Almost all gymnasiums use 1/2 inch thick tempered glass
backboards while residential hoops use softer and thinner
material. This experiment is intended to determine how a 1/2 inch
thick tempered glass backboard performs compared to traditional
residential backboards.
Experiment Parameters
The backboards are all 60 x 36 inches and have identical
aluminum framing. The ball used is made of an indoor outdoor
synthetic material. All balls were dropped from a consistent 55
inches and were measured with a high speed digital camera.
Rebound response is defined here as the percentage of distance
the ball bounced back from the original drop height.
Summary
Acrylic was the clear looser with only a 38% rebound response
(some manufactures use thinner 3/8 acrylic which was not tested).
1/2 inch glass was the winner beating 3/8 inch glass by
approximately 9% with a 69% rebound response.