Miscellaneous Forum

How does a pool table recognise the white ball from all the other balls? I.e. if I sink the white ball it gets spit out so the game can continue, but if I sink a coloured ball it is removed for the remainder of the game. Are they heavier?

Maybe the white ball is a little smaller...:-)

P

It is smaller.

Perfect, so we have the solution...!
What a teamwork :-)

My work here is done! :)

You know, in the US, I had always thought that the cue ball was slightly larger than the other balls, not smaller. So I went to Wikipeida, the font of all knowledge (even when wrong ;-) ), and it says:
"Coin-operated pool tables such as those found at bars and college campuses historically have often used either a larger ("grapefruit") or denser ("rock", typically ceramic) cue ball, such that its extra weight makes it easy for the cue ball return mechanism to separate it from object balls (which are captured until the game ends and the table is paid again for another game) so that the cue ball can be returned for further play, should it be accidentally pocketed. Rarely in the US, some pool tables use a smaller cue ball instead. Modern tables usually employ a magnetic ball of regulation or near-regulation size and weight, since players have rightly complained for many decades that the heavy and often over-sized cue balls do not "play" correctly."
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cue_ball

So the answer appears to be:
1. It's larger
2. It's smaller
3. It'a heavier
4. It's magnetic

Your choice! ;-)

Bill

Hmm.... maybe it has more gravitational forces. By eyeballing it it 'looks' bigger.... but perhaps I need to take some more objective measures. I will do some circumferences and weight measurements and get back to you. Thanks for the responses:)