Bounces of a marble and Zeno’s paradox

Abstract

Abstract The coefficient of restitution of the bounces of a marble on a table is here studied and measured in terms of the total bouncing time. Interesting links arise with mathematics (geometric series) as well as philosophy (Zeno’s paradox), which make our proposal appealing for an interdisciplinary teaching-learning sequence. The relevance of this work for high school and undergraduate students is discussed with emphasis on students’ misconceptions when dealing with infinite processes.