eli5 – Why do tennis balls come in a plastic container that has a pop top?
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Like most air-filled balls used in sports, there is a preferred and/or required pressure for a tennis ball. That means that the ball has to have a certain amount of air in it for it to bounce properly.
Unlike many balls used in sports, tennis balls lack any way to refill them with air if they lose pressure. And since the materials used to make a tennis ball is not perfectly air tight, they will lose pressure over time.
The solution to this is to sell them in air tight canisters that are the same pressure as the air inside the ball. And that’s why they’re sold in sealed canisters. The pop top itself is just the easiest way to open them. Older containers had to be peeled, ripped, or cut open. Before sealed, pressurized containers were invented, tennis balls had a short shelf life.
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