Arizona Oddities

Main Menu

  • Home
  • Your Guides
  • Departments
    • Art
    • Dose of History
    • Culture
    • Natural Surroundings
    • Odd Observations
    • Weather Talk
    • Food & Dining
    • Small Town Scene
    • Recreation
    • Only in Arizona
  • Get the Books
  • Contact Us

logo

Arizona Oddities

  • Home
  • Your Guides
  • Departments
    • Art
    • Dose of History
    • Culture
    • Natural Surroundings
    • Odd Observations
    • Weather Talk
    • Food & Dining
    • Small Town Scene
    • Recreation
    • Only in Arizona
  • Get the Books
  • Contact Us
Odd Observations
Home›Odd Observations›What Happens When You Drop a 2,500-Pound Rubberband Ball from a Plane?

What Happens When You Drop a 2,500-Pound Rubberband Ball from a Plane?

By Sam Lowe
June 24, 2014
3296
2

KINGMAN — Sometimes, the ball just doesn’t bounce the way it should. At least, it didn’t for Tony Evans, who came to Arizona to test the theory that if a huge ball composed entirely of rubber bands was dropped from a great height, it would bounce high into the sky.

Rubberband BallWorking at his home in Swansea, Wales, Evans spent four years winding about six million rubber bands into the monster orb. When finished, his creation weighed 2,548 pounds and had a 14-foot circumference, big enough to get it into the Guinness World Records. Then an American TV show, Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, not only offered to sponsor the ball on a tour of the United States, but also to drop it from an airplane to check its bouncability. The TV crew hauled it to the desert near Kingman and loaded it onto a small plane. When the aircraft reached about a mile in altitude, the sphere was shoved out, followed by two camera-toting skydivers assigned to film the event.

Evans and his wife were among the spectators, flown to the site by the TV producers to watch the big bounce. It didn’t happen. When the ball hit the desert floor, it shattered apart, creating a crater more than three feet deep and sending rubber bands flying more than 200 yards away. Later, Evans said he wasn’t too disappointed. He had, after all, been on TV and got a free trip to America.

(Visited 970 times, 1 visits today)

Related Posts:

  1. Spherical Building in Yucca a Monument to Failed Real Estate Project
  2. A Giant Head Guards Route 66
  3. Odd, Giant Ball Greets Drivers Entering Superior
  4. Does Applying Rubberized Asphalt to Valley Freeways Contribute to Air Pollution?
  5. The Shooting of James Hale in Springerville
Tagskingmanrankingsstorytelling

2 comments

  1. SaraD 20 June, 2016 at 06:08 Reply

    “Working at his home in Swansea, Wales, Davis spent four years winding about six million rubber bands into the monster orb.”

    Who is Davis?

    • Andrea Aker 20 June, 2016 at 10:39 Reply

      Just a typo. We fixed it!

Leave a reply Cancel reply

Arizona Oddities Archive

Most Popular Posts

  • How to Keep Scorpions Away from Your Home
  • How to Keep Javelinas Away from Your Yard
  • What’s With All the Backyard Concrete-Block Fences…
  • Did You Know it’s Against the Law to Grow…
  • Four Deserts, One State

This Week Past Years

2019

  • 5 Facts About the Southwest’s Strangest, Smelliest Inhabitant – The Javelina

2015

  • A Beer Between the Forked Tree in Flagstaff

2014

  • Mow the Lake?

2013

  • Peach-Faced Love Birds Live in the Valley?

2012

  • Walk in the Path of Ancient Hohokam at Sears-Kay Ruin
  • Rest Stop Marks Border of Gadsden Purchase

2010

  • Why Do People Paint Citrus Tree Trunks White?
  • Elephant Feet in Northern Arizona?
  • Recent

  • Popular

  • Comments

  • Find a Famous Writer and Explorer's Mountain Retreat in Greer

    Find a Famous Writer and Explorer’s Historic Mountain Retreat in Greer

    By Taylor Haynes
    July 31, 2020
  • thousands of Mexican free tail bats make Phoenix tunnel their summer home

    Thousands of Mexican Free-Tail Bats Make Phoenix Tunnel Their Summer Home

    By Taylor Haynes
    July 17, 2020
  • How to Keep Scorpions Away from Your Home

    By Andrea Aker
    January 3, 2011
  • Javelina

    How to Keep Javelinas Away from Your Yard

    By Andrea Aker
    November 23, 2011
  • Phil Motta
    on
    August 27, 2021

    Why Does Downtown Phoenix Seem to Have Two Downtowns?

    I know this post ...
  • Carol
    on
    October 17, 2020

    The Tucson Artifacts are the Southwest’s Greatest Hoax

    lol ... these "clues" ...

Follow us

© Copyright 2009 – 2023 Aker Ink, LLC :: Arizona Oddities is published by Aker Ink.