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| SUN LAKES LIFESTYLES | MARCH 2024 | 61 Table Tennis/Ping Pong PING PONG BALLS PART 1 This month's topic is about an experiment we did with our ping pong balls. Why did we do this? Well, the balls are supplied on a limited budget, meaning they are usually the cheap, non-tournament balls. Over the years, we have played with one brand, but others have showed up. We wanted to find out if there is a difference between them, in terms of playability. To do this, we weighed them on a gram scale, because it had been alleged that the Stiga-3 star ball was heavier and not as playable compared to the other brands. The weights in grams are shown below. So what does weight have to do with it? The short answer: nothing. Many experienced players use a trial-and-error method and frequent practice to develop muscle memory, to get an idea of how to play the ball, reacting almost automatically. While there are many types of spins, and hard and soft shots, slamming the ball on your opponent favors the lighter ball. We know this intuitively from high school physics: Force on the ball is defined as the product of mass (grams) times acceleration (mm/sec/sec) of the ball, or to make a simple algebra out of it, F=MxA, then, A=F/M. A player can react to this difference after the 200 milliseconds it takes for a signal to travel from the eye to the brain to the arm holding the racket. If the ball is traveling faster than this, there is no way to make a reliable shot, except by anticipating the hardness and spin of the shot. So reaction time and weight of the ball seem to be major factors affecting the result. The Stiga 3-star ball is only three percent heavier (in grams) than the other balls. The question arises whether or not the human body can detect such small differences. It seems imponderable, so the question was submitted to the Chat GPT AI (artificial intelligence) bot app on an iPhone. Here is what it said: "The human body does not have a direct mechanism to detect weight in the form of grams without the use of external tools or instruments. The sensation of weight is usually perceived through tactile (touch) sensations and proprioception (perception of body movement in space), but these are not finely tuned to detect weights as small as individual grams … the direct detection of weight in grams is not a sensory function of the body itself." PART 2: Continued next month. We usually play Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, 4 to 6 pm, and Saturdays,10 am to 12 pm, but it is best to check the SLCC website for updated schedule changes, because sometimes we get bumped, due to other community activities going on. Hard copies of the schedule are available on game days in the ballroom. If there are any questions, suggestions, or concerns, please contact Gary Lile at (805) 722-7427, or G4lile@yahoo.com, or John Williams at (951) 489-973, jgwms.williams@gmail.com. TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) "This time, I'm going to do it!" How many times have we stated that optimistic phrase? Many of us have had good intentions saying these words, but as we know, saying and doing are two very different things. Chances are you already know what to do. It is just a matter of, well, doing it! It is time to re-write your story. No matter how many times you have been around the block with weight loss and weight gain, today is a brand-new day. No story is written in stone. It is never too late to make a change. It is all about you and the choices you make every day. TOPS is here for YOU. We invite you to visit our TOPS chapter once free of charge. We meet at the South Clubhouse on Thursday with weigh-ins from 9 to 9:50 am and meeting from 10 to 11 am. Membership is affordable at only $49 a year for new members plus $3 monthly chapter dues. With your membership, you receive a My Day One (a quick start guide), and six TOPS magazines a year. You also have excess to a medical library and our members only website. TOPS Best Weight Losers for the month are Darline Indacochea, Edith Hasha, Ann Oliver, Mickey Pease, Judy Martin, Betsey Messerer, John Hasha, James Kozik, and Leonard Peck. KOPS (Keeping Off Pounds Sensibly) are Yvonne Adams, Alma Bolla, Bea DiMatteo, Terry Foster, Rennie Harrison, Marla Henrich, Carol Kreckow, Donna Leone, Carol McKinney, Darleen Moxon, Ruth Schoonover, Bernie Smith, and Rosalee Strong. Congratulations to our TOPS and KOPS on your success for the month. TOPS will be holding our Southern California Area Recognition Days at the Riverside Convention Center on April 19 and 20 to honor our yearly winners. Happy St. Patrick's Day to all our Sun Lakers. For information on TOPS, call Rosalee at (951) 855-2836. At right: One of our newly-purchased balls Below: e weights in grams are shown below

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