Say a basketball is falling towards the ground with very high speed. Would this cause the particles of the surface of the ball and the air particles inside to vibrate faster? If so, why? Thanks! Edit: I know this question is a little vague, but I hope it makes sense.
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No- If you drop a giant stationary cubic grid of balls attached together with springs on the ground, the whole shebang will get faster and faster as it approaches the ground. But the balls will not begin vibrating until the whole assemblage strikes the ground. Now, the faster this giant cube of balls on springs is going, the more the balls will begin to vibrate $\textit{after}$ striking the ground, but vibration does not begin until the overall mechanical energy is converted to the internal random motion by some mechanism. The same argument applies to the molecules of the basketball.
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$\begingroup$ Thanks for the help! However, would the air inside the ball and its surface experience collisions with each other and cause the molecules to vibrate as a result? $\endgroup$ Commented Jun 6 at 22:03
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$\begingroup$ The air molecules inside the ball and the inner surface were already experiencing collisions before you dropped it, so change my example to one where the giant cube of balls on springs already have a little bit of vibration- but gravity accelerates every piece down the same, so there is still no increase in the vibration until collision with the floor. Heating will only occur if the acceleration of the outer basketball shell and inner gas parcel are different, as in a collision or if you started shaking the ball. $\endgroup$– mike1994Commented Jun 6 at 22:09