Sphere rolling down an inclined plane

Rolling motion on an inclined plane is commonly introduced using an idealized model that assumes rigid bodies, negligible air resistance, and pure rolling without energy loss. In this experiment, these assumptions are examined using a lightweight styrofoam sphere, a system in which dissipative effects become significant. The sphere was released from rest on ramps set at different inclination angles, and its motion was recorded using video tracking. Both translational and rotational kinematics were analyzed to identify regimes of pure rolling, transition, and slipping.

The experiment highlights the influence of aerodynamic drag and rolling resistance due to surface deformation, particularly for low-mass objects where these effects dominate the dynamics. Measurements of acceleration, angular velocity, rolling resistance offset, and coefficient of restitution were used to characterize energy dissipation and the breakdown of the no-slip condition. Overall, the results demonstrate that for low-inertia rolling systems, non-ideal effects play a central role in the observed motion and must be explicitly considered in both analysis and modeling.