the ball with the paddle. This causes the ball to rotate forward in the air. That motion is called topspin (see Topspin Up Close). The spin affects the force of air against the ball. It makes this force greater above the ball than below it. That pushes the ball down. So it moves in an arc instead of a straight line.

The ball passes energy to the table as it hits it. Some of that energy is then passed back to the ball. That causes the ball to bounce. The ball will bounce in a different direction if it has spin. That’s because of friction between the ball and the table.

A ball can spin up to 50 times per second in pro table tennis games. Players must watch each other closely. They try to guess where the ball will bounce. They have less than a second to hit it back!