What are pool balls made of?

Question

What are pool balls made of?

Answer 1

it depends, the very first pool balls were made from wood. now they made from polished granite. i've even heard of some being made of gold, but that of course is not very common...

Answer 2

dunno abt pool balls , but snooker balls i beleive are made from crystalite

Answer 3

Thermoset Resin

Answer 4

compressed paper

Answer 5

Billiard balls were originally made from ivory, imported from Africa. In the mid-19th century, in an amazing bit of accidental environmentalism, the billiard industry realized that the supply of elephants (their primary source of ivory) was limited. They challenged inventors to come up with an alternative material that could be manufactured. John Wesley Hyatt answered the call by inventing cellulose nitrate in 1870, branded under the name celluloid, the earliest industrial plastic. Subsequently, to fix the problem of cellulose nitrate instability, the industry experimented with various other synthetic materials for billiards balls such as bakelite and other plastic compounds. Eventually phenolic resin became the industry standard and is virtually the only billiard ball material used today.

Answer 6

Billiard balls

The number, type, diameter, color, and pattern of Billiard balls differ depending upon the specific billiards game being played. In eight ball, straight pool, and related games, 16 balls are employed: fifteen colored "object balls" and one white "cue ball". Object balls 1-7 are solid-colored, and are respectively colored yellow, blue, red, purple, orange, green, and dark red or brown. Balls 9-15 are white, each with a single wide colored stripe that matches the corresponding solid ball; the 9-ball has a yellow stripe, the 10-ball a blue stripe, and so on. The 8-ball is solid black. In the game of 9-ball, only object balls 1-9 are used. Regulation balls are 21⁄4 inches (57.15 mm) in diameter and weigh between 51⁄2 and 6 ounces (156 to 170 g). British pool also uses 16 balls, but they are not numbered, with the "suits" being divided into reds and yellows instead of stripes and solids (and shots are not "called" since there is no way to identify particular balls to be pocketed); the balls and the pockets on the table are usually slightly smaller (though larger than those of snooker (see below).

Other specific properties such as hardness, friction coefficient and resilience are very important. Such requirement are met today with balls cast from phenolic resin. Historically, balls were often made of clay and even elephant ivory for a period (see below for more detail). Coin-operated pool tables historically have often used either a larger ("grapefruit") or denser ("rock", typically ceramic) cue ball, such that its extra weight makes it easy to separate it from object balls (which are captured until the game ends and the table is paid again for another game) so that the cue ball can be returned for further play, should it be accidentally pocketed. Modern tables usually employ a magnetic ball of regulation or near-regulation size and weight, since players have rightly complained for many decades that the heavy and often over-sized cue balls do not "play" correctly.

Some balls used in televised pool games are colored differently to make them distinguishable on television monitors. The 4 ball used in such games is colored pink instead of purple, while the 7 ball is colored sienna (or a lighter shade of brown) rather than brown. The stripes on the 12 and 15 balls are colored the same way. Likewise, cue balls used for televised matches may depart from the norm by having spots or stripes on their surface so that spin placed on them is evident to viewers.

In snooker, there are fifteen red balls, six colored balls (yellow, green, brown, blue, pink, and black), and one white cue ball. The red balls are typically not numbered, though the six colored balls often are, and can easily be mistaken at first glace for pool balls (the design is similar, but the number does not match pool's scheme). Snooker balls are normally 21⁄16 inches (52.4 mm) in diameter.

In the carom games such as straight billiards ("straight rail"), three-cushion billiards and balkline, as well as English billiards, there are two cue balls and a red ball. One of the cue balls is typically white and the other one is either yellow or white with a red dot. These balls are normally 23⁄4 inches (69.9 mm) in diameter.

Billiard balls were originally made from ivory, imported from Africa. In the mid-19th century, in an amazing bit of accidental environmentalism, the billiard industry realized that the supply of elephants (their primary source of ivory) was limited. They challenged inventors to come up with an alternative material that could be manufactured. John Wesley Hyatt answered the call by inventing cellulose nitrate in 1870, branded under the name celluloid, the earliest industrial plastic. Subsequently, to fix the problem of cellulose nitrate instability, the industry experimented with various other synthetic materials for billiards balls such as bakelite and other plastic compounds. Eventually phenolic resin became the industry standard and is virtually the only billiard ball material used today.

Answer 7

best ones: ivory

Answer 8

In the past, many balls were made of ivory; since the animals that produced this have become endangered species, other materials, such as wood and various plastics have been used.

In 1865, John Wesley Hyatt patented a composition material resembling ivory (Celluloid) for a billiard ball (US50359), winning $10,000 prize from Phelan and Collender of New York City for the best substitute for ivory. This was the first U.S. patent for billiard balls. Unfortunately, the nature of celluloid gave these billiard balls a tendency to occasionally explode, adding additional spark to the game but ultimately making this first plastic impractical for such use.

Modern billiard balls are most often made from phenolic resin.