The question of the bouncing ball
If the first bounce is ten braccia, how great is the second? An inked ball to record impacts
Beneath two isolated words jotted at the head of the page, Leonardo poses the 'question of the bounce': if the first bounce measures ten braccia, how great will the second be? He proposes an experiment: dye the ball so that it marks the place where it strikes on marble or another hard surface, then follow the rule of all the bounces in succession and make it general. A faint arc is sketched in the lower part of the sheet.
On this page
Recording successive bounces with an inked ball
To study how a ball rebounds, Leonardo dyes it so that it leaves a mark wherever it strikes marble or other hard material. By tracking these marks he means to establish the rule governing each successive bounce and to make that rule general rather than particular to one throw.
Ratio of the first bounce to the second
The problem is set as a proportion: given that the first bounce is ten braccia, what will the second measure? Leonardo seeks the rule linking one bounce to the next rather than a single numerical answer.
Isolated words at the head of the page
Two loose words, 'furibonda' and 'balatro', stand apart above the main note, in the manner of the vocabulary jottings that recur through this notebook. They are unconnected to the bounce problem below.