The Way the Ball Bounces
Brian Hayes · 1996
The billiard ball rolls smartly along the baize, aimed for another ball at the far end of the table. The player watching its trajectory anticipates the solid tlock! of contact, to be followed by the familiar textbook demonstration of the conservation of energy and momentum. But something has gone awry on this billiards table. The moving ball passes right through the stationary one, without altering its own motion or disturbing the repose of its target. And then the rolling ball glides wraithlike through the rail at the edge of the table and continues imperturbably sailing across the room, with no inclination to fall to the floor. What’s going on here? It’s not quantum tunneling;