What color was the world s first table tennis ball?

In the 15th century, the explorer Christopher Columbus arrived here and was so curious that he brought the rubber ball back to Europe and presented it to the king of Spain. The people in the palace also thought it was fun to play with it. However, this kind of ball will become soft and unclean when exposed to a little heat.

So someone made a small plank and held it in his hand and slapped it. In this way, although the earliest table tennis balls and paddles existed, they had not yet entered the interior. After a few more years, some aristocrats, in order to boast of their wealth, asked craftsmen to carve table tennis balls out of ivory.

This ivory ball is harder than rubber balls, and it is also elastic and does not deform. However, the cost is too high for ordinary people to afford. The ivory ball makes a clattering sound when it hits the bat, which is very nice.

So, it was hoped that a material would be found to replace ivory. In 1893, the American Goodyear invented the rubber vulcanization technology, which improved the elasticity and solidity of rubber, so that the hollow ball was made. Hollow balls are fun, but lighter, and are often blown away by the wind when playing outdoors.

Some people set up on the table indoors, two people facing each other and holding wooden planks to push them around. This is probably the beginning of a sport like table tennis. In 1869, the American Helit was hired by a company to study alternative materials for table tennis.

He thought: too little rubber is taken from rubber trees, and ivory is expensive. Can you use very cheap cotton?

Helit treats cotton with chemicals such as alkali, and then reacts with nitric acid, camphor, etc., to finally make a new material called celluloid, or false ivory. Celluloid is light and malleable. Just put this false ivory material in a mold and press it into two semi-round balls.

Then use adhesive to close the ball blank, and after passing through the circular heat press, a small round table tennis ball is made. Table tennis is afraid of high temperatures, squeezing, and open flames. At 80, it will soften and deform, so the flattened table tennis ball can be restored by soaking it in hot water at this temperature, and the color of the table tennis ball is ivory yellow.

Although table tennis is small, it is fast, varied and technically demanding. In particular, the exercise of judgment requires athletes to be quick and grasp fleeting opportunities, which is very beneficial to cultivating the spirit of tenacious struggle. Therefore, table tennis has become a worldwide and universal sport.

Now, the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) has changed the original white game to orange balls.

Table tennis balls, in the shape of a round ball, were 38mm in diameter in international competitions before the 2000 Sydney Olympics (including the Sydney Olympics), and 40mm in diameter after 2000. The ball is millimeters in diameter, weighs grams, white or orange, and is made of celluloid or plastic. At the World Table Tennis Championships in Paris, the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) passed a resolution that from July 1, 2014, major international competitions, including the ITTF Open Championships and the Finals, will use new material table tennis.

At the same time, the ITTF also gave a two-year transition period, until the end of June 2016, celluloid and new plastic balls can be legally sold on the market at the same time, from July 1, 2016, the celluloid FITF will no longer be recognized, which means that celluloid ball, which has a history of more than 120 years, will be completely withdrawn from the stage of history.

Table tennis balls, available in white or orange, can have a strong contrast with the color of the table and baffle (generally dark green and dark blue). The main purposes are: 1. Convenient for live TV; 2. Engage the audience better.

Generally, the more formal ones are white and yellow, and of course, there are some inferior table tennis balls made of green, which are colorful to attract attention. The regular game must be played with white table tennis.

In the past, it has always been white, and then there is yellow, since 2009, Cai Zhenhua and 2011 Bol have successively asked to use two-color balls, and this year it was decided to use two-color balls (half white, half orange) from August to improve the recognition of rotation, so that players and spectators can improve the degree of rotation of the two-color ball at a glance to distinguish the rotation of table tennis. It is said that to a large extent, it is a spinner for Chinese players, and it is unpredictable and varied. But we haven't had a chance to see this kind of two-color ball yet, and I'm looking forward to it, thank you

It used to be white and yellow, but now there are many colors.